Union Minister’s ‘loser’ attack on Rahul after latter claims that BJP & RSS control WhatsApp & FB in India
"Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us?" Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
New Delhi: Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a blistering counter-attack on Rahul Gandhi over his allegations that BJP and RSS disseminated fake news and hatred via social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp.
Slamming Rahul Gandhi, the Minister termed the political party as ‘losers’ who can’t influence their own party but keep harping about BJP and RSS.
“Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us?” the minister said.
Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS.
You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us? https://t.co/NloUF2WZVY
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) August 16, 2020
Prasad said that Gandhi’s party had no locus standi to question the BJP given previous allegations of Congress having used online platforms to influence elections in India.
“The fact is that today access to information and freedom of expression has been democratised. It is no longer controlled by retainers of your family and that is why it hurts. By the way, haven’t yet heard your condemnation of the Bangalore riots. Where did your courage disappear?” Prasad added in a subsequent tweet.
The fact is that today access to information and freedom of expression has been democratized. It is no longer controlled by retainers of your family and that is why it hurts.
Btw, haven’t yet heard your condemnation of the Bangalore riots. Where did your courage disappear?
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) August 16, 2020
Prasad’s statement came an hour after Gandhi had accused BJP and RSS of controlling Facebook and Whatsapp in India and using it to “spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate.” Gandhi had also shared a report, published in an American daily, in his tweet in support of his claims.
BJP & RSS control Facebook & Whatsapp in India.
They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate.
Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook. pic.twitter.com/Y29uCQjSRP
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 16, 2020
Earlier in 2018, Prasad while addressing the Rajya Sabha in July 2018 had said, that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will investigate whether the British company Cambridge Analytica violated laws to manipulate the electoral process during the 2014 general elections.
In this case, data from the nation’s electorates and Facebook users was allegedly compromised by London-based political consultant Cambridge Analytica.