New Delhi: The BJP Tuesday shared what it alleged is a toolkit prepared by the Congress party to “tarnish the image of” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The alleged Congress toolkit, shared by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, also created a storm on social media.
Patra said Rahul Gandhi is “wanting to use this opportunity of the pandemic to destroy the image of PM Modi”.
“No stone left unturned to scar the name of India with the help of Foreign Journalists”, Patra tweeted, using the hashtag #CongressToolKitExposed.
Friends look at the #CongressToolKit in extending help to the needy during the Pandemic!
More of a PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” & “Influencers” than a soulful endeavour.
Read for yourselves the agenda of the Congress:#CongressToolKitExposed pic.twitter.com/3b7c2GN0re
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) May 18, 2021
Disgusting to say the least ..Rahul Gandhi wanting to use this opportunity of Pandemic to destroy the image of PM Modi.
Congress workers instructed to call the mutant strain as “Modi strain”
No stone left unturned to scar the name of India with the help of Foreign Journalists!! pic.twitter.com/i1ykMB00MA
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) May 18, 2021
The alleged toolkit was also published in RSS-affiliated publication Organiser, which claimed that it has “methods to tarnish the image of PM Modi” and it instructs Congress’ leaders and social media volunteers to “use the phrase ‘Indian strain’ whenever talking of the new mutant” of the coronavirus.
The Congress, however, termed the toolkit as “fake” and said it will take strict legal action.
“It is a fake document and we are filing an FIR as it is a a case of forgery. The country is battling Covid-19 and the BJP is propagating fake news, this cannot be tolerated,” Rohan Gupta, chairman of the Congress’ social media department, told ThePrint.
“They are just trying to hide their failures by doing such things, so we will take a strict legal action against whoever is responsible,” he added.
Rajeev Gowda, chairman, AICC research department and national spokesperson, tweeted that the party is going to filing an FIR against Patra and BJP president J.P. Nadda.
BJP is propagating a fake "toolkit" on “COVID-19 mismanagement” & attributing it to AICC Research Department. We are filing an FIR for forgery against @jpnadda & @sambitswaraj
When our country is devastated by COVID, instead of providing relief, BJP shamelessly concocts forgeries
— Rajeev Gowda (@rajeevgowda) May 18, 2021
What the alleged toolkit says
The alleged toolkit directs volunteers to contrast the relief work done by the Congress with lack of work done by BJP organisations, to collaborate in advance with “friendly journalists” to amplify relief messages.
The alleged toolkit asks the party workers to address the Kumbh Mela as “Super Spreader Kumbh”. It also asks the Congress leaders to portray Kumbh Mela as a “political power in the name of religion” and Eid as a “happy social gathering of families and communities”. It also calls for collaborating with “like minded journalists and international media” to further the narrative.
The toolkit also asks for “use of dramatic pictures of funerals and dead bodies” and to question PM’s “incompetence” from handles that look like those of BJP or Modi supporters.
It also asks to use the phrase “Indian strain” whenever talking about the new mutant and asks social media volunteers to call it “Modi strain”.
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