Govt denies involvement in Akhilesh Yadav’s Facebook account suspension: ‘Abusive post was made…’

Ashwini Vaishnaw

The government on Saturday clarified that it had no role in Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s Facebook account suspension.

“The government has no role in it. An abusive post was made from his account, because of which Facebook took this decision according to its own policies,” said union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, adding that the action was taken by the social media platform.

Yadav's Facebook account was suspended on Friday, however, it has now been restored. Soon after the suspension, several Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders attacked the BJP-led government for suppressing the opposition's voice.

SP leader Fakhrul Hasan Chaand shared a post on X, stating that the suspension of Yadav's account is an attack on democracy.

"The suspension of the Facebook account of the respected national president of the country's third largest party, Shri Akhilesh Yadav ji, is an attack on democracy. The BJP government has imposed an undeclared emergency in the country, where it wants to suppress every voice raised in opposition," Chaand said in a post.

National secretary of Samajwadi Party, Rajeev Rai, also condemned this act, saying it's a blow to India's democratic system.

"Blocking the account of the leader of the third largest party in the country's parliament, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Honorable Shri @yadavakhilesh ji, by FACEBOOK is not only condemnable but also a blow to India's democratic system," Rai's X post read.

After his account was restored, Yadav shared a post on his Facebook account, paying tribute to Jayaprakash Narayan and remembering his call for Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution).

Yadav posted, "By total revolution, I mean seeing the most oppressed person in society at the pinnacle of power" - Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan."

The SP chief shared this post on the occasion of his birth anniversary of socialist icon and Bharat Ratna Jayaprakash Narayan.