Congress questions Facebook executive's relation with BJP

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera raised questions over the relation of Facebook executive Ankhi Das with senior leaders of the BJP. The Congress leader also quoted a report of Guardian in which a Facebook executive revealed that Ankhi was being called as the "grand-daughter" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi: As the political slugfest over Facebook is intensifying day by day, Congress party, on Tuesday, questioned the relations of Facebook executive Ankhi Das with senior leaders of the ruling party, alleging it to be the reason of BJP's "running away" from Parliamentary scrutiny of the matter.

While addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, "With each passing day new revelations expose the unholy Nexus between ruling Bhartiya Janata Party and the social media giant, Facebook. In what has surfaced today the cosy connection of Facebook executives like Ms. Ankhi Das with senior BJP leaders and MPs in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election of 2014 stands exposed."

Alleging an act of "lobbying" over Facebook in "BJP ecosystem" between 2012-14, Khera quoted a memo in which global vice president of public policy of Facebook, Marne Levine rights in reference to the intermediary rules about a closed-door meeting between then Union Minister Kapil Sibal and opposition party leaders, where she mentioned, "Ankhi has advised MPs that the matter is subjudice in various courts of India and they should make that point with the Minister and reorient the discussion to the substantive issues in the rules. We along with Google and YI's local policy leads, have worked with them on talking points."

Das also wrote a letter to the then leader of the opposition, Arun Jaitley over the intermediary rules. In the same memo of 2012, there was a mention of privacy law being drafted by a 'Group of Experts on Policy' headed by retired Justice AP Shah where Ankhi Das "engaged" with the Committee members.

Khera further alleged, "In the same period Facebook was actively involved in 'coalition' meetings in the Supreme Court case challenging some aspects of the IT act, where four PILs were being heard."

A day after the results of 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Das wrote an article in which she asserted that the social media platforms became vital "political campaign tools" and even said, "We launched Election Tracker on March 4 and consistently BJP was number one party and Narendra Modi the number one leader throughout the campaign."

The Congress leader also quoted a report of Guardian in which a Facebook executive revealed that Ankhi was being called as the "grand-daughter" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also raised questions over the decision of Election Commission of India to continue it's partnership with Facebook despite "aberrations" and concerns over data breach, in 2018.

"There are multiple examples of unholy Collusion between Facebook India and the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party no wonder why BJP is running chai of parliamentary scrutiny," Khera said.

He further added, "If questions on Facebook professional integrity are raised none other than Ravi Shankar Prasad himself comes to the rescue of Facebook, no wonder why Prime Minister promotes Facebook by exhorting his MPs to get a minimum 3 lakh likes on their pages and Facebook in turn ensures that hate speeches by leaders of BJP are not removed despite the stated policy of Facebook in this regard."

While attacking Ravi Shankar Prasad over his remarks on Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, while explaining about SC's take on PM-CARES, Khera challenged him for a debate over the matter. "We are even ready to go to his place for an open debate but he has to ensure transparency about RSS overseas connections," he said.