Why did Twitter remove Rajinikanth's post on the Janata Curfew and social distancing?

Actor-politician Rajinikanth's post on Saturday backing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday has been taken down by Twitter, reportedly on account of complaints of misinformation.

According to reports, the 69-year-old actor had tweeted that the virus was at its second stage in India and had appealed to people to stay indoors to stop the country moving to the third stage, in which the virus spreads through what is referred to as 'community transmission'.

Rajinikanth has said that the chain of transmission could be broken by the 14-hour social distancing.

"To prevent community transmission, the virus needs to be curbed totally for 12 to 14 hours," Rajinikanth had said in a video message.

"We can prevent the virus entering third stage if people stay indoors and for that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced Janata Curfew on March 22," Rajinikanth added.

The veteran actor also noted that the Italian government had announced a similar curfew but people did not follow it, because of which many thousand lives were lost, and that India cannot afford to go make the same mistake.

In response to the post, many netizens criticised the suggestion and questioned how staying at home for 14 hours could prevent the pandemic from entering Stage 3 in India.

A message on the timeline of Rajinikanth's Twitter feed now says: "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules. Learn more."

However Rajinikanth's YouTube link for the video is still available on Twitter.

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan also posted a video encouraging people to follow 'social distancing' to prevent the spread of the COVID-19/coronavirus and appealed to people to not take part in large gatherings.

"By following that, you are preventing the virus from affecting you and your dear ones," Kamal Haasan said in his video message.

"Stay indoors and ensure you spend time with family and try to be responsible. Maintain social distance and stay safe," he added.

Meanwhile, a number of Bollywood celebrities have shown their support to social distancing and the declared Janata Curfew on Sunday. 

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi also took to social media to posted a video on how to wash hands as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus.