RAHUL GANDHI, former president of the Indian National Congress -- the country’s main opposition party – has complained to social media giant Twitter about “strange” activity on his account and accused it of being the “unwitting” ally of the Narendra Modi government in curbing free speech.
The 51-year-old leader wrote to Twitter’s chief executive officer in a letter that growth in his new Twitter account followers stopped “suddenly” last August, plummeting from a monthly average of hundreds of thousands to almost nought.
“I have been reliably, albeit discreetly, informed by people at Twitter India that they are under immense pressure by the government to silence my voice,” he said in the letter dated December 27 and shared by his party on Thursday (27).
Gandhi said he believed that the US social media platform is part of an “unwitting complicity in curbing free and fair speech” but that the social media firm has an “enormous responsibility to ensure that Twitter does not actively help in the growth of authoritarianism in India”.
India’s Narendra Modi government has long been accused of suppressing dissent, including on social media, in the world’s largest democracy. It has denied the allegations.
This week, Twitter said India ranks fourth globally in the number of requests made by the government to remove content, after Japan, Russia and Turkey. The platform is banned in countries such as China and North Korea.
Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said social media suspensions during mass farmer protests in India last year was a “shocking case of blatant censorship”.
India also ranks among the prominent countries when it comes to shutting down the internet. Service was stopped for months across Kashmir in 2019 as part of a major security operation.
Last year, the Modi government introduced new social media rules that ask companies to remove and identify the “first originator” of posts deemed to undermine India’s sovereignty, state security and public order, AFP reported.
Social media companies and privacy activists have alleged that the vagueness of the rules mean they could be forced to go after authors of posts that criticise the government. They have challenged the rules in court.
On Thursday, a senior official of the grand-old party told AFP that Gandhi’s follower count “jumped by 100,000 within two days of Twitter’s response to his letter”.
A Twitter spokesperson told the news outlet that the number of followers on the platform fluctuated and it was linked to the removal of several thousands of accounts each week to deal with the platform’s manipulation and spam.
“While some accounts notice a minor difference, in certain cases the number could be higher,” the spokesperson said.
Modi has 75.1 million followers and is one of the most watched politicians on Twitter who regularly engages with his supporters through the platform.
Gandhi currently has 19.6 million followers.
Security personnel inspect the site in the aftermath of an attack as food stall chairs lie empty in Pahalgam, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Srinagar on April 23, 2025. Indian security forces in Kashmir carried out a major manhunt on April 23, a day after gunmen opened fire on tourists killing 26 people in the region's deadliest attack on civilians since 2000. Getty Images
Tourists visit Betaab Valley in Pahalgam, about 112 km south of Srinagar on June 26, 2025.Getty Images
Pilgrims gather at the Baltal Base Camp near Domel, en route to the sacred Amarnath cave in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, on July 29, 2025. The annual Amarnath Yatra, which began on July 3, proceeds under heightened security following a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed the lives of 25 tourists and a local pony handler. Security forces have been deployed in large numbers across the pilgrimage route, with checkpoints, surveillance, and restrictions in place to safeguard the thousands of devotees undertaking the arduous journey. The Amarnath Yatra is one of the most important Hindu pilgrimages, drawing worshippers from across India to the high-altitude Himalayan shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva. Despite the threat of violence and challenging terrain, pilgrims continue their spiritual trek, determined to complete the sacred journey under the shadow of grief and resilience.Getty Images
