Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut's permanent Twitter suspension: What went down and why

On May 4, Indian actress and avid social media user Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account was permanently suspended after she posted a series of provocative posts on post-poll violence in West Bengal. She singled out West Bengal’s newly-elected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and called for President’s rule in the state invoking Indian Prime Minister to ‘tame’ the elected state leader.

Her remarks on the post-poll violence evoked strong reactions among social media users. But Ranaut isn’t willing to back down. In an interview with ANI, Ranaut spoke about her permanent Twitter ban and blamed it on a case of colonial hangover. “Twitter has only proved my point they're Americans and by birth, a white person feels entitled to enslave a brown person, they want to tell you what to think, speak or do. I have many platforms I can use to raise my voice, including my own art in the form of cinema,” she told ANI.

But the officials of Twitter made their stand clear and pointed out that Ranaut’s social media behavior was highly questionable. “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour police. We enforce the Twitter rules judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service,” said the social media giant in a statement.

Immediately after being suspended on Twitter, Ranaut took to her Instagram to reveal that several First Information Reports/cases have been registered against her over her remarks on the West Bengal violence.

Ranaut, who has acted in films including 'Queen' and 'Simran', also posted a video on Instagram tearfully lamenting about the violence in West Bengal. She called it the death of democracy.

This is not the first time that Ranaut has sparked outrage on Twitter over her posts. Earlier this year, Ranaut faced temporary Twitter suspension when she demanded that the makers of controversial web series ‘Tandav’ have their heads chopped off over their creative choices.

In the past, Ranaut has also sparred with colleagues in Bollywood, including Urmila Matondkar, Anurag Kashyap and Taapsee Pannu. Her colleagues are often critical of her social media conduct. ‘Sacred Games’ actress Kubbra Sait did not mince words when reacting to Ranaut’s suspension. “Social media can be better without her,” she wrote.

Ranaut’s sister and her publicist Rangoli Chandel is also a former Twitter offender. Her account was permanently suspended after she her tweets that were deemed offensive to certain communities in India last year.

Kangana Ranaut is an avid social media user and is a staunch supporter of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his political outfit BJP. She's known to dip her toes in every burning issue raging in India -- be it actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death or the farmers' protests in India.

Keeping her Twitter drama that rolled out today aside, Ranaut is gearing up for the release of her political biopic 'Thalaivi', based on late Tamil politician and actress J Jayalalithaa.