Congress leader Srivatsa claimed that Instagram had blocked a reel and photo post by Rahul Gandhi featuring Vijay, allegedly due to rules framed by MeitY.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C Joseph Vijay with Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi. (PTI)
A fresh row erupted on Sunday after the Congress claimed that Instagram had blocked a reel and photo post by Rahul Gandhi featuring Tamil actor-turned-politician Vijay, allegedly due to rules framed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Government sources, however, firmly rejected the allegation and said the ministry had no role in the episode, attributing the incident instead to an internal error by the social media platform.
Rahul Gandhi was in Chennai on Sunday to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Vijay as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Following the event, he shared several pictures and a reel with the newly sworn-in actor-politician on his social media accounts.
In a post on X, Congress leader and Gandhi’s aide Srivatsa claimed that Instagram had “blocked Gandhi’s reel and pictures post featuring him and Thalapathy Vijay at today’s swearing-in ceremony”.
According to Srivatsa, the reel had gone viral, garnering 12 million views in less than an hour, while the accompanying photo post had already reached 46 million users before it was blocked.
“Meta cites no reason as to why his account has become inaccessible. The ‘glitch’ is because of MEITY rules! Rahul Gandhi’s social media accounts have been suppressed for a long time. His X reach, YouTube views, and Insta followers have all been suppressed,” he alleged, contending that this was an example of how the voice of India’s opposition leader was being curtailed.
Instagram has blocked LOP Rahul Gandhi’s reel and pictures post featuring him and Thalapathy Vijay at today’s swearing-in ceremony.The viral reel had gathered 12 million views in less than a hour and the viral pics post had already reached 46 million people.
Meta cites no…
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) May 10, 2026
Ministry Responded
Responding to these claims, sources in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said it was “wrongly claimed by certain social media handles” that posts of the Leader of the Opposition had been restricted due to the ministry’s intervention.
“It is clarified that MeitY had nothing to do with this action. It was because of the platform’s own internal system mistakenly flagging the post for blocking, which has now been restored,” a ministry source was quoted as saying by PTI, indicating that the issue had been resolved by Instagram itself.
(PTI Inputs)
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