Following the temporary suspension of Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account, the Congress party’s Twitter account and several top leaders and workers' accounts have been locked, the party claimed on Thursday. The party on late Wednesday said that Twitter handles of five senior leaders including media head Randeep Surjewala had been barred. On Thursday morning, the party’s official Twitter handle, @INCIndia, was shown to be locked.
This comes amid the heating controversy over "selective" action against Rahul Gandhi and others for posting photographs displaying Mr Gandhi interacting with the family of the 9-year-old Dalit girl who was raped in Delhi and forcefully cremated last week.
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On Thursday morning, the Congress party Instagram account was filled with screenshots of a message from Twitter that said it has locked the account on grounds of violating Twitter rules, concerning posting and publishing personal information of other people “without their express authorisation and permission".
"Modiji, just how afraid are you? Reminder: The Congress party fought for our nation's independence, equipped only with truth, non-violence & the will of the people. We won then, we'll win again," said Congress.
Leaders whose Twitter accounts were locked include AICC general secretary and former minister Ajay Maken, party’s ruler in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, Assam in-charge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev.
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“So! After Shri @RahulGandhi, the Lord @narendramodi Ji and Vassal @Jack & @twitter have locked @rssurjewala, @ajaymaken & @sushmitadevinc. @INCIndia registers its protest and promises to continue the fight for each and all being wronged! We shall hold on @AshwiniVaishnaw Ji,” Pranav Jha, the AICC secretary in-charge of the party’s communication department tweeted.
“The list goes on. @Twitter locks @JitendraSAlwar and @manickamtagore and many more. Doesn’t Modi Ji understand that we @INCindia’ns (sic) have a legacy of fighting even from behind the locks of kaala paani,” he questioned in another tweet.
Jha further wrote, “He thinks the virtual locks of Twitter will deter us from fighting for India.”
Twitter has clarified that its rules are "enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone" and said that action was taken against hundreds of tweets that had posted a picture violating the firm’s laws. The social media firm said it was the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, or NCPCR signalled it "about specific content on our platform that allegedly revealed the identity of an alleged sexual assault victim's (and a minor's) parents".
The company’s spokesperson said that the tweet that was found to be violating Twitter’s policies and rules, that is yet to be deleted by the account owner remains locked until the tweet is removed or the request has been ‘successfully processed.’
Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who commands the parliamentary IT panel, said he is actively occupied with Twitter to restore all blocked accounts and accused the BJP of "trying to undermine the opposition".
He said, "I have taken a firm stand on this and am actively engaged to restore the accounts. It is a sad reflection... the way the BJP is trying to undermine the opposition.”
Noticing that Twitter action was taken by the Indian IT law but cautioned: "automatically locking accounts is an extreme step... stifles freedom of expression".
"I understand Twitter's position that it has no choice but to block accounts that violate Indian law and Twitter policy. While the law is what it is, the policy can be reviewed. Automatically locking accounts is an extreme step that stifles the freedom of expression of Indian citizens," he added.
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As per laws, the Juvenile Justice Act and the POCSO Act - exposing the identity of a minor is illegal. One cannot share private information on any form of media or publication that may reveal the victim’s identity.
The Twitter move has been receiving backlash from Congress, accusing the Modi government of threatening the company.