NEW DELHI, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday took a strong note of the refusal by Twitter India to appear before a parliamentary panel over complaints about the social media platform.
The parliamentary panel on information technology (IT) on Wednesday summoned Twitter India to appear before it on Feb. 11 following complaints from BJP functionaries who accused the social media platform of "suppressing pro-BJP and right-wing handles."
The parliamentary panel summoned Twitter CEO and officials over the issue of "safeguarding citizens' rights on social media platforms."
Earlier in the day, media reports said that Twitter India refused to appear before the panel citing "short notice."
The parliamentary panel's head and BJP lawmaker Anurag Thakur said, "We have taken a serious note of Twitter's reply. We will discuss that on Monday (Feb. 11) and take further action."
BJP spokesperson and lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi said, "In any country, no agency has the right to disrespect the institutions of that country. In this situation, if Twitter is disrespecting the established institution of Parliament, then there are repercussions."
"If there is any violation of any sort, then there are repercussions to those violations. The institutions need to be respected," she added.
