Watch: Andhra Cong cadre fry 'Twitter bird' to protest action against Rahul Gandhi
“Everyone should see this. This is the Twitter bird. We are frying the Twitter bird, on behalf of the Congress party,” announced GV Sri Raj, a member of the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh, as he lowered a small marinated chicken-like bird into a pan to fry. About a dozen members of the Congress party stood around him, watching on. This masterclass was, in fact, a protest by Congress in Andhra Pradesh against Twitter for locking Rahul Gandhi’s official account after he tweeted pictures of the family of a nine-year-old Dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi.
The Congress released a video of Sri Raj frying what looks like a quail (also called teetar), which is a protected bird in India.
“You, Twitter have made a mistake by blocking Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account and not promoting our tweets. So we are frying this and sending it to the headquarters. So the Twitter dish is getting ready for packing,” Sri Raj, who is the son of former Andhra MP Harsha Kumar, said. The cadre surrounding him then shouted slogans against the BJP and in praise of Congress.
“The dish is ready and now we are going to the post office,” Sri Raj said, lifting the cooked bird with tongs and placing it on a plate. “This is amazing,” he remarked. “Twitter, I hope you will enjoy your dish,” he said. A video shows him packing the dish into a tiffin and placing it inside an envelope. “This is very tightly packed. We are going to the nearest post office and we are sending this,” Sri Raj said in the video, which shows him walking out of the compound with rock music playing in the background. He also bites into a piece as he walks out. The video ends with him reaching the post office and handing it to an official there.
Watch the protest by Congress:
Congress’s protest, however, came days after Twitter unlocked Rahul Gandhi’s account. Though Rahul has not tweeted anything since August 6, his account was reportedly unlocked on August 14. Rahul Gandhi's and many other Congress accounts were temporarily suspended last week after he tweeted pictures of the family of the nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Northwest Delhi. Twitter deemed it to be a violation of its rules.
Later, Twitter said that it has restored Gandhi's account after the Congress leader submitted a consent letter from the family of the girl for use of images, but the tweets that contained the images are still withheld, as Twitter has said they violate India's laws.
This is not the first time in recent times that the Congress party has staged a bizarre protest. Earlier this year, amid rising fuel prices, the Congress party in Telangana had thrown a bike off a bridge into the Hussain Sagar lake. Telangana Youth Congress workers had gathered at Tank Bund to take part in the nationwide symbolic protest call given by the Congress party.
Also read: Video: Congress workers throw bike into Hyderabad lake to protest petrol price hike
