Social media platform Twitter on Saturday unlocked the accounts of the Congress, party former president Rahul Gandhi and several others after temporarily blocking it for violating their policy. After the party's account was unlocked, the Congress said: "Satyamev Jayate."
According to sources, Twitter has unlocked the accounts but have withheld the old tweets. The micro-blogging platform had blocked the accounts for violating policies. Congress has alleged that it was being done on the behest of the government.
Last week, the former Congress president, had met the family of a minor girl in Delhi who was allegedly raped and killed. Later, he posted a picture of his meeting with the girl's parents on Twitter and a video on Instagram wherein he revealed the identity of the victim and the family. He violated provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Indian Penal Code. Subsequently, Twitter blocked his and other Congress leaders' accounts for revealing the identity of the victim.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday released a video statement slamming Twitter for blocking his account and alleged that the social media platform was taking sides in the politics of the country.
"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. This is an attack on the democratic structure of the country. This is not an attack on Rahul Gandhi."
He said that he has 19-20 million followers and they have been denied the right to an opinion. "So, this is not only patently unfair, this is their 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," he added.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that the democracy is under attack, opposition was not being allowed to speak in Parliament and 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. 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 added.
"As Indians, 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."
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked Facebook India head, Satya Yadav, to appear before the commission on Tuesday (August 17) to explain what action it has taken against Rahul Gandhi's post on Instagram wherein he revealed the identity of the girl. Instagram, a photo and video-sharing social networking platform, is owned by Facebook.
According to a PTI report, the girl had died under mysterious circumstances when she went to get water from a cooler at a crematorium in Delhi. The girl's parents alleged that she was raped and her body forcibly cremated by a crematorium who had falsely claimed that she was electrocuted.
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