True Indology, the popular Twitter handle which is known to bust the propaganda spread by elite handles, has been suspended once again by Twitter India. D Roopa, an IPS officer, claimed that firecrackers are not mentioned in ancient Hindu texts and, therefore, people should refrain from cracking them on Diwali. True Indology, who is well-known for his knowledge of Hinduism and uses authentic sources to validate his claims, quoted Puranas- Hindu text- to bust Roopa’s claims.
The enraged IPS officer got his account suspended when she could not argue against True Indology scholarly. Speaking about the “magic that happened on Twitter,” the owner of the page shared his side of the story and said, “One IPS officer from Bengaluru (Twitter India Head Quarters) issued directives to ban Diwali crackers. She said that crackers were not mentioned in ancient texts. I disagreed with her and showed her references from Ananda Ramayana and Skanda Purana.”
The user further wrote, “She asked me for my personal details. I refused to divulge those details. She then said, “Your time is up”. And boom. My account was suspended within 5 minutes. What a sweet coincidence! Twitter sent no mail. Gave no reason. Simply suspended my account. I did not divulge personal details. Hence, I was only digitally eliminated. What would have happened if I had? I shudder to think.”
The whole bureaucratic cabal, which feels entitled and has little respect for the common citizens of the country, went after True Indology. Although the Twitter handle of the True Indology has been suspended, he is active on other social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, where he shared his part of the story.
This is not the first time that the Twitter handle of True Indology has been suspended. Previously, Twitter India suspended his account on behest of Ashish Joshi, a civil servant who was suspended by the Modi government for registering an FIR against BJP leader Kapil Mishra. Joshi, who found a Twitter post by Kapil Mishra “incendiary”, registered an FIR against Kapil Mishra after which the Department of Telecom suspended him for violating civil services code of conduct.
The matter that indecent messages were doing the rounds on social media was brought to my notice by my college junior Barkha Dutt, who tagged me on Twitter,” Joshi, an alumnus of Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College, told ThePrint when he was suspended in February last year.
People like Joshi, who use their heft in the Indian bureaucracy to muzzle the voice of common citizens, are the real threat to Freedom of Expression in the country. D Roopa, like Joshi, feels entitled because she is part of elite civil services which ruled the country without popular support from the country. The deep state that Indian bureaucracy has built supports all the incumbent and former members of the league.
True Indology is run by a private citizen and is known to expose the distortions in the mainstream narrative of Indian history by likes of Devdutt Pattnaik and other historians who layer the Indian history with Colonial, Marxist, and Nehruvian distortions. One might question the facts the handle posted, as it is the mark of a good researcher or a history enthusiast to do so. But why would one need to suspend the account? It is not that True Indology was spreading hate. And to talk about hate, Twitter is so toxic that if it were to identify the handles that really spread venom, it would be in a spot.
As social media has become part of the society and part of the life of citizens, the best way to fight with these power hungry bureaucrats is to proceed legally and drag them to the courts and make them to apologize publicly for misusing their power to suppressing the voices of common people.
Let there be an investigation by CBI into indiscriminate censorship of Twitter India affecting Fundamental Rights of Citizens.