Blocking my Twitter account is interference in political process: Rahul Gandhi
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Aug, 2021 11:16 AM
New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) Rahul Gandhi on Friday released a video statement slamming Twitter for blocking his account and alleged that Twitter was taking sides in the politics of the country.
Rahul in the video statement said, "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. This is an attack on the democratic structure of the country. This is not an attack on Rahul Gandhi."
He said that he has 19-20 million followers and they have been denied the right to an opinion.
"So, this is not only patently unfair, this is their breaching the idea that Twitter is a neutral platform. And for the investors this is a very dangerous thing because taking sides in the political contest has repercussions for Twitter," he added.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that the democracy is under attack, opposition was not being 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. 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," he 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." Rahul Gandhi said.
Twitter has blocked accounts of Rahul Gandhi and many Congress leaders for violating their policy. The Congress has alleged that it was being done on the behest of the government.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.
The Congress said that it was "appropriate for our initial statement to note that the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers had ruptured the delicate peace in the region".
