Cong using foreign hands for anti-India narrative, says BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP claimed on Thursday that foreign-based influencers in league with Congress, pretending to be neutrals, are behind promoting anti-govt narratives, including over "vote chori" and Operation Sindoor, and personal attacks on PM Narendra Modi, and said Rahul Gandhi is unfit to be a politician in India.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra cited a new feature in X, which allows users to see where an account is based, to say that handles of a number of Congress's state units, its functionary Pawan Khera and many influencers identified for their strident stand against govt are based abroad. Influencers sitting in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ireland and Singapore and having nothing to do with India are setting narratives here, he said, adding that many of these handles using Indian names are unlikely to have a real identity. "Rahul Gandhi does not only speak against India from abroad. He sets narratives against India by planning and design," Patra said.

BJP later posted, "X's new 'Location Display' feature has uncovered a staggering revelation: dozens of Congress-Left ecosystem accounts spreading anti-India narratives are not even in India. This is a coordinated foreign influence campaign targeting India's democracy, security, and unity."

Congress dismissed the charge as BJP's diversionary tactic, and alleged that some accounts linked to the governing party are based abroad too. It can be due to a host of technical reasons, including due to the use of VPN and temporary travel, the opposition party said.

X's decision to display the location and identity of its users set political circles aflutter earlier this week as handles belonging to some of trenchant "Indian" critics of Modi, who had an active presence on the platform, turned out to be Pakistani.


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