New Delhi: The Congress’s Twitter account, along with those of several of its key leaders, have been locked. The development comes close on the heels of the temporary suspension of Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account.
The party had said late on Wednesday that handles of five senior leaders, including media head Randeep Surjewala, had been locked. On Thursday morning, reports said that the party’s official Twitter handle, @INCIndia, had also been locked.
Among leaders whose Twitter accounts were locked are AICC general secretary and former minister Ajay Maken, party’s whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, Assam in-charge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev.
“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,” tweeted Pranav Jha, the AICC secretary in-charge of the party’s communication department.
“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 asked in another tweet.
“He thinks the virtual locks of Twitter will deter us from fighting for India,” Jha said.
While the Congress has accused Twitter of acting against Gandhi’s account under pressure from the Union government, the social media platform told the Delhi high court that a tweet by Gandhi, which had photos of the family of the nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi, violated its policy too.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had taken cognisance of Gandhi’s tweet and directed Twitter to act against the Congress leader’s account for violating the privacy of a minor victim, which is against the law.