Two days after Twitter placed restrictions on his official account for a controversial statement against the Tablighi Jamaat on the platform, Karnataka Member of Parliament (MP) Ananth Kumar Hegde said he will not delete the tweet.
On April 16, he had posted a communally provocative tweet on the Tablighi Jamaat’s religious gathering. “Coronavirus, a dangerous virus infection used as a weapon, and using Islamic beliefs to put infection in muslims...and from there spread it to others in society - is this not a plotting attempt?” he tweeted with suggestive hashtags, including “ bioterrorism”.
On April 24 (Friday), Twitter didn't suspend the account, but it however placed a restriction on Hegde's account, including disabling the feature to tweet. However, his account is active and all tweets, even the controversial one, are still visible.
In another controversial tweet on Tablighi Jamaat, he claimed that he knew the “modus-operandi and the hidden agenda of Tablighi Jamaat movement within Indian and around the world”.
On Sunday, the six-time MP from Uttara Kannada took to Facebook in an attempt to justify why his account was restricted by Twitter. According to the MP, it was two tweets that had led to the action from Twitter including one where he objected to man demanding Khalistan.
The MP shared the message he received from Twitter where he was asked to delete the tweets that violate its rules. In the message, Twitter also said that if he felt that it has made a mistake, he can appeal the violation.
Hegde, however, said: “I will, certainly, never delete the said tweet because it was to expose the wrong being done under the umbrella of religion. Undoubtedly, I am not against any religion but being an Indian, I will not allow any person or organisation to spread hatred or to provoke people to indulge in any anti-social or anti-national activity, I stand affirm on my statement and will defend it strongly.”
‘Indian version of Twitter’
Former union minister Hegde has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a strange request: to create a government-built, Indian version of Twitter, in order to challenge the “digital colonisation that Indians are facing from a corporate entity (Twitter Inc)”.
The ‘confidential’ letter to Modi (dated April 25, 2020) has however been shared on media groups. In the letter, he pointed out that "there is wrongful interference in free speech by Twitter Inc which is detrimental to India's strategic interest and democratic fabric of society”.
He also claimed that handles of several nationalists, pro-Indian handles and elected public representatives are being selectively targetted and are being suspended or locked rampantly in the last few months.
“Handles spewing poison and passing objectionable comments about the PM, Home Minister, Chief Ministers and other Indian establishments are promoted via paid advertisements. Handles spreading discontent and fake news about Indian regions or elected representatives are not warned/blocked even after repetitive complaints,” Hegde wrote, urging Modi to investigate “if money is exchanged or personal like or dislike of decision-maker of Twitter leads to such action”.
Hedge alleged that it was after police think-tank Centre of Knowledge Sovereignty (CKS) raised the issue of anti-India tweets on several platforms that his account was "suspended/locked".
He urged the PM to start an Indian version of Twitter "on a war-footing" for data sovereignty and transparency and to allow freedom of speech and expression.
The MP recently had attracted the attention of the national media in February after he spoke against Mahatma Gandhi. The BJP then had said that the party had initiated disciplinary proceedings against him. Even BJP stalwarts had claimed that his statements made Modi “upset”, following which Hegde had issued an apology.