The cabinet reshuffle exercise undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening was closely followed across political annals of the country. While big-ticket names like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar and Ramesh Nishank Pokhriyal were shown the doors, a particular and notorious section of the left-liberal intelligentsia was celebrating the axing of Union IT Minister claiming that Twitter was supposedly left of the hooks.
Some highly revered leftists species made the ground-breaking observation that Prasad was sacked by PM Modi to placate Twitter after the sparring between the two entities continued for well over two months.
So Ravi Shankar Prasad will now have a lot of time to spend on twitter, I take it?
— saliltripathi (वो बनाये परिवार, हमें पसंद रविवार) (@saliltripathi) July 7, 2021
However, if the cabal had used little analytical skills, it would have figured out that a change of guard means more misery for the social media platform that has already lost the intermediary status and is left without any ‘immunity’ which makes it vulnerable to the strict penal laws of the country.
Reported by TFI, immediately after assuming the charge of Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology on Thursday, Ashwini Vaishnaw sent a warning to Twitter along with the Delhi High Court, which declared the Central Government can initiate any action against Twitter in accordance with the new IT rules in case of non-compliance while maintaining that it reserves the right to challenge the rules.
Lashing out at social media giant for non-compliance, a single judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli of the Delhi High Court said it was not going to give Twitter any protection from consequences of non-compliance.
Meanwhile, Vaishnaw in his first media brief, targeted Twitter saying, “All those who live and work in India will have to abide by the rules of the country, everyone will have to follow the law of the country,”
Reported extensively by TFI, Ravi Shankar Prasad’s final nail in the coffin for the axing was lodged after his lackadaisical attitude in dealing with Twitter came to full glory in the public eye.
While twitter continued to avoid adhering to the revised IT laws, the former Union Minister seemed content on issuing one warning after another, dithering to take strict and cogent action on the violating company.
Read More: New IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has his job cut out— kick Twitter first. Everything else next
PM Modi took note of the public’s pulse and after Prasad was locked out of his own Twitter account — decided to bring the sledgehammer. The fact that Prasad, despite being a minister, took to Twitter to share his sob story of being locked out, didn’t make for strong optics.
PM Modi has time and again remarked that he needs strong personalities in the cabinet that can go toe to toe with anyone when it comes to the interests of the country. However, Prasad, who despite having an excellent track record as a party lieutenant, couldn’t reach the zenith of the job profile.
Vaishnaw, with his quiet demeanour, might look an easy target for Twitter to continue with its childish games. However, with a stellar resume and a proven, illustrious history of tackling administrative crises, the new IT Minister is a different kettle of fish. The liberal brigade might be having a laugh at the expense of Ravi Shankar Prasad but the game has been upended and whether or not Twitter notices it, Vaishnaw is coming for Jack Dorsey and his minions.