‘Toolkit documents’: War of words continues between BJP, Congress

The Opposition Congress and the ruling BJP continued to spar over the alleged “toolkit documents” and Covid. ‘

While Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology Shashi Tharoor ridiculed BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s demand to disqualify him from the Lok Sabha for his tweets on ‘Indian variant of Covid, Congress MP in Rajya Sabha Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the new intermediary rules for social media platforms issued by the Narendra Modi government are draconian.

Tharoor, refuting the allegation that he tarnished the image of Parliament and the government by using the term “Indian variant of Covid-19”, said his committee is communicating with Ministries in writing on issues such as tweets that can be categorised as “Manipulative Media”.

“The Committee is already examining the subject of safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online media platforms’ which relates to this issue. It is therefore well within the Committee’s mandate to seek a clarification on this matter from the Ministry concerned,” Tharoor said.

He said members on the panel with issues to raise relating to the work of a Parliamentary Committee are advised to communicate directly with the Chairman and/or the Committee Secretariat, rather than ventilate their concerns in the media.

Dubey had in a letter to Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday that the Standing Committee is the extension of Parliament, but Tharoor has made it an extension of the Congress. “Where he is more concerned about his Party’s and Rahul Gandhi’s agenda than the nation itself. Recently, on the Twitter toolkit controversy, he is asking for explanations from the Ministry of Information and Technology when Twitter’s action is against this nation’s IT law. Even as the matter is under investigation by the various agencies of the Government, Standing committee can neither persuade the actions taken by the government nor can it influence day-to-day working of the government,” Dubey said in the letter.

Intermediary guideline

Singhvi told reporters on Wednesday that the new intermediary guidelines show the BJP government is suffering from ‘Big Daddy’ syndrome. “The new rules are a severe blow to the vibrant culture of discourse, deliberation and dissent in India,” he said.

Singhvi said what is being brought into force from today is yet another attempt by the Modi government to capture and subordinate every pillar and agency of freedom of thought and expression. “Having successfully done so in respect of constitutional and statutory bodies like CBI, ED, EC and several others, along with subjugation of the ‘ godi media ’, Modi has now turned his attention to social media and social media platforms to annihilate all vestige of free speech, thought, and expression,” he added.

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