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Austrian economist's X account blocked after ‘dismantle India’ post
The post came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCO Summit in Tianjin on Monday.
The Government of India blocked the X (formerly Twitter) account of Austrian economist Gunther Fehlinger-Jahn on Friday after a controversial post in which he called to " dismantle India."
The account was disabled in India after the ministry of home affairs and ministry of electronics and information technology flagged the post and directed the Elon Musk-led social media platform to withhold its access in the country.
"I call to dismantle India into ExIndia. @narendramodi is Russia's man. We need friends of freedom for @KhalistanNet," Fehlinger-Jahn had written in a post.
The post came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCO Summit in Tianjin on Monday. Both leaders also held an hour-long bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit, and even shared a car ride to the venue.
Along with the remarks, Fehlinger-Jahn had shared a map depicting almost all Indian territories belonging to Pakistan, Khalistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The screenshot sparked intense outrage among netizens, who labelled Gunther as a “troll". The government action comes following the outrage.
Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi responded to a post that shared the screenshot, calling the remarks “insanity”. She also asked the MEA to take up the matter with the Austrian Embassy.
"What insanity is this? @MEAIndia must take this up with the Austrian Embassy," she wrote.
Vladimir Putin's message after meeting PM Narendra Modi, China's Xi Jinping
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday renewed his call for a multipolar global order, citing the growing weight of economies such as India and China and stressing that no single power should dominate international politics or security.
“Everyone has equal rights in this multipolar world. Yes, there are economic giants like India or China. Our country is among the top four economies in purchasing power parity. But that doesn’t mean anyone should dominate politics or global security. Everyone must be equal,” Putin said at a press briefing after a four-day visit to China.
He reiterated that the “unipolar world” model must end, calling it unfair and outdated.
“A unipolar world is unfair. It’s obvious. The world must be multipolar, which means all actors in international relations must be equal, and there must be no one more equal than the others. A unipolar world must cease to exist,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
The Russian President further underlined that multipolarity must not replicate old hierarchies or create new “hegemons.”
