Congress tells Twitter to shut BJP's Nadda, Patra & Smriti Irani's accounts over 'toolkit'

Congress on Wednesday wrote to social media giant Twitter seeking permanent suspension of the handles of BJP leaders including party president JP Nadda, MP Smriti Irani, Sambit Patra and others for allegedly creating unrest in the society by disseminating misinformation. In a letter to Twitter's Grievance office, Congress accused the above mentioned BJP leaders of indulging in a pre-planned conspiracy by spreading misinformation by sharing what they claim was a forged INC Research department letterhead with fabricated content in an attempt to create unrest in the society & escalate violence in parts of India. The grand-old party claimed that a complaint was lodged with the Delhi Police Commissioner against the BJP leaders for misusing and exploiting the Twitter platform. 

Congress wants BJP handles on Twitter to be permanently suspended

Further, Congress claimed that the BJP was deliberately running a hate campaign against them in order to allegedly divert the attention of the public from the 'burning issue' of the failure of the Centre to manage COVID. Congress said that the BJP had forged 'toolkits', wrongly attributing it to the former and that the saffron party spread misinformation amidst the pandemic. Congress asked for the tweets of the BJP leaders to be removed & sought a detailed probe along with permanently suspending the accounts of the BJP leaders.  

Congress admits 'Central Vista' toolkit, but not the one BJP claims

In a massive development amid BJP's expose, the Congress party admitted the authenticity of the toolkit pertaining to the Central Vista Project on Wednesday. Two days earlier, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra had released multiple toolkits outlining Congress' attempt to defame the Centre and PM Modi even as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic. As per point IV of a purported toolkit titled 'Cornering BJP & Modi on COVID Mismanagement' shared by BJP General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santosh, it reads, "Brand the (Central Vista) project as a ‘vanity project’ which has no public use but is only for Modi’s personal use. File a case against the project in Delhi High Court and seek a stay on the project". 

However, Patra released a separate document of the AICC Research Department titled 'Central Vista Redevelopment: Vanity Project Amidst The Pandemic'. Interestingly, the above-quoted content related to the Central Vista Project is not seen in the 5 pages put out by BJP. According to AICC Research Department chairman Rajeev Gowda, this was a genuine and fact-based 6-page "research note". Reacting to the saffron party's claim that Saumya Verma is the author of the toolkit, Gowda asserted that Patra was showing the author of a real document (Central Vista Redevelopment: Vanity Project Amidst The Pandemic) and attributing it to a fake one (Cornering BJP & Modi on COVID Mismanagement). 

Writing on Twitter, Congress leader Rajeev Gowda stated, "BJP ecosystem indulges in the worst form of cynical politics. Its dirty tricks dept extracted a colleague’s name from our genuine Central Vista document & attributed it to its FAKE ‘toolkit’ She deactivated her SM accounts after online harassment Shame! Take me on, not my team!"

Toolkit controversy

Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday, Sambit Patra shared the contents of a purported toolkit and slammed Congress' attempts to spread misinformation in the country. He covered sections such as 'Politicising and Allowing Super Spreader Kumbh', 'Questions on PM CARES', 'Special treatment of Gujarat', 'Choosing vanity over people's lives', 'Amplify work of frontal Congress organizations' and 'Prime Minister Modi's image'. The document also urges volunteers to use phrases such as 'Modi strain', ‘Missing’ Amit Shah, ‘Quarantined’ Jaishankar, ‘Sidelined’ Rajnath Singh, ‘Insensitive’ Nirmala Sitharaman. 

Moreover, it talked about magnifying the crisis using images of dead bodies. However, Congress immediately issued a denial and filed a police complaint against the BJP national spokesperson, party chief JP Nadda, Union Minister Smriti Irani, BL Santhosh and others. It alleged that BJP sought to divert the attention from the Centre's "mammoth failure" in providing relief to the people of India. Claiming that BJP forged the letterhead of the AICC Research Department and printed false content on the same, it demanded action against the aforesaid leaders under the relevant sections of the IPC and the IT Act.

(Image: PTI/@RahulGandhi composite image)