Twitter has said that violating its rules would mean indulging in violence, harassment and behavior that discourages people from expressing themselves, diminishing the value of global public conversation.
Bangalore: Twitter suspended actress Kangana Ranuat’s account, on Tuesday, May 4 morning stating the actor violated Twitter’s rules. The actress had tweeted on May 4 criticizing the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal over the violence in the state after the election results were announced on May 2. Over tweets she called for decisive action to protect nationalism in Bengal.
She further tweeted unverified images of the alleged gang rape of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, accusing TMC workers and calling them ‘goons’. She asked Amit Shah, the Minister of Home Affairs to protect the workers and their lives. Following a series of tweets related to the Bengal violence, her account was suspended.
#BengalBurning has been trending on twitter since Monday, following the announcement of results of the State election . It has over 132.7 thousand tweets. Accounts belonging to Devang Dave, member of Information Technology board, Government of Maharashtra and PC Mohan, BJP Member of Parliament (MP), Bangalore, tweeted over the violence that has taken place in Bengal.
Devang alleged that around 300 houses of BJP supporters have been set on fire in Belkash, West Bengal. He has also blamed TMC ‘goons’. He tweeted that the TMC brutally beat up Hiranmoy Sana, BJP Mandal President of Haringhata city in the state. Gaurav Goel, state spokesperson for the BJP, has questioned the possibility of President’s rule in the state to save the lives of people of West Bengal.
The violence followed the election results in West Bengal, where the TMC won 213 seats over the Bharatiya Janata Party that j secured 77 seats in the state. Mamata Baneree, the to-be-sworn-in Chief Minister of Bengal appealed for calm, blaming the BJP for the violence.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry sought a report from the state over the violence, as the BJP claimed at least six party workers were killed and several homes attacked.
Commenting on the violence, Kangana said in a video on her Instagram, that disturbing photos and videos emerging from Bengal reeked of violence. She called out “liberals” and “international media” for not speaking up on the issue. She questioned the silence as a conspiracy. She captioned the video “Distressed, beyond words, death of democracy.”
Advocate Nupur Sachdeva said that recently the Information and Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Twitter to block the accounts that were criticising the government, hence it is working under government guidelines. “Freedom of expression to an extent is fine,” she said, “However, if it’s intruding or leading to violence, we really should keep our mouth shut. I doubt any freedom of speech is left in India”
