On 24th June 2021, Thursday, BJP MP Varun Gandhi challenged Twitter to reveal the legal notice that it said it had received from "Indian law enforcement" against violations by his account on the social media platform.
"I am certain I have violated no law and that no law agency would have found anything offensive in my tweets. Twitter should clarify their basis for such correspondence. Shocked by their behaviour," the lawmaker from UP's Pilibhit said.
He attached a screenshot of an email that he said he had received from Twitter, informing him of "a request from Indian Law Enforcement" regarding his account, that claimed his account had violated Indian laws.
He appended the post with an accusation on-brand with his party's running feud with the social network: "For too long now, Twitter has indulged in online bullying of our citizens for their diversity of political views to make us conform with their 'woke' propaganda."
The parliamentarian also said that he had checked from sources within the government whether any agency had sent such a request against his account and found they had not.
Mr. Gandhi's run-in with Twitter comes amid its months-long clash with the BJP-led government at the centre over issues ranging from requests to take down tweets supporting the farmers' protest, discrediting posts by leaders of the BJP and more recently new regulation.
Earlier this month, a number of prominent Twitter users in India who are critical of the government including cartoonist Manjul said they had received correspondence from the social networking site informing them that "Indian law enforcement" had asked for action against their accounts.
Among the accounts that were banned was one belonging to Canadian-Punjabi singer Jazzy B, who has frequently tweeted in support of farmers protesting the government's agriculture laws and, in December last year, joined thousands camped on the borders of the national capital.
The accounts were blocked - they have been 'geo-restricted', meaning they can still be accessed from IP addresses outside the country - after a legal demand from the government on Sunday.
Mr Gandhi's run-in with Twitter comes amid its months-long clash with the BJP-led government at the centre over issues ranging from requests to take down tweets supporting the farmers' protest, discrediting posts by leaders of the BJP and more recently new regulation.
Earlier this month, a number of prominent Twitter users in India who are critical of the government including cartoonist Manjul said “they had received correspondence from the social networking site informing them that "Indian law enforcement" had asked for action against their accounts.
Among the accounts that were banned was one belonging to Canadian-Punjabi singer Jazzy B, who has frequently tweeted in support of farmers protesting the government's agriculture laws and, in December last year, joined thousands camped on the borders of the national capital.
The accounts were blocked - they have been 'geo-restricted', meaning they can still be accessed from IP addresses outside the country - after a legal demand from the government on June 27th 2021.
