Anurag Kashyap quits Twitter citing online threats; says, 'Thugs will rule New India' in last tweet

Anurag Kashyap's sharp comments on government decision had earned the ire of many netizens. The filmmaker at several instance has complained about being bullied in social media and recieving threats over his posts

After drawing attention to the issue of receiving repeated threats on Twitter, Kashyap has deleted his Twitter account on 10 August citing his family safety.

"When your parents start to get calls and your daughter gets online threats then you know no one wants to talk. There is going to be no reason or rationale. Thugs will rule and thuggery will be the new way of life. Congratulations everyone on this new India and hope you thrive," Kashyap wrote in what were among his last two tweets on Saturday.

Kashyap, who has been vocal in his criticism of the present government's actions, added: "When I won't be allowed to speak my mind without fear, I would rather not speak at all".

Screenshots of his tweets were circulated on media portals widely. 

In his statement Kashyap says, “When your parents start to get calls and your daughter gets online threats you know that no one wants to talk. There isn’t going to be reason or rationale. Thugs will rule and thuggery will be the new way of life. Congratulations everyone on this new India & hope you all thrive. Wish you all the happiness and success. This would be my last tweet as I leave Twitter. When I won’t be allowed to speak my mind without fear then I would rather not speak at all. Good bye.”

Recently Kashyap had commented on the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir by tweeting, “You know what is scary , that One Man thinks that he knows exactly what’s the right thing to do for the benefit of 1,200,000,000 people and has the access to the power to execute it.” The filmmaker later tweeted that while he did not know all the aspects of the issue of the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, he did not agree with the way the government went about implementing it.

In May earlier this year after the Lok Sabha elections, the filmmaker had tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter to bring to his notice that his daughter was threatened with rape by a troll with “Chowkidar” added to his username. Kashyap’s tweet read: "Dear @narendramodi sir. Congratulations on your victory and thank you for the message of inclusiveness. Sir please also tell us how do we deal with these followers of yours who celebrate your victory by threatening my daughter with messages like this for me being your dissenter."

Kashyap later filed an FIR at the Amboli police station in Mumbai against the troll who had threatened his daughter.

Kashyap was also among the 49 intellectuals and public personalities who signed a petition requesting the Prime Minister to stanch the rising incidents of hate crimes and rising cases of mass lynching in the country. Since then, the filmmaker  and some of the other signatories like Bengali actor Kaushik Sen said they had received death threats.