Shah briefs PM on farm protests; govt puts Twitter on notice over 'incendiary' hashtag

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 3

Ahead of the February 6 call by Samyukta Kisan Morcha to block roads in protest of farm laws, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the law and order situation and preparations to ensure the protest call remains peaceful.

The prime minister was briefed on the situation at the Cabinet meeting held in Parliament this evening even as Lok Sabha was adjourned amid opposition protests over farm issues.

The Cabinet meeting is also learnt to have taken note of the continued disruption of Lok Sabha where a customary agenda to discuss the Motion of Thanks on President’s address to Parliament remains suspended due to opposition protests over farm laws.

The agenda was to be taken up yesterday but was disrupted.

Today the Rajya Sabha has begun the said discussion but Congress-led opposition continued to storm the Lok Sabha with MP Manish Tewari giving a notice of adjournment of proceedings to discuss farmers’ agitation.

The government meanwhile put Twitter on notice today for not honouring a previous legally binding order to remove incendiary and provocative accounts from its space, asking it to comply or face action for not working to prevent a potential law and order issue.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology warned Twitter for “unilaterally unblocking accounts linked to a hashtag that falsely fear mongered about alleged farmers’ genocide”.

Several of these accounts (around 250 plus) were blocked Monday for tweeting and retweeting the incendiary and objectionable hashtag but were later restored by Twitter, government sources said adding that the hashtag is part of attempts to “provoke tensions and a threat to peace”.

The government has directed Twitter to comply with Indian laws on the matter and remove the accounts that “continue to incite violence in offline mode by exploiting the ongoing farmers’ protests” and “falsely linking these to genocide”.

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