Congress MP Rahul Gandhi today accused Twitter of undermining India's democratic structure
The BJP took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi on Friday over Twitter locking his account for violating company policy and Indian laws - by posting photographs that show him with the family of the nine-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and killed in Delhi on August 1.
Tejasvi Surya, the party's firebrand youth wing chief and a Lok Sabha member, lashed out at his parliamentary colleague, describing Mr Gandhi's posts as "indecent, illegal and inhuman".
"Now, Gandhi cannot take umbrage behind the 'freedom of expression' argument after he tweeted the picture of a rape and murder victim's family..." Tejasvi Surya was quoted by news agency PTI.
"The only place he was active was Twitter. Unfortunately, even Twitter has shown him the door," he said.
The Bengaluru MP also mocked Mr Gandhi and the Congress for attacking the government over the new IT rules - a set of laws that the BJP has insisted will "empower social media users" and require sites like Twitter to follow government directives on take-down of "offensive" content.
The IT rules - which the Congress and other critics say violate right to privacy and freedom of expression - have sparked a massive controversy, with the government having accused Twitter of dragging its heels over compliance and revoking legal protection as a result.
As part of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi's pushback against the locking of their accounts (and those of hundreds of its leaders), they accused Twitter of "selective" action against the opposition party, and the government has been accused of intimidating the company.
Earlier today Mr Gandhi released a YouTube video in which he slammed Twitter for "interfering in our political process" and attacking the democratic structure of the country.
The Congress has repeatedly pointed out that images of the young girl's parents - which triggered a complaint from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, or NCPCR - were also tweeted by two other 'verified' accounts, including one belonging to BJP MP Anju Bala.
The other was the government's commission for scheduled castes.
Both accounts, the Congress pointed out last week, remain operational.
Yesterday too the party pointed out what they feel are double standards; BV Srinivas, the party's youth wing chief, shared a post by the BJP's Amit Malviya that appeared to reveal the identity of the Dalit woman from UP's Hathras who was raped and murdered in September last year.
The post by BJP's Amit Malviya that the Congress has flagged [cropped to protect victim's identity]
No action has been taken so far against Mr Malviya's account or the post, which remains accessible and violates the same laws Mr Gandhi is accused of violating.
With reference to action against Mr Gandhi and the Congress handle, Twitter has said its rules are "enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone", and that it took "proactive action on several hundred tweets that posted an image that violated our Rules".
The company has not commented on Congress claims of inaction against other handles.
With input from PTI