Congress Demands Answers from Govt on New Social Media Rules

New Delhi: The Congress has alleged that the government has subverted Parliament in bringing new social media rules to muzzle the voices critical of the government policies.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate raised questions about the minutes of GoM meetings which have been leaked in the media. She said, "Government Communication report has revealed some very very disturbing facts. There were five Union Cabinet Ministers including Smt. Smriti Irani, Shri Prakash Javadekar, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shri S Jaishankar and of course, four other Ministers of state, who were a part of this."

"It is absolutely certain that at the time of corona, when the entire world including all of us were standing rock solid with the Government and hoping that the Prime Minister is thinking about our lives, our livelihood, he was thinking about how to sort out this crisis, he was actually preparing to stab us in the back by first compromising the freedom of speech and expression in the country by first controlling free press, "she added.

She questioned certain journalists whose names are doing the rounds: "It looks like some from the press/media became party to this, I sympathise with them. don't know if it happened, because they were caught unaware? I don't know if it happened with their consent. But, I think it is important that they come out and make their positions clear, because this does raise questions on the commitment to being a part of media. And media is just not another job, media is for a reason called the fourth pillar of our democracy."

The Congress spokesperson said the IT rules 2021 announced a few days back by Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, seem to have taken a lot of these suggestion on board. So, this does raise questions.

"Will Parliament make laws or will laws be made by Ministers sitting in drawing rooms with consultations and under the guidance of pliant mediapersons ever willing to serve the Modi Government? "