Congress slams Centre after Delhi Police visit Twitter India office in 'toolkit' case

Photo used for representational purpose. Pic/iStock

The Congress has slammed the Central government after a Delhi Police team landed at the offices of Twitter India in Delhi and Gurugram on Monday evening to "serve notice" in connection with its probe into the alleged toolkit case, saying the Centre is trying to stifle every dissenting voice.

"The subjugation of free speech, the attempts to stifle every voice that is a dissenting voice against this government and the state sponsored fraudulent means to propagate and instill fear continue unabated in Modi government. We all saw how BJP forged documents to produce a fake toolkit," said the chief spokesperson of the Congress, Randeep Singh Surjewala, in a video message. The fake toolkit was exposed when Chhattisgarh Police lodged an FIR against BJP leaders and its spokespersons, Surjewala said.

It was exposed when none less than Twitter declared the same to be ‘manipulated media', he added. "Now perturbed by it, the BJP and the Modi government are raiding Twitter offices both in Delhi and Gurugram. May I ask why? The guilty people are sitting in BJP headquarters and in seat of power, but you are raiding Twitter's office in Delhi and Gurugram. What is the reason there of," he asked. The Congress spokesman said the reason is that the BJP is scared that its lies and fraud will be exposed.

Also read: Delhi Police sends notice to Twitter over toolkit row

"Is it also not correct that BJP leaders are being accused of fraud? Then why is the government not acting in accordance with the law and the Constitution? The IT Minister himself along with half-a-dozen other ministers tweeted this manipulated and fraudulent media," Surjewala said. "Now they are scared that their lies will get exposed and that is why social media platforms are being targeted," he said.

Surjewala also said that the Prime Minister should remember that free speech and right to expression of opinion are fundamental rights of the people of this country. "You can't subjugate the Constitution, you can't stifle free speech and you will not be able to suppress the voice of the young or the voice of people of this county and that is the cardinal principle," he said.

Earlier, Delhi Police issued a statement which said, "The Delhi Police team went to Twitter office to serve a notice to Twitter, as a part of routine process. This was necessitated as we wanted to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice, as replies by Twitter India MD have been very ambiguous."

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