Slamming the Congress for its “toolkit on COVID-19 pandemic”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra on Tuesday said that the people can see how the Opposition party is trying to strengthen its political ambitions while the country is in the midst of a health crisis.

With toolkits being the talk of the town, a new ‘defame PM Modi’ toolkit by the Congress party has gone viral on social media.

The four-page document that is doing the rounds on social media, gives a detailed description of how to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defame Hindus, get ‘tailored’ articles attacking the Indian government in international media, and generally fan an anti-Modi hatred among the masses. Flashing papers from an alleged Congress document on its strategy for the campaign on Covid-19 mismanagement, party spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed the Opposition party’s direction to party workers to “use resources created on social media to question Modi’s incompetence from handles which look like Modi or BJP supporters”.

Congress called it “fake”, saying it is filing an FIR against Patra.

“The BJP is propagating a fake toolkit on Covid-19 mismanagement and attributing it to AICC Research Department. We are filing an FIR for forgery against BJP chief J P Nadda and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. When our country is devastated by Covid-19, instead of providing relief, the BJP is shamelessly concocting forgery,” said Congress spokesperson and Chairman of AICC Research Department Rajeev Gowda.  

Earlier, Patra read out extensively from the purported document. He was particularly peeved at the portion of the document, which allegedly said, “the approval ratings of the Prime Minister have been very high and have not dipped despite crisis and mismanagement. This is an opportunity to destroy his image and erode his popularity.”

Patra said it is “disgusting to say the least ..Rahul Gandhi wanting to use this opportunity of Pandemic to destroy the image of PM Modi. Congress workers were instructed to call the mutant strain the ‘Modi strain’”.

Patra also alleged that “no stone left unturned to scar the name of India with the help of foreign Journalists”, citing references from the document, which also purportedly said, “international media coverage by foreign correspondents in India can be tailored to exclusively focus on Modi and his mismanagement. Liaise with foreign journalists and Indian Oped writers in foreign publications and brief them on talking points.”

"Friends look at the #CongressToolKit in extending help to the needy during the Pandemic! More of a PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” & “Influencers” than a soulful endeavour. Read for yourselves the agenda of the Congress:
#CongressToolKitExposed," Patra tweeted.

The BJP’s move to go all out on the Congress, particularly Youth Congress's attempt, to help the needy during the pandemic came after huge traction on social media for the help extended by Youth Congress workers led by its President B V Srinivas. He, along with leaders from some other political parties, was also questioned by Delhi police on allegation of hoarding and black marketing of Covid-19 medical supplies.

Later in its status report of preliminary findings submitted before Delhi High Court on Saturday, the Delhi police gave them a clean chit. The High Court later said that politicians have no business hoarding Covid-19 medicines and oxygen concentrators and questioned the clean chit given by the police to the politicians. Patra cited the suggestion “Respond to help only if a person tags the IYC handle” made in the purported Congress document and the mention of Kumbh in it to accuse Congress of creating a divide. Patra's toolkit attack on Congress with #CongressToolKitExposed, is the latest addition in the war of hashtags between the Congress and the BJP on the Covid-19 issue.

The popular Twitter handles of Congress are with hashtag #Jan Ki Baat, #Jan Loot Sarkar, #DeshKiBaat, #COVID19India, #VaccineShortage, #ArrestMeToo, while the BJP earlier carried on with the simpler ones "#IndiaFightsCorona, #SevaHiSangathan. Clearly, the BJP is now looking to add some more teeth to its campaign. The Congress has also lapped catchy one-liners – “VISTA se Vinash Tak” and full sentences like “it is not the enemy which is invisible but the BJP government in this hour of crisis” and “The Modi govt is administering a lethal dose of incompetence to India” to hammer the point that “this is a reflection of the chaos that follows when the central govt is plagued by policy-paralysis” as “In a democracy like ours, collective conscience works best, not one man's ‘genius’". The Congress's emotive campaign has also taken use of poetry to hammer home the message of the government's indifference to people particularly at a time when there is talk that children are more vulnerable in the third phase of the pandemic.

"Jo Bhara Nahin Hai Bhavo se, Bahti Jisme Rasdhar nahi, wo Hriday Nahin Pathar hai, Jisme Swadesh ka pyar nahin" (one who does not have emotions, one has no sentiments, that is not heart but a stone, which has no love for the nation), the famous lines from a Hindi poem was used by Congress on Twitter to say Indian mothers asking why Modi sent vaccines meant for their children abroad sent abroad. Both the BJP and the Congress have kept the spotlight on Modi in their attack and counterattack with the former saying that the buck must stop at him as it is the PMO that is taking all decisions while the ruling party leaders hailed the work done by Modi in respect to all aspects of the pandemic.

The BJP leader also tweeted that Congress has prepared multiple toolkits to tarnish the image of India. “Sharing one such Kit on Central Vista Project Full of lies and deceit ..only aim of the tool kit is to defame and divert,” he tweeted and hashtagged it Congress Toolkit Exposed. BJP president JP Nadda also attacked Congress for allegedly making the tooklit and urged the Opposition party to go “beyond Toolkit models”.
“Dividing society and spewing venom against others….Congress is a master at this. India is seeing Congress’ antics, while the nation is fighting COVID-19. I would urge Congress to go beyond ’Toolkit Models’ and do something constructive,” Nadda tweeted.

Defame Kumbh, highlight Eid as ‘happy gatherings’

The document titled ‘Cornering Narendra Modi & Covid Mismanagement’ begins by highlighting how the ‘Kumbh mela’ is to be used to malign the Hindu festival and the ruling party. The “toolkit” suggests politicizing the congregation by repeatedly labeling it as a ‘super spreader’ to hint at BJP’s Hindu politics. 

The pointed instruction guide then recommends using international media reports to validate the point and warns to not comment on ‘Eid’ gatherings as it might be used as a trap.

The ‘toolkit’ encourages non-party office bearers and supporters of the party to propagate the message using “carefully selected images.”

The document specifically instructs Congress workers stating, “Non-party office bearers and supporters can be encouraged to use social media posts to highlight, by carefully using pictures, that Kumbh is a show of political power in the name of religion while Eid gatherings are happy social gatherings of families and communities.“

"PM Modi's vision is helping the poor and needy in fighting Covid. The Modi government is ensuring astute implementation of India’s vaccination programme. India is battling against Covid second wave bravely under PM Modi. India battling against Covid 2nd wave bravely under PM Modi. Modi government scaling up Sputnik V production in India. Modi government is ensuring astute implementation of India's vaccination programme," are some of the one-liners used by the BJP to counter the Congress campaign, indicating how the BJP is entirely banking on the personal image of the Prime Minister to face the growing criticism of the government's handling of the pandemic.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on alleged Congress toolkit: Don't waste time spreading lies, start saving lives

Calling the BJP's national general secretary B L Santhosh's shared tweet, which claimed a document as the Congress' toolkit to malign the ruling party's image, as fake, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked the Centre to stop wasting time on spreading lies and start saving lives.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday in what appeared to be a rebuttal fact-checked the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) claim of exposing an alleged toolkit of the Congress against the ruling party. Calling the BJP's national general secretary B L Santhosh's shared tweet, which claimed a document as the Congress' toolkit to malign the ruling party's image, as fake, she asked the Centre to stop wasting time on spreading lies and start saving lives.

"Don’t waste time spreading lies, wake up and start saving lives," Gandhi tweeted with an image of the first page of what Santosh claimed to be the opposition party's toolkit.

In the afternoon, Santhosh hit out at the Congress party for spreading fake news and stirring up discontent among the people for the ruling party. Santhosh tweeted images of four pages of a document with the headline 'Cornering Narendra Modi & BJP on Covid Management'.

"When country was in the midst of a health crisis & every single unit of society from an individual to administration were rising up to the challenge, here was @INCIndia spreading fake, negative news & stirring up discontent. Disgusting," Santhosh tweeted with the images and the hashtag #Congresstoolkitexposed.

The images had details about the Congress' plan to use resources to corner the Modi-led government. "This note provides resources to corner the Modi government and various BJP governments in the country," the first page of the document read.
Other such ways planned to be deployed against the government that were mentioned in the shared images of the document include using the term 'super spreader Kumbh' to highlight Hindu politics of the BJP, non-party office bearers to use social media posts to highlight, by carefully using pictures, that Kumbh is a show of political power in the name of religion, tailoring international media coverage, use of the term 'Indian strain' whenever mentioning the mutant and 'missing' for Amit Shah etc.

Toolkit Effects

References:

OpIndia