Peddling fake Rahul video: Ex-minister Rajyavardhan Rathore booked in Chhattisgarh on Congress's complaint

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 4

The Congress on Monday said an FIR had been registered against former information and broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Rathore in Chhattisgarh on its complaint for allegedly spreading communal disharmony by peddling a fake video of Rahul Gandhi.

Party leaders Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate said the FIR had been lodged in Bilaspur against Rathore and other senior BJP leaders, including an MP and an MLA from Uttar Pradesh, for continuing to host on their Twitter timelines a doctored video involving Rahul Gandhi's remarks.

Shrinate, chairperson of AICC social and digital media wing, accused Rathore of sedition, saying, “If attempts by a former minister to spread fake news with the intention to spoil communal harmony in the country is not sedition, then what is?”

Shrinate said the question is why an FIR is being registered against a former I&B minister with serious charges of spreading communal disharmony. “Why are these people spreading this fire of hate all over the country? We ask the PM why he has reduced MPs and former ministers to two-rupee trolls. The problem is those who peddle fake news get promotions in the BJP. Everyone knows what the current I&B minister said during the Delhi riots. He was promoted,” said Shrinate.

The Congress said the FIR and complaints followed the expiry of  the 24-hour ultimatum which AICC general secretary communication Jairam Ramesh had given to BJP chief JP Nadda asking him to get the ex-minister and other leaders to remove the purported video from their timelines.

A national television channel that had aired the video had publicly apologised and terminated two people responsible for doctoring it.

“Peddling fake news on social media is one thing but using social media in cahoots with terrorists will not be accepted. At such a sensitive time in the country, how can they dare spread a fake video involving Rahul Gandhi. Apart from fake news this is a conspiracy because even if Twitter posts are deleted the WhatsApp messages would remain in circulation and disturb peace,” said Shrinate.

The Congress yet again warned the BJP against trying to “link Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders with terrorists”.

Shrinate said the PM spoke for nearly half an hour at Hyderabad on Sunday but did not make even a single appeal for peace.

"We have to make social media a safe platform, a platform for public discourse and policy discussions," said Shrinate, adding that the Congress would not accept this in public discourse, in social media or in mainline media.

"You will have to face consequences of maligning our leader. If you are ready to be a two-rupee troll you will face results the two-rupee trolls should face," Shrinate said.

Later, Khera alleged that the BJP had routinely been found to have links with terrorists.

“Dhruv Saxena was associated with the ISI. He was an office-bearer of the BJP. In the Satna terror funding case of 2017, Balram Singh, a BJP worker, was arrested in 2019; a BJP candidate from South Kashmir Tariq Ahmed Mir was found supplying arms to terrorists. DSP Devinder Singh was caught red-handed in Kashmir distributing arms to terrorists and yet the J-K L-G's order said he should not be probed and that the decision was in the interest of national security,” Khera alleged.

He said Afzal Guru had repeatedly mentioned Devinder Singh’s name.

Khera again accused Udaipur tailor's murder accused Riaz Attari of being a BJP member.

'We showed you photos of how the BJP Udaipur chief inducted Attari as a member in November 2019. What more evidence does anyone need?" Khera asked.

He also referred to terrorist Talib Shah caught in Kashmir on Sunday, saying, “This same terrorist has been found to be a member of the BJP minority cell in the state.”

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