Earlier this week, Twitter suspended Indian journalist Salil Tripathi’s account after he posted a poem on the site about the demolition of the Babri mosque.
Prominent writers including Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh condemned this act, calling it ‘outrageous’ and ‘astonishing’.
Politician Shashi Tharoor and writer Nilanjana Roy also expressed outrage over Twitter’s censorship, terming it as a direct violation of basic human rights.
“Why has Salil Tripathi’s Twitter account been suspended? Earlier today, he’d tweeted about the demolition of the Babri Masjid, expressing the continuing anguish many also feel – hope Twitter India will restore his voice soonest.” Suketu Mehta, also an author, said Tripathi was “one of our most important human rights activists. Absolutely unacceptable for Twitter India to suspend his account. India needs Salil’s voice!” Roy tweeted.
December 6 marked the anniversary of Babri Mosque’s demolition, which was illegally carried out in 1992 by a large group of activists. The 16th-century mosque in Uttar Pradesh had been the subject of a lengthy socio-political dispute, and was finally targeted after a political rally organised by Hindu nationalist organisations turned violent.
