Published 12:35 IST, August 18th 2020
Congress slams sacked Sanjay Jha; calls him BJP stooge over 'letter to Sonia' claim
The Congress denied claims made by its suspended leader Sanjay Jha who stated that 100 party leaders had written to Sonia Gandhi, seeking a change in leadership
The Congress on Monday rebutted a claim made by its suspended party leader Sanjay Jha who stated on Twitter that 100 Congressmen had written to president Sonia Gandhi, seeking a change in leadership and transparency in the working committee elections.
Calling it a BJP ploy, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the story of a ‘non-existent letter’ by Congress leaders was false and meant to ‘divert attention’ from the issue of the BJP’s alleged links with Facebook.
A political dispute has erupted over a foreign media report which claimed that Facebook India deliberately overlooks hate speech and objectionable content from BJP leaders and workers.
Sanjay Jha claims grumblings within the party
Earlier in the day, Sanjay Jha had claimed that nearly 100 ‘distressed’ Congress leaders, including some legislators, had written to Gandhi, seeking change in political leadership. Further responding to claims that his tweet aimed at diverting attention from Facebook-BJP controversy, Jha, in a tweet, condemned the alleged links between the ruling party and the social media giant.
Last month, Congress suspended Jha for “anti-party activities and breach of discipline” after he backed former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot during the political crisis in the state. Before that, he was sacked as the Congress’ spokesperson after he criticised the party leadership in an article.
Facebook-BJP row
A western media outlet claimed that BJP's Telangana MLA T Raja Singh had often made communal and incendiary speeches that were posted on Facebook, in contrast with the company's hate speech rules. The report claims that in spite of the posts 'violating' Facebook's hate-speech rules and qualifying as dangerous, the social media giant was not to keen on flagging the account, owing to the company's business prospects in India.
Shortly after the report surfaced, leader of the opposition and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and RSS of spreading "fake news" using Facebook and WhatsApp to influence the electorate. This triggered a sharp counter-attack from Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who reminded the opposition party of the Cambridge Analytica data scam right before the elections.
Updated 12:35 IST, August 18th 2020