New Delhi: Twitter has suspended
Kangana Ranaut's Twitter account permanently after a controversial tweet related to the post-election result violence in Bengal. The account repeatedly violated Twitter policy on "hateful conduct and abusive behavior."
She told news agency ANI that she has many platforms she can use to raise her voice, including her own art in the form of cinema. In the tweet that appears to have spurred this action, the actor seems to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "tame"
Mamata Banerjee using his "Virat Roop" from "early 2000s" in Bengal.
She was reacting to a tweet by journalist-BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta on the violence in Bengal since election results were announced on Sunday (May 2).
However, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and the BJP have blamed each other for the clashes and arson.
The 34-year-old actor's tweet sparked outrage and calls for action against the strident actor, whose timeline is filled with vitriolic posts. "We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy," a Twitter spokesperson said.
"As explained in our abusive behaviour policy, you may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else's voice."
The actor had also posted a rant on her Instagram account earlier today. Teary-eyed, she talked about "disturbing news, videos and photos from Bengal of people being murdered, gang-raped and their houses being burnt." She also called for President's Rule in the state, criticising a "government that I support" for not doing more than dharnas in response to the clashes.
Reacting to her being removed from
Twitter, the actor, defiant, called it the "death of democracy" in a rant on Instagram. She said that Twitter has only proved her point. They are Americans, and by birth, a white person feels entitled to enslave a brown person. They want to tell people what to think, speak or do.
"But my heart goes out to the people of this nation who have been tortured, enslaved and censored for thousands of years and still there is no end to the suffering," added Ranaut.