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Amid Rafale row, a ROFL moment as BJP leaders blindly retweet tampered IT Cell messages

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It was a shock for BJP and a hilarious moment for others to find ministers of Narendra Modi government and various BJP followers go on a virtual campaign against their revered leader on social media.

Modi govt has not made inclusive development the focal point of its functioning, they said. Dishonesty and lack of transparency is the hallmark of New India under Modi, they fumed. Working for the middle class is low on the agenda of Modi govt, they observed.

All of this originated from BJP IT Cell platform and, as it always happens, was tweeted and retweeted blindly by all faithful followers.

BJP IT Cell, the mainstay of party’s propaganda machinery, surpasses every other in the country in its reach and volume of messages that propagate its agenda and seek to mould public opinion in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hindutva and malign opponents.

Yesterday (Wednesday, Feb 13), however, the BJP got hoisted on its own petard. Fake news buster Pratik Sinha, who runs the portal AltNews, told the TV channel “Mirror Now” that while checking for messages being circulated, the BJP IT Cell had left its Google document – which puts out these messages – unlocked. He opened it and made some alterations.

The document, shared by the IT cell with BJP affiliates and which Sinha broke into, was meant to provide easily tweet-able content to fuel a pro-Modi hashtag trend.

Soon, those messages were circulating all over, copied and pasted by every loyalist without a thought.

One among several such tweets by Pon Radhakrishnan, union minister of state for finance and shipping, said that “working for the middle class is low on the agenda” for Modi. The official handle of the BJP in the state of Assam tweeted that the government “has not made inclusive development as the focal point of its functioning.”

The messages went viral and the results were humiliating for the BJP. As NDTV said, “A massacre followed on Twitter.” But both NDTV and Times Now were wrong to say the BJP IT Cell was hacked: there was no hacking involved. It was open to all who cared to go to it.

Pratik Sinha, posting a video of how he did it, tweeted: “How do you get a Union Minister to tweet what you want? Well, you go and edit the trending document made by BJP IT cell, and then you control what they tweet.”

 

And another:

And earlier:

What the behaviour of the ministers and the BJP followers indicates is the clout of the BJP IT Cell over them: it obviously has the blessings of the top echelons which, in that party today, means just two men. Or perhaps the leader in charge of BJP communication and propaganda.

Pratik Sinha said: “While it might seem like a laughing matter, the purpose here is to demonstrate that a non government entity sitting in BJP’s office is controlling what a Union Minister is tweeting.”

Sinha’s Twitter thread shows screenshots of tweets by politicians and others who seem to have blithely copy-pasted from the document without noticing that the tweets had been edited.

One among several such tweets by Pon Radhakrishnan, union minister of state for finance and shipping, said that “working for the middle class is low on the agenda” for Modi. The official handle of the BJP in the state of Assam tweeted that the government “has not made inclusive development as the focal point of its functioning.”

Over the years, the BJP has relentlessly worked on its messaging on Twitter, Facebook, and even WhatsApp, strategically timing its posts and deftly managing their spread, noted a QuartzIndia report.

A key tool it has used for this is a Google document called “Trend Alert,” which Sinha got access to, the QuartzIndia report said. Trend Alert is used to coordinate and fuel hashtag trends on Twitter. “What happens is that someone in the IT cell will create one document, which has the hashtag and, say, 15 or 20 tweets on the issue,” Shivam Shankar Singh, a former member of the BJP’s data analytics team, told Quartz. “And they forward it out into different WhatsApp groups and into different Facebook groups, and to some ministers and big social media accounts that can get it trending. And then people usually just copy/paste the tweets and tweet it out.”

The IT cell also uses Trend Alerts to mobilise supporters online in different ways, Singh said, including by linking them to political Twitter polls and telling them which way to vote.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Sunita Kejriwal holds maiden Lok Sabha election roadshow in Delhi

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.

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Aam Aadmi Party began its campaign for 3rd phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday with Sunita Kejriwal, wife of jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding a roadshow in Delhi. In a massive rally, Sunita Kejriwal was be seen standing on a vehicle holding her hands and greeting the people of the area. AAP’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar was seen sitting on the vehicle as he showcased a portrait of Rani Laxmibai.

Earlier ahead of Sunita Kejrieal’s roadshow, Kuldeep Kumar told the media that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who worked to provide the best school, and free- electricity to the people of Delhi has been framed in a fake case by BJP. Kumar further added that from today onwards Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow will start and she is going to seek support and blessings from the Delhi people to continue its fight against the BJP government.

Aam Aadmi Party workers also staged a protest under the banner of Jail ka jawab vote se near Delhi’s Lakshmi Nagar area on Saturday against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in connection with an excise policy case.

After the Delhi CM’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case in March, Sunita Kejriwal has taken up a more prominent role in campaigning activities for the Aam Aadmi Party. Since the Delhi CM’s arrest, Atishi and other AAP leaders have alleged that the arrest was made so that to the AAP Supremo can be prevented from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to judicial custody until May 7.

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. She is emerging as a star campaigner for Aam Aadmi Party.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Mallikarjun Kharge says candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies Mallikarjun Kharge said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days. He was addressing a press conference where he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are put on the lap and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies he said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

On being questioned about Congress leaders changing constituencies Kharge asked how many times have Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani changed their seats. His response came when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala’s Wayanad instead of Amethi. Referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge said the Congress is not affected by people who grew up in the party and left it later.

The Congress president launched an all round attack on the BJP and PM Modi and said the prime minister did not implement even one of his electoral promises and still says Modi did a lot of work for the country. Addressing the press conference he said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent. He said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. The Congress President said the BJP speaks so much about patriotism and that the contribution of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri is nothing before them.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation

Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.

Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?

Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.

She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.

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