Sir — Twitter had initially received much praise for standing up to the autocratic ways of the Government of India when the Information Technology Rules, 2021 were issued. But clearly business interests always triumph over any urge to stand up to the bullying tactics of the State. Not only is Twitter now in compliance with the IT Rules, it seems to be going out of its way to please the reigning Bharatiya Janata Party government. What else could explain the clear prejudice against the Congress? First, Rahul Gandhi’s account was temporarily suspended last week after he tweeted pictures of the family of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Northwest Delhi. Twitter deemed this a violation of its rules. If indeed Rahul was in breach of regulations, the post could have been removed. What was the need to suspend the account of one of the principal leaders of the Opposition for a week?

When BJP leaders spread canards about anything and everything in the country, Twitter does little more than attach a manipulated media tag to the post, if that. Such a tag may mean something to an educated user with the privilege of understanding how social media works, but to most common people who blindly consume and regurgitate the lies that are fed to them on social media such a tag means next to nothing. Why, when voices in the government are not silenced, is the Opposition not being allowed to speak its mind?

Aneesha Das,
Calcutta

Sir — Even while Indians celebrated the achievements of its women athletes in Tokyo, news emerged of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl in Delhi. Yet, it is business as usual for the government and the Opposition in the capital city. While the government is more bothered about why Rahul Gandhi visited the victim’s house, the Congress scion himself is losing sleep over his Twitter account being blocked and his millions of followers being deprived of his opinion. There is no doubt that Twitter’s actions reek of bias, but should not the focus be on getting justice for the girl who was raped and killed?

Twitter is a relatively new medium; the role of the Opposition in a democracy is much older and more potent than a social media platform. Opposition parties communicated with the masses before social media existed. In fact, with the arrival of such means like social media and other internet platforms, politicians have become complacent, not reaching out to the public in real-life. Perhaps instead of crying over Twitter stifling his voice, Rahul should take this opportunity to speak his mind directly to the masses who matter, and they are most certainly not on Twitter.

Rahul K. Jha,
Jamshedpur

Fraught state

Sir — Today, India’s 75th Independence Day, is the perfect opportunity to probe the idea of independence and introspect on whether Indians are indeed free. From recent revelations about spyware being used allegedly for mass surveillance to the State setting a religious test for citizenship, freedom and agency seem to be fraught concepts in India right now. Artists, activists and dissenters are silenced and killed for exercising their ‘freedom’. Instead of celebrating an event that was achieved at the cost of many lives and much sacrifice, we should try and safeguard freedoms for one and all.

Jayanta Bhattacharya,
Calcutta

Parting shot

Sir — The article, “Online class toll begins to show” (Aug 14), delineates the unfavourable impact of online teaching, particularly on pupils at the pre-primary level. It is not surprising that learning from home puts extra pressure on parents who are expected to fill in for teachers. But they are often unable to do so because of domestic chores, work or lack of knowledge. But the article only discusses schools within Calcutta, that too English-medium ones. These form a tiny segment of pre-primary schools in Bengal. Students in Bengali-medium schools in cities and villages form the bulk; they are more deprived than most. With the pandemic still raging, no light is visible at the end of the tunnel.

Sanjit Ghatak,
South 24 Parganas