Microblogging site Twitter on Wednesday blocked and scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan on the platform for posting a Quranic verse.
In his tweet, Dr Anand Ranganathan had quoted a verse from Quran which stated that those who abuse Allah and His Messenger (Prophet), Allah has cursed them in this world and the hereafter and prepared for them a humiliating punishment. The verse can be found here.
On 11th August 2020, Muslim mobs took to street in Bengaluru and torched house of Congress MLA over a Facebook post by his nephew which was allegedly derogatory to Prophet Muhammad. Later the rioters took to police station and attacked cops and torched the vehicles. Following the riots, many ‘moderate Muslims’ claimed how this (violence) is not what Islam teaches. Reacting to this, Dr Ranganathan informed them what Islam teaches. He said that those ‘moderate Muslims’ who think this is not what Islam teaches, they should say that they don’t agree with what is mentioned in the Quran.
However, his Twitter account was blocked by the platform. Twitter claimed that citing a Quranic verse is against the rules of the platform and is ‘hateful conduct’.
Netizens on Thursday took to Twitter to protest against the same.
He is one of the most knowledgeable voices I know. All he did was quote verses from the Quran. @ARanganathan72 did not violate any rules. This is censorship of the worst kind @TwitterIndia. Bring him back!#BringBackAnandRanganathan
— Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) August 13, 2020
Some even expressed their concerns over the neutrality of the platform which is dominated by the leftists, especially considering the censorship on display on the platform.So please do not quote any verse from the Quran as it will be considered Hate Speech. However, you are free to mock, deride, insult anything Hindu. #BringBackAnandRanganathan
— Nandini 🇮🇳 (@NAN_DINI_) August 13, 2020
I always suspected and maintained that @twitter is primarily a tool of leftists and would be used to censor any factual discussion–Shame to block @ARanganathan72 oneof the finest and sharpest gentleman on this media —#liftbanonRanganathan72 RT
— RVAIDYA2000 (@rvaidya2000) August 13, 2020
Netizens also questioned Twitter whether citing Quran is blasphemy.
They also appealed to reinstate his account.Is quoting quran verse a blasphemy? @Twitter is this your Islamophobia? @ARanganathan72 #BringBackAnandRanganathan
— Little duck goes quack quack (@bfanofhm) August 13, 2020
He is one of the most knowledgeable voices I know. All he did was quote verses from the Quran. @ARanganathan72 did not violate any rules. This is censorship of the worst kind @TwitterIndia. Bring him back!#BringBackAnandRanganathan
— Nationalist (hate hypocrites) (@shashi111) August 13, 2020
Anand Ranganathan and Twitter censorship
Dr Anand Ranganathan has been a target of Twitter censorship time and again where his tweets are blocked or his account locked out over alleged violations of Twitter rules.
