New Delhi: Indian dairy major Amul’s Twitter account was temporarily deactivated over the major’s ‘exit the dragon’ topical. This development came days ahead of the high-voltage India-China discussion over the Ladakh border issue. After much hue and cry, Amul’s Twitter account though was reactivated later.
If reports are anything to go by, Amul’s Twitter handle was blocked for allegedly putting up anti-China post in which the company wrote, ‘Exit the dragon’ the connotation of Chinese military entering the Indian territory.
The topical showed an Amul girl in confrontation with the dragon while in the backdrop the logo Chinese mobile app TikTok was visible.
The Indian major has a rich history of making creatives on both global and local topics which often made headlines. The latest focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “aatmanirbharta (self-reliance)” while rising sentiments against China.
Amul, however, issued a statement saying, “Amul’s twitter account @amul_coop was temporarily deactivated on the late night of 4th June after our Amul Topical on “Boycott of Chinese Products” with the copy “Exit the Dragon?” 3rd June 2020. This happened without prior intimation to us.”
“On the morning of 5th June, we complied with the process to reactivate our account and we were live. Our followers were not able to see the above mentioned topical on due to deactivation and they came out in support of Amul and were upset with this behavior of Twitter,” the statement said.
The Indian dairy major also sought explanation from the micro-blogging site for blocking its account.
“We have taken up with Twitter to know the reasons of their action. Amul Topical started in 1966 and since then 1st topical has been an observer of events/moments local, national and international. Our Amul Moppet which features in our Amul Topical has reported these various events which have an impact on the live of people,” the company said.
“Amul Topicals are a chronicler of events/moments worldwide from the elections of PMs and Presidents, Brexit, lockdown due to COVID-19, sports events, movies to 1st time airing of Ramayana and Mahabharat in 1987 and 1989 to even events like Emergency in India in 1976,” it further said.
Amul claimed that its creatives are without biases. “Amul Topicals function like any news channel/publication and reports the event/moment without having a biased opinion. The said topical is also a remark/question on the events taking place without influencing viewers with any mala fide intentions,” the company said in the statement.
However, Twitter also clarified that the account was not blocked for the content, but for the safety and security of Amul account.