Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made a post on Instagram about his Twitter account being locked nearly one week back. Rahul Gandhi wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday, ‘They can bar us from platforms, but they can’t bar our voices for the sake of the people’. He further added, ‘If showing compassion and empathy is considered a crime, then I am guilty. Fighting for a rape and murder victim is a crime, so I am guilty. Compassion, love and justice are universal messages’. In his statement, Rahul Gandhi concluded with ‘Daro mat, Satyamev Jayate’, which is translated into ‘Do not fear, the truth alone triumphs. 1.3 billion Indians will not be silenced’.
Why Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account locked?
The Twitter account was locked after he posted a picture of the parents of the Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and killed on August 1 at a crematorium in Delhi Cantonment. Similarly, the tweet in question was also taken down. Rahul Gandhi had offered his support to the victim’s parents on August 4. Later, he tweeted a photo with their faces clearly visible. As he captioned the photograph, ‘Parents’ tears are saying only one thing: their daughter, the daughter of this nation, deserves justice. And I will stand with them on this path to justice’.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSeRH9-hmur/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
In response, activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar filed an FIR against Rahul Gandhi under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Section 23(2) of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) of 2012. According to both provisions, the identity of the child victim of a crime shall not be disclosed. According to Twitter, the account has been temporarily blocked by the court after the tweet was taken down.
5,000 accounts were blocked
According to the Congress, more than 5,000 Twitter accounts belonging to its state leaders and employees have been blocked by the microblogging site. Assam in-charge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev, the members of the AICC’s executive have had their Twitter accounts locked, the party has announced. An MP from Congress is negotiating with Twitter about the matter. The party has written to Twitter to request an early resolution of the suspension issue.
In response, the Congress took to Facebook and Instagram to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ask, ‘Modi ji, just how afraid are you?’ On the issue, Twitter said, ‘We enforce our rules judiciously and equally for everyone on our network. In response to several hundred tweets that contained an image that violated our policies, we have taken proactive action and may continue to do so with our range of enforcement tools’.
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Congress leaders changed the DP
Many Congress leaders have changed their Twitter profile photos to a picture of Rahul Gandhi after his account was locked. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, his sister and Congress general secretary, led the campaign. Other members of Congress soon followed. There is a real issue at stake while the BJP government, aided by Twitter, attempts to silence voices crying out for justice. ‘Is Twitter following its own policy for suspending accounts of Congress leaders or that of the Modi government? Why hasn’t it suspended the account of the SC commission that had tweeted similar photos before our leaders?’ asked Priyanka Gandhi.
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