Congress lodges police complaint against top BJP leaders over 'toolkit' charge

The Congress wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava seeking an FIR against Nadda, Irani, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh, and Patra

Hours after a BJP spokesperson fished out a purported "Congress toolkit", a massive controversy broke out between the BJP and the Congress on Tuesday with the Opposition party lodging a written police complaint against the ruling party chief J P Nadda and its senior leaders.

The controversy began when BJP's Sambit Patra mounted a massive attack on the Congress accusing it of having made a detailed plan to tarnish the image of PM Narendra Modi with help of foreign media on Covid-19 handling of the government. Putting out screenshots of the purported document, Patra cited how Congress workers were instructed to call the mutant strain as "Modi strain". He also accused the party of creating a divide along religious lines by citing the content from the document in which the Congress allegedly asked the workers to call the Kumbh Mela as the "Super Spreader Kumbh''.

Also read — BJP fishes out 'Congress toolkit' used to dent PM Modi's image; Oppn calls it fake

Patra also slammed the Opposition party's direction to party workers to "use resources created on social media to question Modi's incompetence from handles which look like Modi or BJP supporters."

The Congress was quick to deny the allegation with its spokesperson and head of AICC research department Rajeev Gowda calling the document "forged". "The BJP is propagating a fake toolkit on Covid-19 mismanagement and attributing it to AICC Research Department. We are filing an FIR for forgery against BJP chief J P Nadda and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. When our country is devastated by Covid-19, instead of providing relief, the BJP is shamelessly concocting forgery,” he said.

However, the BJP went big with what it called the revelations. "Dividing society and spewing venom against others… Congress is a master at this. India is seeing Congress’s antics, while the nation is fighting Covid-19. I would urge Congress to go beyond ’Toolkit Models’ and do something constructive," Nadda said.

The party launched a hashtag on Twitter #CongressToolkitExposed to attack the Congress. "Shame Hindu, Blame Hindu’ tactic of “provisional” Jane Pudhari Rahul Gandhi ... blame Kumbh to shame Hindus," Union Minister Smriti Irani said asking the Congress leader that he "should have spared the religion of his grandmother (Indira Gandhi) at least."

Also read — Have to pay attention to rural, remote regions in second Covid wave: PM Modi

The Congress later wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava seeking an FIR against Nadda, Irani, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh, and Patra, accusing them of circulating a "forged and fabricated" document from their verified Twitter handles and other social media platforms with the intent to "create communal disharmony and civil unrest in the country, among individuals, escalating violence, fuelling hate and spreading fake news."

In the complaint, also addressed to the Station House Officer of Tughlak Road Police station, the Congress accused the BJP of "forging the letterhead of AICC Research Department".

BJP functionaries have not only stooped to manufacturing fake documents to target the Congress but have also attempted to lower the image of India at various public platforms by falsely accusing patriotic citizens of deliberately tarnishing the image of India, the Congress said.

Going hammer and tongs, the Congress in its application said, "The hidden agenda of this team of fraudsters was to divert the attention from Modi government's mammoth failure in providing necessary aid to people of India amidst the current pandemic."

Also read — PM Modi's rating falls as India struggles to contain second wave of Covid-19

BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya was dismissive of the Congress's FIR threat, saying the party will not be intimidated through such tactics.

Earlier, Patra read out extensively from the purported document and alleged "no stone left unturned to scar the name of India with the help of foreign Journalists'', citing references from the document. "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," Patra tweeted.

Patra's toolkit attack on Congress is the latest addition in the war of hashtags between the Congress and the BJP on the coronavirus issue.

The popular Twitter handles of Congress are using hashtags such as #Jan Ki Baat, #Jan Loot Sarkar, #DeshKiBaat, #COVID19India, #VaccineShortage, #ArrestMeToo, while the BJP earlier carried on with the simpler ones "#IndiaFightsCorona, #SevaHiSangathan". Clearly, the BJP is now looking to add some more teeth to its campaign.

The Congress has also lapped catchy one-liners such as "VISTA se Vinash Tak" and sentences like "It is not the enemy which is invisible but the BJP government in this hour of crisis" and "The Modi govt is administering a lethal dose of incompetence to India" to hammer the point that "This is a reflection of the chaos that follows when the central govt is plagued by policy-paralysis" as "In a democracy like ours, collective conscience works best, not one man's "genius"."