Five top members of the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have had their blue tick verification credentials revoked on Twitter, only days after a similar move against Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s personal account was overturned.
According to sources in the right-wing volunteer organization, RSS president Mohan Bhagawat, his colleagues Suresh Soni, Arun Kumar, Suresh Joshi, and Krishna Kumar were among the accounts that lost their verification badges.
The government and Twitter have been at odds since the social media platform labeled some remarks by a few BJP officials targeting the opposition Congress as “manipulated.” The blue tick purge has created a new flashpoint between them.
Mr. Naidu’s blue tick was allegedly restored within a few hours after the Vice President’s office voiced complaints. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is expected to send Twitter a notice inquiring why this was done without “prior notification.” “This is disobedience to a constitutional position. Twitter intends to put India’s patience to the test,” according to official sources.
When queried about the action on Venkaiah Naidu’s personal account earlier in the day, Twitter verified the policy, claiming it had been dormant since 2020 and no one has checked-in in the previous six months.
Government sources, on the other hand, described it as an atrocious move against the country’s “Number 2” constitutional leader. They noted that previous Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj’s accounts remained authenticated even after their deaths in 2019.
The move signaled a worsening of relations between the government and Twitter, which have been at odds on a number of topics, including the government’s stance on new digital laws for social media services and the discrediting of BJP officials tweets.
