Twitter suspends accounts of ABVP, restores them later

ABVP Twitter handles like ABVPVoice, ABVPDelhi, DUSUAbvp and accounts of national secretary Rahul Sharma, national media convener Saket Bahuguna, JNU leader Saurabh Sharma and Diksha Verma were suspended on Thursday night, they were restored by Friday afternoon following complaints.

Several Twitter handles owned by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and its leaders, suspended on Thursday night, were restored by Friday afternoon following the outrage and complaints. However, the all the account holders lost their followers.

Most users came to know about the suspension on Friday morning, with people complaining on Twitter about the suspension and questioning the right to freedom of speech and expression.(HT Photo for representational purpose only)

The account of ABVP Delhi state account called the ABVPVoice, ABVPDelhi, DUSUAbvp and accounts of national secretary Rahul Sharma, national media convener Saket Bahuguna, JNU leader Saurabh Sharma and Diksha Verma were suspended on Thursday night. ABVP is a student organisation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Most of the users came to know about the suspension on Friday morning, with people complaining on Twitter about the suspension and questioned the right to freedom of speech and expression.

“This surely creates suspension and smells of prejudice when all accounts suspended were following the Twitter policies and never violated them. How can Twitter suspend the handles of the largest student organisation in the country?” asked Saket Bahuguna, national media convener.

He said the Twitter did not give them any reason over the suspension of the accounts.

“The so-called largest social media platform should issue an apology and state publicly the real reasons for the suspension of these accounts,” said a statement from the student body.

Twitter India did not respond to the emails sent by HT.

The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, Tajinder Pal Bagga, also wrote a letter to Twitter demanding clarification.

Meanwhile, ABVP activists like Diksha Verma also started a campaign holding a placard which read “I’m and ABVP activist and I’m not afraid of Twitter suspension”.

The campaign was similar to the one Gurmehar Kaur had started against the ABVP after the Ramjas College violence.