Leaders get notices, Cong seeks tag on ministers
NEW DELHI: The tussle over a social media “toolkit” to allegedly defame the government intensified on Tuesday as it emerged that two Congress functionaries were sent notices by the Delhi Police to join the investigation in a complaint they originally filed, even as their party urged Twitter to tag as “manipulated media” posts by 11 Union ministers for “spreading false and malicious propaganda”.
The row began last week when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra shared an image purportedly showing Congress documents on how to criticise the government and the PM in public. The post has now been flagged as “manipulated media” by Twitter. Several fact-checking websites highlighted design and typographical features in the document that, they alleged, suggested it was doctored.
On Monday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala in a letter to Twitter, flagged posts by Union ministers such as Piyush Goyal, Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Smriti Irani for action. “You would appreciate that the forged, fabricated material and the claims made under the malicious #Congresstoolkitexposed, by the various ministers abovenamed, is identical to the material that has already marked as ‘manipulative media’, by Twitter, on various accounts including that of the BJP Spokespersonsambit Patra (@sambitswaraj),” Surjewala said in the letter.
“...people tend to believe ‘true’ and take on face value, any information that is put up directly by a Union Minister of the Government of India through his/her official/verified Twitter account,” the letter said, adding that the ministers should be dealt in the same manner as Patra.
The BJP has claimed that the documents posted by Patra were part of a “toolkit” made to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi and build a biased narrative over Covid-19 management, and the Central Vista project.
Twitter’s move against Patra has become controversial with the Delhi Police issuing a notice to the company asking it to offer any more evidence it may have on why it labelled the document as manipulated. On Tuesday, it emerged that the police also sent notices to two Congress leaders – Rajeev Gowda, who head the party’s research department, and Rohan Gupta, the party’s social media head.
A police officer familiar with the case details, said: “The two Congress leaders mailed a complaint through a city lawyer. We asked them to meet for a routine examination. We need to verify if the complaint was indeed sent by them .... ”
The two Congress leaders filed a complaint with the Delhi Police on May 18, seeking an FIR against some senior BJP leaders for allegedly propagating a “fake toolkit” on Twitter under the hashtag Congresstoolkitexposed.
Police officials said they were sent notices on May 21, the same day Twitter’s (India) managing director Manish Maheshwari received a similar notice. None of the three joined the probe.
A second police officer said no fresh notices have been sent to the two Congress leaders. “These notices were served last week based on a complaint received from them (Congress leaders)... They could shed light on the allegations that the toolkit circulated was a fake one...they were asked to join the probe, which they have not,” the officer said.
“In our reply we have stated our party had also filed a complaint with the Chhattisgarh Police. The Chhattisgarh Police ... registered an FIR. Since the case in Chhattisgarh is already proceeding, we want to continue with their (Chhattisgarh Police) investigation,” said Godwa, who is a party spokesperson.
Gupta gave a similar response and added: “We have told the (Delhi Police) that we are joining the Chhattisgarh Police’s investigation as co-complainant.”
The Delhi Police officially did not comment on the matter.
The joint complaint by Gowda and Gupta was filed with Delhi Police commissioner SN Shrivastava and the Tughlak Road police station on May 18. It was later transferred to the special cell for further inquiry. Police said they are conducting a preliminary inquiry
On Monday evening, police visited Twitter’s offices in Delhi to secure the participation of Maheshwari in the probe. Police officials familiar with the probe, said Maheswari refused to join investigation citing that he is not the concerned person. “He said he is from Twitter India and the tweet was flagged as Manipulated Media by Twitter Inc. He also said he is in-charge of sales in India. We are in touch with Twitter officials and they will have to join the probe. They must have some information on the basis of which they flagged the tweet as manipulated,” said an officer requesting anonymity.