Over the last few days the Indian government has been locked in a spat with popular social media platform, Twitter. Now, as deadlock between the two continue, many are convinced that the microblogging platform will soon face punitive action.
Against this backdrop, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy took a sarcastic swipe at the NDA-led administration and his own party, wondering if problematic comments by all would be addressed.
"While tackling Twitter objectionable material, will the Government examine the BJP IT Cell and PMO efforts in Twitter to use filthy language against rivals in popularity with Modi?" he wondered in a tweet on Friday morning.
In recent months, Swamy has made no secret of his disdain for the BJP IT Cell, repeatedly hitting out at members as well as fellow party leader Amit Malviya who heads the team. In September 2020 for example, Swamy had accused the BJP IT Cell of using fake accounts to "make personal attacks" on him. While he didn't specify as to what kind of a campaign this was, in one tweet Swamy said that "one Malaviya character is running riot with filth".
"The BJP IT cell has gone rogue. Some of its members are putting out fake ID tweets to make personal attacks on me," Swamy had tweeted. Since then, he has made several comments in the same vein.
The rift with Twitter incidentally is linked tangentially to another issue where Swamy has gone against his party's official stance. Amid the farmers protest, and the Republic Day clashes the government had called on Twitter to withhold numerous accounts and hashtags that spoke about "farmers genocide". The company's hesitance while complying with the same has triggered the ongoing standoff.
Swamy meanwhile does not agree with how his party has handled the ongoing farmers crisis. Many on social media have rallied behind the BJP MP after he suggested that the much debated farm Acts be applied "only to those States which write to Centre asking for its implementation for their states".
