BJP demands re-locking of Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle, Congress expresses shock

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Tuesday demanded Twitter to lock Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s handle again for “lying” to the micro-blogging site over the issue of revealing the identity of a nine-year-old Delhi girl who was allegedly gang-raped and killed earlier this month. However, the Congress said the ruling party was running a campaign to malign the reputation of their party leader.
Talking to mediapersons, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra quoted media reports and said the Congress had claimed that the victim’s family had given their consent to Rahul Gandhi to publish her pictures.
It is believed that Twitter, which had locked Rahul Gandhi’s handle on August 7, unlocked it on August 14 after the Congress claimed that the victim’s mother had given her consent to publish the family’s photograph taken when the Congress leader had visited them on August 4.
In a tweet on August 14 from the handle @INC_Television, the Congress said, “The victim’s mother has come in support of Rahul Gandhi. She said they do not have any objection to their photograph getting tweeted.”

However, Patra said the consent part was a bogey. “This is a lie. The victim’s family has clearly stated that they never gave any consent to Rahul Gandhi to publish their photograph,” he said.
"Rahul Gandhi has lost credibility and is a habitual liar. The public has locked its (Congress) political account, now Twitter should also lock his account," party spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
Patra demanded that Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle should be locked again after the development.
But the Congress expressed shock at the BJP’s claims. A senior Congress office-bearer told TOI that the party had not given anything in writing to Twitter for getting Rahul Gandhi’s handle unlocked.
“We have not given anything in writing. Nor did we claim that the victim’s family gave their consent in writing,” he said.
The Congress leader revealed that the victim’s mother was seen telling a private channel last week that she did not have any objection to Rahul Gandhi publishing their photograph on the social media. “We tweeted just that saying that she had stood in support of Rahul Gandhi and had no objection to getting her photos tweeted,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP president JP Nadda said such issues should not be politicised for the petty political interests.
Several Union ministers too joined the BJP in slamming Rahul Gandhi.
Women and child welfare minister Smriti Irani, who dealt a humiliating defeat to Rahul Gandhi in the latter’s traditional seat of Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, hit hard at her opponent.
In a tweet, she said, “That he lacks sensitivity, disrespects the law and lies on important issues was well known but using a child’s parents to score a political point over a rape crime is indicative of a depraved mindset. The former Congress president is beyond redemption!”

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, in his tweet, said, “Delhi victim's parents expose Rahul Gandhi’s insensitivity. Very sad that he destroys a family’s privacy for political mileage.”
Law minister questioned Rahul Gandhi’s intention. In a tweet, he said, “Law is very clear. Stringent action will be taken against perpetrators for such heinous crimes. But why is Rahul Gandhi trying to seek publicity? Immoral intention compounds an illegal act.”
The Karnataka unit of the BJP also attacked the Congress leader hard. In a tweet, it said, “LIES, BETRAYAL & TREACHERY! That seems to be the sadistic approach by the Toolkit @RahulGandhi in his pathetic career. He has proved many times that he will stoop to any low just to score a political point against his opponents.”