Twitter row: Cong says PM Modi wants to suppress voice of 140 crore Indians

The Congress on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to suppress the voice of 140 crore Indians and does not want them to say anything against him and his government.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the action against Twitter and other social media platforms is only aimed at suppressing the freedom of their speech and expression.

He said this in the context of the government initiating action against Twitter.

The government has asked Twitter to comply with intermediary guidelines and said it has lost its "safe harbour" protection in India over non-compliance with IT rules and failure to appoint key personnel mandated under the new guidelines.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said Twitter failed to comply with intermediary guidelines and has "deliberately" chosen the path of non-compliance despite being granted multiple opportunities.

Surjewala said Twitter does not write anything of its own, it is the people of the country who write against this government and its policies.

"Prime Minister Modi wants to suppress the voice of 140 crore Indians. It is the fight for the freedom of speech. Today, journalists in the country cannot write against this government, else they will lose their job or life. In such a situation, only YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, social platforms are left and Modi ji himself is the creation of such platforms," he told reporters.

"Twitter does not write anything of its own. It is the people of India -- the youth, the Dalits, the farmers, the poor -- who write against the government and criticise Modi ji, then they have problems. Now, they want to lock down every social media platform as well and this is their intention," the Congress leader said.