Congress slams govt for sensoring tweets that criticized handling of Covid situation

The Congress said the tweets taken down were either critical of the steps taken by the government or were representing the miseries of the common people. The Central government, on the other hand, claimed these tweets were spreading "fake news" and "panic".

New Delhi:A day after the Central government sent a notice to Twitter asking it to delete some tweets as they were "not in compliance" with India's information technology laws, the Congress party called it "an attack on free speech".

As the country is battling the COVID-19 crisis, the Congress said the tweets taken down were either critical of the steps taken by the government or were representing the miseries of the common people. The Central government, on the other hand, claimed these tweets were spreading "fake news" and "panic".

One of these tweets was made by senior spokesperson of the Congress Pawan Khera. In his tweet, he had questioned the government's decision to allow Kumbh Mela and election rallies amid a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases.

"The Government of India can't run away from its responsibilities. First, you don't take the right decisions on time and when the situation gets out of control, you try to shut people's voices," Pawan Khera told ETV Bharat.

"The Kumbh Mela, election campaigning in Bengal were wrong decisions. If someone raises their voice against it, the Government of India can't stop him/her to do that. Our Constitution gives me this right to raise my voice and I'll do that," he said.

Khera said he has sent a legal notice to Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to either explain what was wrong in his tweet or give orders to Twitter to retrieve the tweet. "It is my right. Each and every Indian had to struggle for years to get this right. We can't let go of this Independence," he said.

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear," Khera wrote in his legal notice quoting George Orwell.

The micro-blogging website has taken down around 50 tweets, including those by Congress leader Revanth Reddy, actor Vineet Kumar Singh, filmmaker Vinod Kapri and West Bengal Minister Moloy Ghatak. These posts are, however, visible to Twitter users of other countries.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also attacked the Central government over the matter. She said, "It is an irony that instead of ensuring people get proper treatment and do not die due to lack of oxygen, which is all an outcome of the government's failure, lack of planning, and ignorance, this government chose to clamp down on voices. This is not going to help you fight against Corona (COVID-19)."

"People are suffering. They have lost their loved ones because of your incompetence and all that you want to do is clamp down communication? How many tweets are you going to delete? The reality is that the world today is talking about us, not because we have overcome the virus but because of your incompetence, so many Indians are dying today," she said.