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In an embarrassment to the Narendra Modi administration and the ruling BJP, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan tweeted multiple times in criticism of the government – by copy-pasting from an edited document. Radhakrishnan tweeted that “working for the middle class is low on the agenda of Modi govt” and that “Modi govt has not made inclusive development as the focal point of its functioning.”
So how did the faux pas happen? The BJP IT Cell routinely circulates “Trending Documents” on Google Drive, stuffed with loads of pre-written tweets. BJP workers, leaders and even Union Ministers simply copy-paste from these documents at a certain predetermined time and help the party’s position trend on Twitter.
In the following video, Sinha shows how he edited the Google Drive document that had been circulated. Anyone with the link could edit the document, and Sinha chose to use the opportunity to change key words in the tweets – for example, he changed the phrase “PM Modi took care of the marginalised section” to “PM Modi took care of the richest sections” and so on.
Speaking to The Quint, Sinha explained:
The following are more examples of text from the edited document being tweeted by the official handles of the BJP Assam unit and of Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, that’s it.
The BJP Assam account also tweeted, “Dishonesty and lack of transparency is the hallmark of a new India under Modi govt.” BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya, who was tagged in the tweet, surely won’t be too pleased.
As expected, minutes after Sinha posted his thread of tweets online, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and other accounts started deleting their tweets criticising the Modi government.
So, are the tweets gone? Nope, not a chance. The internet never forgets, remember? Screenshots and archived tweets for the win.
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