BJP IT cell fails to defend Raje on ordinance

JAIPUR: The BJP IT cell left Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje alone to defend her government's controversial ordinance on the cyberspace. The cell which was all out to defend BJP national president Amit Shah over his son's alleged corruption, Haryana CM ML Khattar's failure to check violence after the court verdict on Dera Sacha Sodha chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim or holding press conferences for UP CM Yogi Adityanath during the controversy over the death of infants in Gorakhnath civil hospital by running campaigns on social media, is silent on Raje.

The news about the ordinance curtailing the powers of judges and gaging media broke on October 20. The subject flooded social media platforms with per sonalized hashtags #tughlaqi_maharani or #HitlerRaje trend on a nationally. The BJP IT cell which swings into action and has the capacity to change the discourse of the narrative maintained strategic silence. BJP IT cell national chief Amit Malviya tweet on October 24 "The Rajasthan legislature has sent back the Criminal Laws (Rajast han Amendment) Ordinance 2017 to select committee for review. Good move," is seen by experts as IT cell's disagreement on the ordinance. The usual defence wall by the BJP IT cell which was seen when they put his weight on hash tags LiesAganistShah or #HaryanaWithKhattar was not seen this time. Raje, who is the most active politician from the state and tweets with graphics and illustrations on every occassion has been silent on the issue. Even when she put one step back on the ordinance by forming a standing committee to review it didn't find it appropriate to tweet. A day earlier party releases its statement favoring the ordinance was also not shared my BJP leader in defence of the ordinance. During these days, her tweets were about Ajmer trips.

Raje's son Dushyant Singh, who is among the most active Social media, especially on Facebook is toeing the line of her mother. He prefers to not utter a word on the ordinance. Similarly , the other two BJP lawmakers --State BJP chief Ashok Parnami and State education minister Vasudev Devnani who have fast picked up on the social media by leaving no chance to use the platform have not used it either.

The BJP IT Cell Rajasthan has also shown lull response in defending the party's line ordinance till it was out for review.Avinash Joshi, coordinator of BJP IT Cell Rajasthan initially endorsed the ordinance by retweeting two tweets. Later he took a U-turn by endorsing two tweets favoring the review.

Why didn't the defense the party line till it was not put for review? Joshi said, "Give me 15 minutes..ill get back to you." He, till the news report was filled, didn't call back. The Jaipur incharge of IT Cell Jitendra Kumawat told that cell members have supported the party line vehemently on all social media platforms. TOI scanned his social media accounts, but found no post tweet favoring the government.