How Amit Shah fake video case has embroiled Revanth Reddy in a bitter row

[CaptainMaverick]

The Telangana CM has hit back with a salvo against PM Modi and vowed to ensure the BJP’s defeat in polls in his state

A recent video clip that showed Union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah’s speech regarding reservation issues has sparked off a bitter political row following reports of the Delhi police issuing summons to Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy, among others, about its contents and asking them to present themselves, along with their digital devices, in the national capital on May 1.

The development sent Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the ruling Congress in Hyderabad, in a tizzy even as Reddy was himself away in Karnataka campaigning for the party. With his penchant for acerbic rhetoric, Reddy alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax authorities to arm-twist political rivals, and that the Delhi police had now been brought on board to try and win the general elections. “We are not afraid. We will reply to such notices by defeating the BJP in the state in the Lok Sabha elections,” declared Reddy.

The ministry of home affairs had earlier written in a complaint that it has been found that some doctored videos were being circulated by users of Facebook and Twitter. It pointed out that the video seemed to have been doctored to spread misinformation in order to create disharmony among communities, which is likely to affect public tranquility and public order.

The Delhi police registered an FIR after two complaints were received, one from the BJP and another from the ministry of home affairs. The case has been registered under Sections 153, 153A, 465, 469 and 171G of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66C of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

 

On April 23, at the Vijaya Sankalp Sabha in Telangana, Shah had reportedly said that “unconstitutional Muslim reservation would be abolished” if the BJP came into power in Telangana. “I want to say this: if the BJP forms a government, then this unconstitutional Muslim reservation will be abolished. These rights belong to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, and it will be given to them by abolishing Muslim reservation,” the minister had reportedly said.

 

The BJP explained that the original video was of Shah discussing the removal of the 4 per cent “unconstitutional” reservation for Muslims in Telangana, and it had been edited to falsely depict that the Union home minister was advocating ending Muslim reservation. The party alleged that the video showing Shah promising to scrap reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was “fake".

Investigations by the Delhi police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit, on a complaint by the BJP, indicated that a Congress activist had allegedly edited an old video (where Shah spoke about the 4 per cent reservations given to Muslims in Telangana) to show and suggest that the minister was talking about doing away with reservations in total.

 

At first, when it was shared and went viral on social media, the contents sparked off a row that put the BJP on the defensive. This is even as the row threatened to impact the electoral prospects of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) across several states.

Reddy has used the opportunity to step up the offensive. “Telangana’s pride will not bend and bow down before Gujarat’s big brothers,” he thundered, even as Modi, electioneering in Telangana on April 30, clarified emphatically that there was no plan to scrap reservations.

 

While the prime minister alleged that the Congress is using artificial intelligence (AI) to create fake videos to malign BJP and its leaders, the Congress retorted strongly that it was the BJP that started the practice of spreading fake and false content. Reddy claimed that the BJP tried to intimidate him because he had exposed their plans to eliminate reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

“The moment Congress leaders make posts critical of the BJP, the PM advances the police to knock on their doors. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police are quiet while the BJP creates and circulates fake videos of former PM Dr Manmohan Singh,” stated Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on social media platform X.

To check such aberrations, digital technology experts call for putting in place comprehensive monitoring across the digital landscape to identify deep fakes. AI, they aver, can be battled only by AI and, therefore, machine learning algorithm-driven technology is essential to identify such cases before they damage individuals or brand reputations.

This is not the first time the Congress’s social media wing in Telangana is facing flak and questioning. During Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s rule, the Telangana police had, in December 2022, raided the war-room run by Congress poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu for allegedly posting defamatory comments about then chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. The police had detained two individuals and seized some computers and hard disks.

Meanwhile, investigators are yet to receive any response from social media giants X and Meta in connection with a doctored video of Shah. Three persons have been arrested for allegedly circulating the fake video, two in Gujarat and one in Assam. A reply from these social media platforms is of utmost importance in this case. X, in the meantime, has deleted all morphed videos from its platform.