Twitter bans Indian actress Kangana Ranaut for hateful posts

Ranaut, known for her ardent support of Narendra Modi, is accused of violating Twitter rules on hateful conduct and abusive behaviour.

Ranaut attemds the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2018, in Cannes, France [File: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images]

Twitter Inc says it has banned leading Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, known for her ardent support of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing her of violating its rules on hateful conduct and abusive behaviour.

Ranaut posted a tweet on Monday in which she urged Modi to resort to gangster tactics to “tame” West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose regional party defeated Modi’s Hindu nationalists in elections over the weekend to retain control of the state government.

Following the election, Banerjee’s party was accused of violent attacks on its defeated opponents, which it denies.

In her tweet, Ranaut called Banerjee an “unleashed monster” and urged Modi to “tame her”.

“We need super gundai (hooliganism in Hindi) to kill gundai… Modi ji (a honorific) please show your Virat roop (larger-than-life form) from the early 2000s,” she posted, an apparent reference to 2002 Gujarat riots that took place when Modi was the state chief minister.

Confirming on Tuesday that Ranaut’s account had been suspended, Twitter explained its policy.

“We have been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behaviour 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.”

Ranaut, a winner of several national film awards, railed against Twitter’s action in a statement.

“Twitter has only proved my point. They are Americans, and by birth a white person feels entitled to enslave a brown person,” she said.

“They want to tell you what to think, speak or do, fortunately I have many platforms I can use to raise my voice, including my own art in the form of cinema but my heart goes out to the people of this nation who have been tortured, enslaved and censored for thousands of years and still their is no end to the suffering.”

Source: Al Jazeera, Reuters