Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday lashed out against the collusion of the Central government and Twitter to block his and his party’s accounts on the microblogging platform. “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 that it could be fought on Twitter,” Rahul said in a live video released Friday morning on YouTube.
He said that Twitter was no longer an objective platform. “By shutting down my Twitter (account) they are interfering in our politics. A company is making its business to define our politics. This is an attack on the democratic process of the country. This is breaching the idea that Twitter is a neutral platform. It is biased,” Rahul charged. “It’s something that listens to what the government of the day says.”
Twitter blocked Rahul’s handle earlier this week after he shared pictures of the family of a nine-year-old alleged rape-and-murder victim in Delhi last week in violation of laws. On Thursday, the Congress alleged that its official Twitter handle as well as that of a large number of party leaders and workers have been blocked by the microblogging website, which justified the action saying it has been done for violating rules.
Twitter, on its part, said the blocking of the accounts of several Congress leaders, including that of Gandhi, was done to protect individual privacy and safety after they posted images that violated its rules.
However, the Congress accused the website of acting under pressure from the government.
And for the investors this is a very dangerous thing because taking sides in the political contest has repercussions for Twitter, the former Congress president 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,” he further said.