‘Earlier a soul, Twitter now a burden for BJP’

Amid the standoff between Twitter and Centre, the Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, saying the microblogging site, which was once the “soul” of the party’s campaign, has now become a “burden”

Amid the standoff between Twitter and Centre, the Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, saying the microblogging site, which was once the “soul” of the party’s campaign, has now become a “burden”. An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said that Twitter’s importance for the party has ended because the BJP’s opponents are now using the same platform to respond to the party’s “false propaganda”.

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Twitter and the Centre have been at loggerheads over the new information technology rules. Twitter was sent “last notice” asking it to comply with the new information technology (IT) rules. “Earlier, Twitter was the soul of the struggle or campaign for the BJP or the Modi government. Twitter has now become a burden for them and the Modi government has reached the extent of deciding whether to throw this burden away. Today, all media in the country is under the complete control of the Modi government, except mediums like Twitter,” the editorial said. The editorial said that the “working style” of BJP government has been exposed through Twitter during the pandemic. “Social media platforms such as Twitter showed the world how Modi and his government failed to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. The dead bodies flowing in the Ganges, pyre burning continuously in Varanasi and Gujarat, ambulance queues outside the crematoriums reached the world and the working style of the BJP government was exposed,” the editorial said.

As the Centre issued new guidelines for social media platforms, the Sena alleged the social media platforms were used for “mudslinging” and “character assassination” of political opponents, and asked which rules allowed it.

The Sena said that the opposition has learned how to effectively use Twitter and are taking on the BJP in states like West Bengal and Bihar, creating panic within the ranks of the ruling party. As long as these attacks were going on in a one-sided manner, the BJP members were happy, but when the opposition launched attacks by deploying equally capable cyber forces, then there was panic in the BJP camp, the editorial said.

Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said, “It is not the question of it becoming a burden, but whether these companies follow the law of the land. It is a baseless argument that this is done after the government faced criticism for its handling of the second wave. The notification for these IT laws came in January or February when there was no second wave.”