FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hindus for Human Rights Responds to Withholding of Twitter Account in India

October 16, 2023

Washington, D.C. — Hindus for Human Rights, a U.S.-based 501c(3) nonprofit that advocates for human rights in South Asia and North America, issued the following statement regarding the withholding of the organization’s Twitter account in India:

Over the weekend, Hindus for Human Rights learned that our Twitter account, as well as that of our allies at the Indian American Muslim Council, was withheld in India in response to a “legal demand” from the Government of India. Although HfHR learned about the block from a screenshot posted on Twitter in the early hours of October 14th, we received no official communication from X (formerly Twitter) until the morning of October 16th. X has offered no explanation for why this demand was made, nor has it offered any opportunities for an inquiry or an appeal of this suspension.

It is clear that this demand is part of a larger and ongoing crackdown by the Modi regime against dissenting voices both in and out of India. Earlier this month, Delhi police raided the offices of Newsclick, one of India’s few remaining independent and critical media outlets, confiscating journalists’ electronic devices and arresting Editor in Chief Prabir Purkayastha. And just last week, criminal charges were filed against noted Indian writer and activist Arundhati Roy for a speech she delivered more than twelve years ago.

Although this is by far the Indian state’s most blatant effort yet to silence HfHR, it is not the first time that we have been targeted by India’s BJP government. Earlier this year, BJP leaders, including BJP IT Cell Head Amit Malviya and Cabinet Minister Smriti Irani, and right-wing media outlets in India launched a coordinated online campaign to smear our Executive Director Sunita Viswanath as an agent of George Soros—invoking well-known antisemitic tropes about Soros and attacking Sunita’s marriage to her husband, who is Jewish.

Nor is this the first time that X has bowed to government pressure when it comes to silencing dissent. In 2021, at the height of the farmers’ protests, hundreds of Twitter accounts were withheld in India at the behest of the Modi government. And earlier this year, amid a massive government crackdown and internet blackout in the state of Punjab, it was reported that X had complied with the Indian government’s requests to block more than 120 accounts in India, including journalists, activists, writers, and even a member of the Canadian Parliament.

Though the withholding of HfHR’s Twitter account in India is deeply alarming, we will not be silenced. We are currently consulting with our allies and partners regarding how to move forward with challenging this shameful and authoritarian move, and in the meantime, we will continue doing what we do best—resisting fascism, standing up against hate, and providing a much-needed Hindu voice in the crucial fight for democracy, pluralism, and human rights in India and around the world.

Press Contact:

David Kalal, Hindus for Human Rights Communications Director

david@hindusforhumanrights.org

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