In recent days Congress leaders have repeatedly taken to Twitter to attack the ruling BJP over their initiatives and activities - be it the handling of the coronavirus situation in the country, economic crisis or the India-China border clash.
BJP too seems to be giving a befitting reply to the opposition's claims. Earlier, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back at Rahul Gandhi after he cited a recent Wall Street Journal report to say that the "BJP and RSS control Facebook and WhatsApp in India." He said., "losers who cannot influence people even in their own party."
Now responding to this tweet, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that "Congress has never hired the services of Cambridge Analytica but BJP has been their client." He even went on to raise several questions regarding the Cambridge Analytica scam that came in light in the past couple of years.
"False tweets and false agendas seem to have become the only way out. The Congress has never hired the services of 'Cambridge Analytica', but the BJP has been a client of Cambridge Analytica. Why do the law and IT minister not tell? Answer our questions to the country," the Congress leader said.
In the following tweet he asked several questions to the BJP. He tweeted, "Will Ravi Shankar tell me- 1. Did BJP take services of Cambridge Analytica-CA and its Indian arm OBI and SCL? 2. Did the BJP support Cambridge Analytica-CA and OBI in Mission 272 +? 3. Did BJP use CA-OBI in Jharkhand-Haryana-Maharashtra-Delhi elections?"
He continued to ask, "Will Ravi Shankar tell me- 4. Why was the former IT head of BJP and largest portal of Government of India http://mygov.com Mr. Arvind Gupta, who runs the show, in praise of Cambridge Analytica? 5. Why did the Modi government not register an FIR on Cambridge Analytica-CA and OBI?"
He said, "The reason is clear- When "the cat is guarding the milk", When "taken hostage to the truth", When "serving hatred" becomes the way, When the "lie-proof" power is religion, so... Then, a conspiratorial attack on truth, decency, tolerance, tolerance, harmony is natural."
Earlier, Gandhi had cited a Wall Street Journal report to say that the "BJP and RSS control Facebook and WhatsApp in India."
"BJP and RSS control Facebook and WhatsApp in India. They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook," Gandhi had claimed, sharing screenshots of the news report.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back at the Congress leader and said "losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP and RSS".
"You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us?" he asked.
According to the article, a senior Facebook official in India was opposed to applying hate speech rules against leaders associated with the BJP and other Hindutva groups.
As per the report, Ankhi Das, who is Facebook’s top public policy executive in India, opposed applying hate speech rules to the BJP’s T. Raja Singh out of fear of ruining the company’s relationship with the ruling party.
Earlier in the day, another BJP leader, Sambit Patra had hit out at Rahul, citing a comment by Sonia Gandhi where she had wondered whether freedom of expression was still a reality in the country.
"Your Son’s Failures cannot be projected as fallacies of Democracy. If Your Son’s writings on tweets & Utterances in 1/2 second videos are not not taken seriously by the Nation ..it means the fault lies with your Son not with Democracy (sic)," he had tweeted.