News Analysis India

Tag: Congress toolkit

  • Centre objects to Twitter’s ‘manipulated media’ tag on toolkit tweets

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government has objected to Twitter using ‘manipulated media’ tag for tweets on an alleged Congress toolkit used to target the Centre over its COVID-19 handling, sources said.

    The government has asked Twitter to remove the ‘manipulated media’ tag as the matter is pending before law enforcement agency, and made it clear that the social media platform cannot pass judgment when the issue is under investigation.

    Investigation will determine the veracity of the content and not Twitter, it has asserted while asking the microblogging platform not to interfere in the investigation process.

    According to sources, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has written a strong communication to the global team of Twitter registering its objection to the ‘manipulated media’ tag on tweets made by some political leaders with reference to the toolkit allegedly created to undermine, derail and demean the efforts of the government against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In its communication to Twitter, the ministry has stated that a complaint has already been made by one of the concerned parties before the local law enforcement agency questioning the veracity of the toolkit and the same is under investigation.

    While the local law enforcement agency is undertaking the investigation, Twitter has unilaterally drawn a conclusion in this matter and arbitrarily tagged it as ‘manipulated media’, government sources said.

    Such tagging by Twitter appears pre-judged, prejudiced and a deliberate attempt to colour the investigation by local law enforcement agency, the sources pointed out.

    The ministry has termed such unilateral action by Twitter as an effort to influence the fair investigation process and a clear overreach, which is totally unwarranted.

    The ministry has further stated in its communication that Twitter unilaterally chose to go ahead and designate certain tweets as ‘manipulated’, pending investigation by the law enforcement agency.

    Such action not only dilutes the credibility of Twitter as a neutral and unbiased platform facilitating exchange of views by the users but also puts a question mark on Twitter’s status as an “intermediary”, they said.

    This comes in the backdrop of Twitter labelling as ‘manipulated media’ a tweet by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on the alleged toolkit prepared by the Congress to target the Modi government.

    Twitter says it “may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated.

  • Author of toolkit to defame PM Modi, India is member of Congress research wing, alleges BJP

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The controversy over Congress’ alleged use of toolkit to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over handling of COVID-19 intensified on Wednesday as Bharatiya Janata Party revealed the identity of the alleged author of the document as a member of the Congress’ research wing.

    Responding to the Congress assertion that the document shown by the BJP was fake and its threat to lodge an FIR against BJP President JP Nadda, senior BJP leader and party spokesperson Sambit Patra stated that the party had itself exposed the author of the toolkit.

    Patra, with details collated by domain experts of the toolkit in hand, named Saumya Verma as the author of the toolkit that aimed to defame the Prime Minister and the country by directing to call Covid strain B.1.617 as “Indian Variant” or “Modi variant”.

    ALSO READ| Congress to take BJP to court over toolkit ‘forgery’: Prof Rajeev Gowda

    Patra, with details collated by domain experts, named Saumya Varma as the author of the toolkit that aimed to defame the Prime Minister and the country by directing to call Covid strain as ‘Indian variant’ or ‘Modi variant’.

    Patra said that Varma according to her profile is a member of the research wing of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and works directly for Congress leader Professor Rajeev Gowda.

    The BJP leader presented papers of the toolkit author where the name of the project was given as ‘Central vista vanity project AICC Research’ along with various photographs of Varma with Rahul Gandhi and Gowda as a member of the AICC research team.

    Congress had threatened to lodge an FIR against Nadda and Patra accusing them of forgery of a toolkit to divert the country’s attention from the government’s failure to tackle the COVID pandemic. Patra said that the pointers mentioned in the ‘Congress toolkit’ were used by various Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and “this should be evidence enough”.

    “The toolkit mentioned that how a certain variant should be called Indian or Modi variant. Rahul Gandhi tweeted Covid as Modi pandemic and Sonia Falerio is the daughter of a Congress leader called the variant as Modi variant. Shashi Tharoor too has called it an Indian variant as mentioned in the toolkit. We now know the origin of the toolkit,” said Patra.

    The BJP had come out with an ‘expose’ on Tuesday where it alleged that Congress has come out with a toolkit to tarnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and government on handling of the pandemic. The contents of the toolkit ranged from targeting PM Modi to taking the help of foreign publication journalists for building a narrative against the government over its handling of the pandemic.

    BJP President JP Nadda had condemned Congress for “dividing society and spewing venom at a time when the country is fighting COVID-19 while urging Congress to go beyond toolkit models and do something constructive.”