New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday welcomed Meta's decision to restore a video message of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the social media pages of the World Hindu Congress, but alleged that some people in the company's scanning team "target" nationalist and Hindutva-oriented voices.
In a post on X, VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal said Meta acknowledged its mistake and republished Fadnavis's video message on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the World Hindu Congress on Thursday afternoon, three days after it was first removed.
"Better late than never. Even if it took three days, after facing embarrassment across the media, Meta has acknowledged its mistake and republished Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's video message on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the World Hindu Congress," he said.
The VHP's remarks came a day after it accused Meta of anti-Hindu actions over the removal of a video featuring Fadnavis inviting people to attend the World Hindu Congress 2026 in Mumbai and demanded its restoration and a public apology.
Bansal alleged that some people in Meta's scanning team target content and accounts of India's elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief ministers, nationalists and patriotic people committed to Hindutva by restricting, flagging and deleting them.
He claimed that such actions target nationalist and Hindutva-oriented sections of Indian society, despite India being the country that provides Meta with the largest number of users.
"We are satisfied that Meta did not allow the situation to reach a point where Indian society would have been compelled to take a strong decision against those anti-national and anti-Hindu conspirators," Bansal said.
He cautioned foreign businesses against actions that could be perceived as attempts to intimidate India, saying the country knows how to embrace everyone wholeheartedly but also how to reject those who try to intimidate it.
In his earlier post on X, Bansal had said the video, posted by the World Hindu Congress on October 26, was blocked by Meta on Facebook and Instagram within hours. He said it was removed again after being reposted on October 27.
He had urged the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the concerned minister to intervene, take action and warn Meta against what he termed a "unilateral, arbitrary decision".
The World Hindu Congress had said its organising committee wrote to the Mumbai Police, Delhi Police and MeitY seeking intervention and an explanation from Meta over the removal of the video.
The World Hindu Congress 2026 is scheduled to be held in Mumbai from December 18 to 20.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)