Twitter suspends writer Salil Tripathi's account for 'offensive' poem

Photo for representational purpose

Twitter suspended the account of well-known journalist, author and activist Salil Tripathi on Sunday after he tweeted a video of himself reciting a poem about the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition and the 2002 Gujarat riots. Twitter blocked his account after the tweet was reported as ‘offensive'.

Tripathi had tweeted a video of himself reciting his poem, ‘My Mother's Fault', which had first appeared in his book, Offence: The Hindu Case - Manifestos for the 21st Century, published in 2009. The author lives in the US and currently heads PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee.

According to his official website, Tripathi has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic, The New Yorker and The San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. He received the Mumbai Press Club's Red Ink Award for human rights journalism in 2015.

In response to an emailed set of questions from Mid-Day asking why it had suspended Tripathi's account, Twitter said: "The referenced account has been temporarily suspended for publishing a list that violates our abusive behaviour policy. To regain access, the account holder needs to edit or remove the specific media or content to come into compliance. Learn more about the range of enforcements here."

Speaking to Mid-Day, Tripathi said, "Twitter is a private company and it says it has policies that can decide what it can allow to be said on its platform. That is its right. To decide what to say on the platform is my right. When Twitter chooses to suspend anyone, it has to be prepared to be judged, if it is applying the policy consistently and without discrimination. Its record has been poor in this regard. I have done nothing that I should express regret for; the ball is in their court now."

Twitter had similarly blocked the account of columnist and author Aakar Patel, former executive director of Amnesty International India, in June this year. In fact, Patel was arrested on September 23 and released on bail on the basis of a complaint filed by Purnesh Modi,BJP MLA from Surat West, for posting allegedly "offensive" tweets against Gujarat's Ghanchi community. "If Twitter encounters Saint @saliltripathi in custody we will move UNESCO," Patel tweeted on Monday about Tripathi's Twitter suspension.

Many other authors,activists, and even politicians,expressed solidarity with Tripathi - ironically, on Twitter itself.

Author Salman Rushdie - against whom Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, had issued a fatwa in 1989 for his book ‘Satanic Verses', forcing the author to go into hiding for the better part of a decade- tweeted: "This is an outrageous act of censorship against one of the most important advocates of free speech. @Twitter stop it now!"

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Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, recently held guilty of contempt of court by the Supreme Court of India for two of his tweetsand fined Re 1 as punishment,also called Twitter's action "outrageous". "Outrageous!Twitter suspended account of Journalist Salil Tripathi, chair PEN International's Writers in Prison. One of his tweets reported as "offensive" was a video of Tripathi performing a poem he had written for mother,on the demolition of Babri Masjid!" Bhushan tweeted.

Also Read: Prashant Bhushan pays Re 1 fine, files review plea against conviction

Author Aatish Taseer also expressed solidarity with Tripathi. "This is astonishing. First @Facebook, now @TwitterIndia. What we need to ask ourselves is whether it is the express policy of US information companies to collude with authoritarian regimes - to behave abroad as they would never behave at home," he tweeted. Last year, the Indian government had revoked Taseer's Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status, claiming the author had "hidden" the fact that his father was Pakistani (on his part, Taseer, the son of slain Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer and Indian journalist Tavleen Singh, said he was given just 24 hours to object as against the full 21 days that the rule mandates).

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor,too, tweeted in support of Tripathi: "I can't believe this. How on earth could @Twitter suspend the account of a highly respected writer, author & human rights activist? Do their algorithms have no human being applying common sense before undertaking such actions? #SalilTripathi."

Author Amitav Ghosh was 'beyond astonished' to know about the account suspension of the eminent journalist."Beyond astonished to learn that Salil Tripathi's @Twitter account (@saliltripathi) has been suspended. Salil is an outstanding journalist, writer and human rights activist…," Ghosh tweeted.

Historian and author William Dalrymple called Twitter's move "bizarre". "Why has @saliltripathi , the respected poet, writer and chair of the PEN Writers in Prison committee had his Twitter account suspended? Salil is a well known advocate of non-violence and human rights. Seems most bizarre," Dalrymple tweeted.

Journalist Shekhar Gupta said the social media site should "stop allowing anonymity and bots". "Nothing on Salil Tripathi handle would justify blocking it. If twitter has any interest in restoring civility, it should stop allowing anonymity & bots. Both are used to spread lies & hatred," Gupta tweeted.

Delhi-based novelist Nilanjana Roy hoped Tripathi's "voice is restored soon"."Why has @saliltripathi's Twitter account been suspended? Earlier today, he'd tweeted about the demolition of the #babrimasjid, expressing the continuing anguish many also feel - hope @TwitterIndia will restore his voice soonest," she tweeted.

Author Mira Kamdar also tweeted against Twitter's action. "Why is author, @PEN_int and human rights activist @saliltripathi's account still closed @Twitter?" she tweeted.

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri also supported Tripathi. Agnihotri tweeted: "If @twitter goes on suspending and censoring handles like this, soon it will become like Aastha Channel full of only GM and motivational posts. I stand for FoE of @saliltripathi and everyone else irrespective of their ideology."

Story byline: Chirantana Bhatt and Kartik Bhardwaj

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