"BJP on mission to attack India's democracy": Congress attacks Center over Facebook row, demands immediate probe

Accusing the Bhartiya Janta Party of subverting India's democracy and harmony, the congress party on Tuesday launched another attack against the ruling dispensation. Congress also demanded an immediate probe into the operations of Facebook and Whatsapp in India.

New Delhi:Congress party, on Tuesday, once again attacked the Bhartiya Janta Party over the alleged biases of a social media giant towards the ruling party, while demanding an immediate investigation into the operations of Facebook and Whatsapp.

"BJP has been on a mission to subvert India's democracy and harmony from the time they come to power in 2014. Dismantling democratic institutions and undermining their authority is but second nature to them," alleged Congress in a statement.

It further stated that the recent investigative article by international media revealed that BJP has "gone above and beyond to propagate their agenda". Congress also accused BJP of "availing services" of social media platforms to deceive Indian public.

The recent articles of Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine elucidated that Facebook I dia and Whatsapp have been used to "fire Mr Modi and BJP's social media campaign", spread hate and disharmony within India and more. These articles also revealed that the top executives of Facebook India, including Ankhi Das, had "collusion" with BJP even before 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"Moreover, Facebook's global leadership has been aware of the biases and partisanship but remained willing participants, proving that the unholy nexus between BJP-FB has hit the nerve-centre of our Nation's democratic functioning," stated Congress.

According to the recent report, in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had flagged 44 "rival" pages to Facebook and as of August 31, 2019, 32 per cent of the pages had been pulled down by Facebook.

Facebook had not only pulled down pages that opposed the ruling-party but upon the request of BJP, 17 pages which post out content in favour of BJP government agenda have been reinstated, stated the media reports.

"Shockingly, these requests have been made through email exchanges between BJP leader Amit Malviya and Facebook India public policy executives Ankhi Das and Shivnath Thukral," said Congress.

It further added, "This blatant 'shielding of BJP leaning Facebook pages' is nothing short of a deliberate attempt to manipulate the public opinion in India."

Another issue of Facebook's propagation of ads was also mentioned in the news articles, in which it has been claimed that an official affiliated to BJP ran about 6-8 pages during 2019 elections while spending over Rs 4.9 crore amount till date.

"The aim of BJP is 'divide and rule' and the social media giant Facebook is helping them achieve this. Casting aside democratic principles, BJP attempts to rule the nation by manipulating and coercing public opinion. The blasphemous nexus between BJP and Facebook is for all to witness and must be investigated without delay," said the Opposition party.