The war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress over Facebook’s alleged bias towards the ruling party has flared up. A day after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor breach of privilege notices against each other, it has come to light that the BJP MP had taken a dig at the Congress leader’s English in his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Nishikant Dubey’s letter to the Speaker says that “speaking in English with a foreign accent does not give freedom to disregard India’s glorious parliamentary organs to meet own political ambitions”.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has sought Shashi Tharoor’s removal from the post of chairman of the Parliamentary standing committee on information technology for violating parliamentary procedure by summoning a person without discussing the matter first in the parliamentary committee.
The BJP has alleged that Shashi Tharoor has summoned Facebook officials to further his party’s agenda.
In his response, Shashi Tharoor said, “In the last 11 years as an MP, I have neither violated any rules nor would I let anyone violate or abuse their power for their parties personal vendetta with agenda.”
Tharoor also filed a notice for breach of privilege against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, alleging that he made “disparaging remarks” on social media.
Another BJP MP files breach of privilege notice against Tharoor
The BJP further upped the ante against Tharoor on Thursday as party MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also shot off a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker against Shashi Tharoor for speaking in public about his intention to summon Facebook officials without discussing the matter first in the parliamentary committee the Congress leader heads.
“Issuing statements as to who would be summoned and what would be the agenda of the meeting is absolutely uncalled for and is violative of the procedures of the Lok Sabha. The proclivity of the IT committee chairman to speak to media first undermines the functioning of the committee members and the committee itself,” Rathore told reporters on Thursday. He is also a member of the committee which Tharoor heads.
The row between the BJP and Congress had erupted after a report in US newspaper Wall Street Journal cited interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana after he allegedly made communally charged posts. The report further said that the company did so to avoid ruining its relationship with the Indian government.
Reacting to the controversy, Facebook on Monday said the company’s social media platform prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence, adding these policies are enforced globally without regard to political affiliation.
“While we know there is more to do, we’re making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy,” a Facebook spokesperson said.