Indian actress Kangana Ranaut banned from Twitter for hateful tweets

Ranaut attemds the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2018, in Cannes, France [File: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images]

Twitter Inc. has suspended Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, who is known for her staunch support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for breaching the company's hateful conduct and abusive behavior policies.

On Monday, Ranaut tweeted that Modi should use gangster tactics to "tame" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose regional party defeated Modi's Hindu nationalists in elections over the weekend to maintain control of the state government.

Banerjee's party was accused of violent attacks on defeated rivals during the election, which it denies.

Ranaut referred to Banerjee as an "unleashed beast" and urged Modi to "tame her" in a tweet.

“Super gundai (hooliganism in Hindi) is needed to eliminate gundai... Please show your Virat roop (larger-than-life form) from the early 2000s, Modi Ji (an honorific),” she wrote, referring to the Gujarat riots of 2002 when Modi was the state chief minister.

Twitter clarified its policy after confirming Ranaut's account had been suspended on Tuesday.

“We've made it clear that we'll take tough disciplinary action against anyone who engages in behavior that has the potential to cause offline harm.

“For persistent breaches of Twitter Rules, specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy, the cited account has been permanently suspended.”

In a tweet, Ranaut, a multiple national film award recipient, slammed Twitter's action.

“Twitter has only served to demonstrate my case. They are Americans, and by birth, a white person believes he or she has the right to enslave a brown person,” she explained.

“They want to tell you what to think, say, and do; thankfully, I have many outlets to use to lift my voice, including my own art in the form of cinema, but my heart breaks for the people of this country who have been tortured, enslaved, and silenced for thousands of years with no end in sight.”

Publish : 2021-05-04 18:15:00

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