Rajnath Vows to Take 'Strong Action' against Twitter After CEO Jack Dorsey Lands up in 'Anti-Brahminical' Row

New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday vowed to initiate ‘strong action’ after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared in a now viral photograph, holding a placard that said "Smash Brahmanical Patriarchy".

Issuing a statement, Singh said that his ministry has spoken to the CEO regarding the matter and is “in talks with Twitter.” “A strong action will be initiated,” he said.

Meanwhile, the image has now emerged as a new bone of contention between the Congress and the BJP as the former has questioned the home minister’s decision to take action against Dorsey for posting about the “reality of Indian politics”.

On Tuesday, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari took to Twitter to call out the reality of Brahmanical patriarchy and back the Twitter CEO. He tweeted, “Anti Bhrahmisam is the reality of Indian politics. Got accentuated in the North post Mandalisation of Indian politics. We are the new Jews of India and we should just learn to live with it (SIC).”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was on the receiving end of a Twitter storm after he was pictured with prominent women journalists and activists in a photo, holding a placard that said "Smash Brahmanical Patriarchy". He was in India recently and met with a group of women journalists for a closed-door roundtable discussion on how Indians experience Twitter.

With netizens slamming him for "hate-mongering", the photograph has come under fire after one of the journalists present there tweeted a photo of Dorsey with the placard.

However, the micro-blogging site has denied the charges saying the poster did not reflect views of Twitter or its CEO.

The spokesperson said Twitter is a platform where "marginalised voices can be seen and heard, but we also have a public commitment to being apolitical. We realise that this photo may not accurately represent that commitment".

The class-specific poster seemed to have offended many Indians with the former chief financial officer of Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai, accusing Dorsey of "hate-mongering" against Brahmins and of institutionalising hatred.

"As an Indian, I am disappointed at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy' placard - will Minister @Ra_THORe (Rajyavardhan Rathore) pl take action for this hate mongering against an Indian community, spreading hatred? @PMOIndia @rsprasad," Pai tweeted.

Twitter, which has over 300 million monthly active users, counts India as among its largest markets. It has a large number of Indian politicians on its platform, who engage regularly with the public and extensively use it around elections.