Priyanka swaps DP to Rahul Gandhi after Twitter blocks his account; he moves to Instagram

The Congress party has come out in support of its leader Rahul Gandhi, whose Twitter account was locked by the social media giant last week, following a controversial post. Leading the support, his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra changed her Twitter profile picture and replaced it with a photo of Rahul Gandhi. Several other senior Congress leaders were seen following the suit.

Hitting out at Twitter, Priyanka Vadra questioned if the platform was following its own policy or that of the Modi government. "Is Twitter following its own policy for the suspension of Congress leaders' accounts or the Modi government's? Why hadn't it locked the account of SC commission that had tweeted similar photos before any of our leaders did?" she tweeted.

"While the BJP government in cahoots with Twitter lock down the voices that cry for justice, let’s not forget the real issue. The real issue is the brutal rape and forced cremation of a 9-year old Dalit girl in the heart of India’s national capital. The real issue is the Delhi Police disallowing the lodging of an FIR for 15 hours," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted. 

She further questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not uttered a single word about this heinous crime against an innocent child. 

Earlier in the day, Congress claimed that the party's official Twitter account, besides 5,000 accounts of its leaders had been blocked by Twitter. The party claimed that Twitter has locked accounts of Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken, party's whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, Assam in-charge, and former Union minister Jitendra Singh and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev.

Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account locked, moves to Instagram

On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account was temporarily locked. This came after Twitter removed a controversial post revealing the identity of a rape victim in Delhi Cantt. After visiting the minor's family in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi had shared a photograph of her parents on social media. 

Issuing a statement in the Delhi High Court, Twitter on Wednesday informed that ex-Congress President Rahul Gandhi's tweet was in violation of the policies of the social media giant.

Meanwhile, Gandhi took to his Instagram account, to justify his move of sharing the controversial photo on Twitter last week. In a series of posts, the congress leader wrote, "If fighting for justice for a rape and murder victim is a crime, then I am guilty."

With the message "Daro Mat" (Do not be afraid), Gandhi said, "They can lock us out of a platform, but they can't lock out our voice for the sake of people."