Social media firms favoured BJP: Derek O'Brien

The All India Trinamool Congress member Derek O'Brien Tuesday attacked the social media firms, alleging they favoured the Bharatiya Janta Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) during the election campaign for the recent Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking during the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Rajya Sabha, he also blamed the social media platform for providing a major share of advertisement for BJP.

On the relevance of media he said, "These days with media in hand, it is easy to manufacture great men. Dr B R Ambedkar said this. He saw this problem coming long years ago.

"We appeal to media owners that you have a role to play to save democracy. We appeal to the journalists to bring back the days of Editors, the '60s 70's".

He also demanded sweeping electoral reforms saying that there should be a collegium to appoint the election commissioner. He sought reintroduction of the paper ballot.

He called for state funding for the political parties to provide level playing field to all contestants during the elections. Earlier, Digvijay Singh (Congress) alleged,"You have injected venom of communalism into the people of this country. Slogans of Jai Shree Ram and Allah Ho Akbar are being raised in Parliament. This is not the tradition of Parliament."

Talking about the economy, he said, "Economy is in shambles. You want the economy to grow to USD 5 trillion by 2024. But that requires economic growth of 20.1 per cent every year. You fudged the statistics and two senior officials resigned."

Participating in the debate, Vinay P Saharsabuddhe (BJP) said that your (opposition's) divide and rule policy would not work any more.

He said that the government is taking care of all section of society including the Dalits and minorities.