As the so-called fact-checkers are busy fact-checking the first four pages of the ‘toolkit’ that has rattled the opposition, the fifth page of the document is now doing the rounds on social media completing the propaganda machinery loop.
The fifth page which is in continuation to point VII of the document recommends using media organizations such as ThePrint, The Wire, Scroll, The Quint and Outlook to highlight and publicize all Covid related stories.
It is interesting to note that the document also suggests passing off stories that cannot be published in these media houses to the likes of “The Caravan” and Congress party mouthpiece “National Herald.”
Well here’s a snapshot of the Covid coverage by the aforementioned media publications.
Moving on, the next point recommends mobilizing like-minded creative people from Bollywood to share tweets, memes, videos, cartoons and other viral posts targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PIL filed in SC to probe the toolkit
As the debate on the authenticity of the documents continues, a Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking NIA probe into the “toolkit”, allegedly created by Congress’ research team to defame India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi amidst the ongoing pandemic.
The PIL filed by lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha has made the Indian National Congress a Party to the petition while making the Union of India and Election Commission as respondents before the Apex Court.
The petition also seeks the suspension of the Congress party if the allegations made against them of creating the “toolkit document” are found to be true.
Fact-checking the documents
On the other hand, the fact-checkers have taken it upon themselves to probe the matter. A day after social media was awash with a toolkit document the so-called fact-checker Alt News has descended to declare the toolkit ‘fake’.
An article published on Alt News, notorious for peddling propaganda and fake news, gave a clean chit to the Congress party by declaring that the ‘toolkit’ a forged document, because the Congress said so. According to them, AICC Research Department chairman Rajeev Gowda gave documents and statements to Alt News to proclaim the toolkit to be fake.
