We live in strange times, cooped up at home thanks to an ongoing pandemic, fighting digital wars with strangers and apparently, wishing our administration was more like Nigeria's. Over the last day or so, Twitter has repeatedly made headlines and for many online, the story begins with Nigeria announcing an "indefinite" ban on Twitter across the country. Closer to home, this was also the time that people began to realise that the personal account of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had had its blue verification badge removed.
And while some dubbed this an "assault" against the Constitution of India, others others were sure this was an "open challenge" from Twitter to the government of India. Eagle eyed netizens soon realised that several other verified handles, including those belonging to RSS officials had also lost their blue ticks. The conclusion was quite simple (and decidedly unoriginal) - Twitter must be banned in India.
The secondary conclusion however was a tad startling. As one user put it, it was "high time that India emulates Nigeria". And while some did make an attempt to reason out why this was an unfair assessment, netizens were not having it. Others adopted a somewhat unusual way of supporting the administration, hitting out at their "shameful" conduct for not having banned Twitter yet.
"Just look at Nigeria," yet another user said admiringly.
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