TMC leader Derek O’Brien claims Twitter removed his post on BBC documentary critical of PM Modi

Calling it "censorship", Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien claimed his tweet was deleted at the request of the Indian government.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: January 22, 2023 05:25 PM IST

3 min read

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien (File)

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Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien alleged Saturday that a tweet by him on the controversial BBC documentary India: The Modi Question has been deleted by Twitter. He shared an e-mail, purportedly addressed to him from the microblogging site, which said his tweet was deleted at the request of the Indian government that claimed it violated the country’s laws.

“CENSORSHIP. @Twitter @TwitterIndia HAS TAKEN DOWN MY TWEET of the #BBCDocumentary, it received lakhs of views,” O’Brien tweeted.

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Claiming that the one-hour documentary “exposed how PM @narendramodi HATES MINORITIES”, the parliamentarian further said: “See flimsy reason given. The opposition will continue to fight the good fight (sic).”

The e-mail to O’Brien purportedly said: “In the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that Twitter has received a request from Indian Government regarding your Twitter account, @derekobrienmp, that claims the following content violates the laws of India. In order to comply with Twitter’s obligations under India’s local laws, we have withheld this content in India; the content remains available elsewhere.”

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A day after the BBC aired the first part of the two-part documentary, focusing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and his then state government’s response to the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Centre said it was a “propaganda piece” which lacked “objectivity” and reflected a “colonial mindset”.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in response to questions at the weekly briefing, said: “Do note that this (the documentary) has not been screened in India. So, I am only going to comment in the context of what I have heard about it and what my colleagues have seen. Let me just make it very clear that we think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative.”

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