New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Twitter of being biased and interfering in the country’s political process by blocking his account.In a strong attack, Gandhi said Twitter was denying his millions of followers the right to an opinion and termed it as an attack on the democratic structure of the country.The former Congress chief asked whether Indians should allow companies just because they are beholden to the Government of India to define our politics.
“It’s obvious now that Twitter is actually not a neutral, objective platform. It is a biased platform. It’s something that listens to what the government of the day says,” he charged in a video message posted on social media.“By shutting down my Twitter they are interfering in our political process. A company is making its business to define our politics. And as a politician I don’t like that,” he said.
“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,” Gandhi said in his video message.As Indians, he asked, “we have to ask the question: are we going to allow companies just because they are beholden to the Government of India to define our politics for us”.
“Is that what this is going to come to? Or are we going to define our politics on our own? That’s the real question here,” the Congress leader said.He alleged that this is not only patently unfair, this is breaching 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, Gandhi said.
“Our democracy is under attack. We are not allowed to speak in Parliament. The media is controlled. And I thought there was a ray of light where we could put what we thought on Twitter. But obviously, that’s not the case,” he said.
Twitter had temporarily suspended Gandhi’s account after he shared pictures of the family of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Delhi, which is against the rules and the law. Twitter on its part has said that it has followed the due process as Gandhi’s tweet on the family of the victim was against its rules and the law.On Wednesday, the Congress’s official Twitter account, along with those of several of its key leaders, were also locked.
Ever since Gandhi’s account was temporarily suspended, several Congress leaders and supporters, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have changed their Twitter profile photos to a photo of Gandhi.
Speaking to The Wire about changing his Twitter profile photo to that of Rahul Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said, “The BJP instructed Twitter to shut down the handle of Rahul Gandhi because they are scared of the way he has become the voice of the Indian people – of farmers, unemployed youth, those affected by price of petrol and diesel, people of Jammu and Kashmir, victims of child sexual offences, and those opposing the attack on Indian constitution and culture. My act of changing my Twitter profile photo to Rahul Gandhi symbolises the fact that BJP cannot shut down the pain being felt by ordinary Indians at the state of the nation.”
