BJP trying to divide people on basis of language, says Uddhav; accuses it of indulging in conspiracy
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday lashed out at the ruling BJP, accusing it of trying to divide people on the basis of language.
Addressing party workers here, he also described the BJP as a party that indulges in conspiracy and machinations.
"Their balloon of Hindutva has burst," Thackeray alleged.
"The BJP is resorting to a linguistic divide. It is not our demand that people should be killed on the basis of language," Thackeray said.
He was referring to the incident in which 19-year-old student, Arnav Khaire, committed suicide in Thane district after a group of people allegedly assaulted him on a local train following an argument over not speaking in Marathi.
The first-year science student hanged himself at his apartment in Kalyan East on Tuesday evening.
Thackeray said no language should do injustice to another.
"BJP and RSS are spreading the venom and blaming us," he alleged.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Factchecker Zubair says X posts withheld in India after govt order
Meta restricts access to several Facebook pages
New Delhi/Bengaluru: Fact-checker and Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair said that several of his posts on social media platform X have been withheld in India following a government order issued under provisions of the Information Technology Act.
Zubair said on Tuesday that he received an email from X informing him that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had issued a blocking order under Section 69A of the IT Act. The platform conveyed that it was legally bound to restrict access to the specified content within India. The mail further stated that the posts would continue to remain visible outside the country, adding that it was unable to share further details due to legal restrictions and suggested that the order could be challenged before a court or taken up with the ministry concerned.
According to Zubair, the posts identified by authorities included videos purportedly showing incidents of violence during Ram Navami processions. Questioning the move, Zubair alleged that the content was shared by him to counter what he described as misleading narratives had been targeted.
In a related development, access to several Facebook pages has also been restricted in India. Users attempting to visit the pages of Molitics, National Dastak and satirist Rajeev Nigam are shown a notice stating that the content is unavailable in India in compliance with a legal request.
National Dastak said it had received a communication citing Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act. Molitics editor Neeraj Jha said the page had been restricted domestically and that no reasons were provided. Rajeev Nigam also stated that his page would no longer be visible to users in India following the action.
The government is empowered to direct intermediaries to block public access to content on grounds of national security and public order under Section 69A of the IT Act. Section 79(3)(b) provides that intermediaries may lose safe harbour protection if they fail to comply with government directions to remove unlawful content.
Government data shows that more than 1.11 lakh pieces of online content had been blocked as of March 31, 2025, with reports indicating that the Union Home Ministry has been issuing an average of around 290 takedown notices per day.
