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BJP criticises Twitter for axing Trump acount : Krishna Saagar Rao
BJP Telangana chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao
Says it reeks of timed opportunism and a brazen political agenda by Twitter
Hyderabad: BJP Telangana chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao has expressed doubts about the neutrality of the social platform Twitter, questioning if it has become a politically-biased entity.
In a statement here on Sunday, he condemned the 'unjustified', 'unilateral' action of Twitter in permanently suspending the personal account of US President Donald Trump. "Partisan positions are for politicians and political parties to take, not for tech companies,"
he remarked. "It is a shame that those who advocate free speech are celebrating Trump being suspended from Twitter unilaterally," he flayed
"One should understand insulting and censoring a sitting President equals not just insulting 75 million who voted for him, but an entire nation." Rao said an elected leader of a nation is silenced through suspension of his social media account by a tech company, after being certain that he wouldn't continue as President anymore. 'It reeks of timed opportunism and a brazen political agenda by Twitter'.
He remarked "dictators, kings, oppressive rulers and Left-extremists can have Twitter accounts and express freely, but not President of one of the largest nations in the world? Does Twitter understand democratic rights? Has Twitter become a 'Global Kangaroo Court' to regulate and judge elected national leaders of democracies?
The president who holds nuclear weapon codes and has governed the US for four years doesn't warrant judgement on responsible expression by a bunch of tech company executives. It's shocking that immature bias and prejudiced assumption of Twitter has overtaken the expected tolerance to 'freedom of expression".
Rao said that if in case, the speech by Trump has incited violence, there is legal recourse and a functional justice system in the US, which can follow a due process to hold him responsible. But, Twitter can't become judge, jury and dispense lopsided sentence by permanently suspending the Twitter account of a globally popular democratic leader.
Such censorship by Twitter and Facebook will set a wrong precedence and endanger freedom of expression, not just in the US, but across the world, he observed.
