Twitter interfering in political process: Rahul Gandhi lashes out over his account suspension

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed the blocking of his Twitter handle “an attack on the democratic structure of the country”.

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New Delhi: Days after his official Twitter account was blocked, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday (August 13) lashed out at the microblogging site and accused it of being “biased”. In a strong critique, Gandhi said Twitter is interfering in the country's political process, PTI reported. 

The former Congress chief termed the blocking of his Twitter handle “an attack on the democratic structure of the country”. 

Releasing a video message on YouTube, Gandhi said, "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.”

"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," he added. 

Further, he accused Twitter of denying his millions of followers the right to an opinion. "This is an attack on the democratic structure of the country. This is not an attack on Rahul Gandhi. This is not you know simply shutting Rahul Gandhi down. I have 19-20 million followers. You are denying them the right to an opinion. That's what you are doing," the Congress leader said in the video message. 

He added, "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.”

Hitting out at the company and questioning its neutrality, Gandhi said, "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 where we could put what we thought on Twitter. But obviously, that's not the case.”

Congress said on Sunday that Twitter has temporarily suspended Gandhi's account and they were trying to get it restored. His handle was suspended after Gandhi posted pictures of the family of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Delhi. After Rahul Gandhi, the Twitter account of the Congress and several leaders including party's media head Randeep Surjewala was suspended, the party alleged. 

Meanwhile, Twitter said it has followed due process as Gandhi's tweet on the kin of the victim was against its rules and the law. "We have taken proactive action on several hundred tweets that posted an image that violated our rules and may continue to do so in line with our range of enforcement options. Certain types of private information carry higher risks than others and our aim is always to protect individual privacy and safety," the company spokesperson had said.

(With PTI inputs)