Don't be a pawn in the idea of destruction of India: Rahul Gandhi's SOS letter to Twitter
India Today
In a letter to Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal, Rahul Gandhi said he had been discreetly informed by the company's employees in India that they were under immense pressure by the government to silence his voice.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Twitter, urging it not to become “a pawn in the idea of the destruction of India”. Writing to Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal, he said he wanted to highlight Twitter’s unwitting complicity in curbing free and fair speech.
He included an analysis of his account and a comparison with those of PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. He said while his followers increased by 4 lakh on average for the first seven months of 2021, the growth had come to a halt after his account was suspended for eight days in August last year.
This was the period when he raised most of the burning issues.
"I am writing to you on behalf of more than a billion Indians to not allow Twitter to become a pawn in the destruction of the idea of India," Gandhi said in the letter written on December 27, 2021. India Today has a copy of the letter.
"Perhaps not so coincidentally, it was precisely during these months that I raised the plight of a rape victim's family in Delhi, stood in solidarity with farmers and fought the government on many other human rights issues. In fact, a video of mine that promised farmers that the three infamous farm laws would be repealed is among the most-watched videos on Twitter posted by any political leader in India in recent times," Rahul Gandhi wrote.
"I have been reliably, albeit discreetly, informed by people at Twitter India that they are under immense pressure by the government to silence my voice. My account was even blocked for a few days for no legitimate reason. There were many other Twitter handles, including government ones, which had tweeted similar photos of the same people. None of those accounts was blocked. My account was singularly targeted," he said in the letter.
