“Unholy nexus” between BJP and WhatsApp: Congress demands JPC probe after TIME expose

Having a user base of 40 crore people in India, WhatsApp – a messaging app owned by Facebook – is being misused by the ruling BJP, alleged Congress on Saturday.

Referring to the stunning revelations made by America’s Time magazine, Congress said that the “unholy nexus” between the ruling party and the messaging app stands exposed now.

Addressing media, the Congress spokesman Pawan Khera said “intimacy between social media giant Facebook’s India operations and the Narendra Modi led BJP government is now unraveling fast and has become a global issue”.

Saying that senior WhatsApp executive Shivnath Thukral has close relation with the BJP, Khera alleged, “Thukral’s relationship with the ruling party goes as far back as 2013 when he operated websites and Facebook pages for the 2014 election campaign in conjunction with other BJP affiliates who continue to hold senior positions in the current government”.

“Has the appointment of Thukral as a regulator of hate speech in 2019 had an impact on Facebook taking down vicious speeches by BJP leaders?” questioned Khera. Thukral was appointed as a regulator by Facebook in 2019.

Demanding “exhaustive and unbiased investigation” by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the “links of Facebook employees and the ruling establishment” Congress said the investigation must include how Facebook manipulated voters opinion, allowed hate speech and turned a blind eye to fake news in clear violation of their regulations. Congress also demanded that WhatsApp cannot be granted approvals for its payment operations until the inquiry is complete.