Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came down heavily on Twitter for blocking his account. He charged in a statement here on Friday that Twitter is “interfering in the political process” of the country. Twitter had blocked seven handles of various units of the Congress and 23 leaders of the party allegedly for revealing the identity of a Dalit girl child who was raped and murdered in Delhi.
However, Twitter has maintained “Rahul Gandhi’s account has not been suspended and continues to be on the service. When any account is suspended Twitter removes it from global view,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
Attack on democracy
Gandhi said a company is making its business to define the country’s politics. He said he doesn’t like such an intervention as a politician. “This is an attack on the democratic structure of the country. This is not an attack on Rahul Gandhi. This is not you know simply shutting Rahul Gandhi down. I have 19-20 million followers. You are denying them the right to an opinion. That’s what you are doing,” he said.
He said the action is not only patently unfair but also the breaching of the idea that Twitter is a neutral platform. “And for the investors this is a very dangerous thing because taking sides in the political contest has repercussions for Twitter,” he added.
The BJP said the issue now is whether it was right on Gandhi’s part to publicly disclose the victim’s identity as the law of the land frowns upon such acts. “The only place he (Gandhi) was active was on Twitter. Unfortunately, even Twitter has shown him the door,” said BJP MP Tejasvi Surya.