Kangana Ranaut claims Twitter temporarily restricted her account

Mumbai: Actor Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday said that her Twitter account was temporarily restricted after she made some controversial statements about the cast and crew of Amazon web series Tandav on the social media platform. The actor blamed “librus” for the action, a term she uses for her critics.

In a now deleted tweet, Ranaut had referred to the team of Tandav and wrote that it was “time to take their heads off”, according to IANS.

“Librus cried to their chacha Jack and got my account temporarily restricted,” Kangana wrote on Twitter, referring to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey. She claimed that she was being threatened online without mentioning any names, and warned to make “their lives miserable”.

Librus cried to their chacha @jack and got my account temporarily restricted, they are threatening me mera account/virtual identity kabhi bhi desh keliye shaheed ho sakti hai,magar my reloaded desh bhakt version will reappear through my movies.Tumhara jeena dushwar karke rahungi.

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) January 20, 2021

Tandav is a political drama starring actors Saif Ali Khan, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Dimple Kapadia, which purportedly provides a commentary on India’s political scene under the government of Narendra Modi. Over the past few days, First Information Reports have been filed in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar against the web series makers, which includes director Ali Abbas Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki and Amazon Prime’s Head of India Originals, Aparna Purohit.

The makers were accused of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus and promoting enmity on grounds of religion. The complainant filed in Uttar Pradesh said that people were dressed up as Hindu gods and goddesses in an “undignified manner”, and were seen using foul language. The FIR also mentioned that at several instances, dialogues attributed to Hindu deities and other characters have the potential to incite anger within castes.

Another complaint was filed by a Bihar-based lawyer against 96 people associated with web series, who alleged the show “spreads-caste based discrimination”. Several other members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have insisted that the government pull the series off the air or take out key scenes.

Amid the intensifying backlash, Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday caved in and agreed to make alterations to the series. “We have utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country,” said a statement from the cast and crew.