The Government of India has blocked the X (formerly Twitter) account of Austrian economist Gunther Fehlinger-Jahn day after he called to "dismantle India" in a controversial post.
In a post on his X account, now withheld, the Austrian economist wrote, "I call to dismantle India into ExIndia. @narendramodi is Russia's man. We need friends of freedom for @KhalistanNet."
The account was disabled in India after the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology flagged the post and directed X to withhold its access in the country, according to a report by NDTV.
His post drew condemnation from Indian political leaders and netizens after he shared a map depicting Indian territories belonging to Pakistan, Khalistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
In his controversial map of India, most Indian territories were shown as part of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Khalistan. The screenshot sparked intense outrage among netizens, who labelled Gunther as a “troll".
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi responded to a post that shared the screenshot by saying, “What insanity is this? @MEAIndia must take this up with the Austrian Embassy."
Amid intense criticism, a 2023 tweet by Gunther also went viral, where he had expressed support for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister of India. Gunther criticised PM Narendra Modi, calling him pro-Russia and pro-China in an old tweet.
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