New Delhi, Jul 8: All those who live and work in India will have to abide by the rules of the country, newly sworn-in Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday on Twitter's standoff with the central government over new IT rules.
Vaishnaw was talking to reporters after meeting BJP general secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh at the party office here.
On a question that Twitter was not adhering to IT rules, he said whosoever lives and works in India will have to abide by the rules of the country.
US-based company Twitter has been in the eye of a storm over its alleged failure to comply with the new IT rules in India, which mandates, among other requirements, the appointment of three key personnel -- chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer by social media platforms with over 50 lakh users. All the three personnel have to be residents in India. While the rules came into effect on May 26, Twitter is yet to adhere to the social media guidelines, despite repeated reminders from the government.
Vaishnaw, a Rajya Sabha member from Odisha, on Wednesday took oath as the Cabinet Minister and was given the charge of Railways along with the Information and Technology Ministry.
He replaced senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad in the IT Ministry.
Vaishnaw said he was thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him the responsibility.
He said his focus will be on improving the life of the last man standing in the queue.
In past, Vaishnaw, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha, had raised the issue of resignation of Karnataka-based Rashmi Samant from the position of Oxford Student Union president in the UK, alleging that she was cyber bullied. Samant, the first Indian woman to be elected the president of Oxford Student Union (SU), was forced to resign amid controversy over some of her past social media posts earlier this year.
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New Delhi (PTI): Several MPs of the INDIA bloc parties, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, protested in the Parliament House complex on Monday against the Election Commission's voter roll revision in Bihar, and demanded its rollback.
Ahead of the day's proceedings in Parliament, top opposition MPs, including Sonia Gandhi, Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, TMC's Derek O'Brien and Sagarika Ghose, DMK's Kanimozhi and A Raja, besides others, raised slogans and protested against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
There was a huge banner in front of them which read 'SIR- Attack on Democracy' as they lined up on and near the steps of the Makar Dwar of Parliament and staged a protest for the fifth consecutive day.
With 'Stop SIR' placards in hand, several MPs of the opposition, including those of the Congress, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party, RJD and Left parties, participated in the protest and raised slogans.
The opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging the EC's exercise was aimed at "disenfranchising voters" in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections. They have been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses.
On Friday, several MPs of the INDIA bloc parties, including Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, had held an unusual protest in the Parliament House complex against the voter roll revision in Bihar by tearing posters with 'SIR' written on them and putting them in a 'disposal bin'.
They had also staged a protest march in the complex, demanding the rollback as well as a discussion on the issue in both Houses.