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Congress “Toolkit” Case: Delhi Police Carries Out Search operation At Twitter India Offices

by TestHostEntry

Delhi Police’s action comes days after the micro-blogging platform Twitter flagged BJP leader Sambit Patra’s tweet over “Congress Toolkit” as “manipulated Media”.

 

In an unprecedented action against the Social Media platform, two teams of Delhi Police’s Special Cell reached the Twitter office today. According to reports, the teams reached the Twitter India office in Delhi to investigate the toolkit case. First, a team reached the office in Lado Sarai in Delhi. After this, the other team reached the office of Gurgaon.

Delhi Police’s action comes days after the micro-blogging platform flagged BJP leader Sambit Patra’s tweet over “Congress Toolkit” as “manipulated Media”. Earlier in the day, Delhi police served a notice to the company in this regard. The special cell has sought information from the company about labelling Patra’s post as “Manipulated Media”.

Earlier, the central government had also opposed Twitter’s action to describe the tweet as ‘Manipulated Media’. The IT ministry has asked Twitter to remove the ‘Manipulated Media’ tag. The government says that the agency will investigate the veracity of the content and not Twitter. It said Twitter should not interfere in the investigation process. The ministry, in its message to Twitter, said that one of the parties concerned has complained to the investigating agency questioning the veracity of the toolkit and it is being investigated.

What’s The Congress Toolkit Matter?

On May 18, BJP released what it called a “toolkit” by the Congress to tarnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre over the handling of the Covid pandemic. BJP president J P Nadda first talked about Congress’s ‘Toolkit Models’ in a tweet. Subsequently, the allegation was taken up by Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP general secretary B L Santhosh, and spokesperson Sambit Patra. The BJP leaders shared a document seemingly printed on the letterhead of the ‘AICC Research Department’.

In his tweet, Nadda said the Congress was a “master” at “dividing society and spewing venom”, adding, “India is seeing Congress’ antics, while the nation is fighting COVID-19. I would urge Congress to go beyond ‘Toolkit Models’ and do something constructive.”

What Was The Alleged Toolkit?

The document in question laid out instructions on how to “destroy (Modi’s) image and erode his popularity” and advised that the new coronavirus mutant be dubbed the “India strain” or “Modi strain”. The document circulated by the BJP included instructions purportedly by the Congress asking its followers to track people seeking help and to ensure they tagged the party’s leaders in reply. The alleged toolkit also asked the Congress volunteers to take the help of friendly journalists to amplify their messages. There was also a separate document that criticized Central vista, the ambitious project of PM Modi for which India will be spending 20,000 crore rupees.

The document also urges campaigners to use phrases like “Indian strain” whenever talking of the new mutant and says social media volunteers may call it “Modi strain”, as well as push phrases like “Missing Amit Shah”, “Quarantined Jaishankar”, “Sidelined Rajnath Singh”, “Insensitive Nirmala Sitharaman” etc. It must be noted here that a few days ago, NSUI leader Nagesh Kariyappa had filed a missing complaint against Home Minister Amit Shah.

What Did The Congress Say?

Soon after the BJP leaders’ tweet accusing congress of circulating the toolkit, Congress defended itself. It said the document was fake and it was an attempt of forgery and fraud. The party also filed a complaint with the Delhi Police demanding an FIR against all the four BJP leaders. The party also filed a complaint with the Delhi Police demanding an FIR against all the four BJP leaders. It said it would also write to social media platforms for action against the BJP leaders for propagating a “forged and fabricated letter”. The complaint on behalf of the Congress was filed by AICC research department head Rajeev Gowda and social media department head Rohan Gupta.

It accused BJP leaders of “forging the letterhead of AICC Research Department and thereafter printing false and fabricated content on the same… with the intent to create communal disharmony and civil unrest in the country… escalating violence, fuelling hate and spreading fake news”. It also said the BJP was trying to divert attention from the failures of the government. It sought action against BJP leaders who had shared the document including JP Nadda, Smriti Irani, BL Santhosh and Sambit Patra.
The Congress Thursday wrote to Twitter asking it to permanently suspend the accounts of BJP leaders including party chief JP Nadda and Union minister Smriti Irani for allegedly “spreading misinformation and unrest in the society”.
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