The anti-Hindu face of ‘Facebook’ !

Mr. Chetan Rajhans

Facebook closed the Page of Sanatan Sanstha a few weeks ago, as also the pages of some seekers of Sanatan Sanstha. Eight years ago, the official Facebook Page of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti was also unjustly closed.

Today, vicious and objectionable Facebook Pages of Jihadi organisations are operating openly. No action is being taken against them; however, the Facebook Page of Sanatan Sanstha, which spreads Hindu Dharma in a legal manner and within the framework of the Indian Constitution is closed. This is the prejudice of Facebook about Hindu Dharma.

The Indian Constitution gives citizens the freedom of speech and expression. The Government of India should take action against Facebook, which is arbitrarily restricting the freedoms granted by the Constitution.

Why is Facebook against propagation of Hindu Dharma ?

Sanatan Sanstha is a leading organisation in India which propagates Dharma. Sanatan Dharma is propagated in scientific terminology by Sanatan. Sanatan is also conducting research on culture, dress, hair, diet, music, spiritual practice, etc. through scientific instruments. Such information was also included on Sanatan Sanstha’s Facebook Page. Through this, an attempt was made to spread the importance of Sanatan Dharma all over the world. The words used for this were constitutional, parliamentary and civilised. There were no offensive remarks on caste-sect-religion. However, Facebook closed 4 Pages of Sanatan Sanstha. This shows that Facebook is highly against the propagation of Dharma by Sanatan. Facebook’s action is reprehensible.

Hypocrisy of Facebook

On 4^th September 2020, while closing the Facebook Page of Sanatan, an E-mail was sent to seekers – ‘One of our main priorities is the comfort and safety of the people who use Facebook, and we don’t allow credible threats to harm others, support for violent organizations or exceedingly graphic content on Facebook.’. As the Spokesperson of Sanatan Sanstha, I can show thousands of offensive posts on other Pages. Facebook should show objectionable post on Sanatan’s Page. Terrorist organisations – Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Zakir Naik, etc. are on Facebook and spreading terrorism openly, to create a rift in society. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t dare send them notices. However, a Hindu religious organisation working in a legal way is called ‘violent’ !

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti faced a similar situation with Facebook 8 years ago. The page of pro-Hindu TV channel ‘Sudarshan News’ was also closed. Hyderabad BJP MLA T Raja Singh’s account was closed by Facebook. This is the anti-Hindu face of Facebook.

Infringement of  Indian Constitution by Facebook

The Facebook company operates ‘Facebook’, ‘WhatsApp’ and ‘Instagram’ with their commercial interests in mind.

Whenever any foreign company comes to India, it is bound by the Indian Constitution and laws. Facebook is expected to abide by the Indian Constitution and laws. If the Constitution gives freedom of speech and expression to citizens and institutions of India, and if someone writes on Facebook within this framework, it is Facebook’s responsibility to provide them the same freedom. If any writing is in an illegal or unconstitutional language, India has laws to take action. Facebook is a company, not an investigation agency or Court. Therefore, arbitrarily closing a Page that propagates Hindu Dharma within the framework of the law is a clear violation of the Indian Constitution and laws.

Action required against Facebook : There should be a democratic system to close any Facebook Page. If someone writes in violation of Facebook’s rules, it can notify the ‘Admin’ of that Page and take action as per the reply. However, closing a page without any explanation or proof smacks of arbitariness. This is an infringement of the democratic process. Hence, not only should people protest against Facebook, the Central Government should take action too.

– Mr. Chetan Rajhans (National Spokesperson, Sanatan Sanstha)

* Updated 5.5.2021 : ‘We want to ensure that Facebook remains a safe, welcoming environment and don’t allow anyone engaged in terrorism and organised criminal activity … We don’t allow groups containing content that expresses support for these organisations, leaders and their violent activities’

The previous version of this news article included the above quote. It was a translated version of the quote from our sister periodical in Marathi. Now the news article is updated with the actual quote in the email received from Facebook by Sanatan Sanstha’s seekers.