BJP, Modi are not nation: Cong counters BJP's claim of foreign-based X accounts

A political war of words erupted on Thursday after the BJP alleged that several social media accounts amplifying Congress campaigns were being operated from abroad. The Congress hit back sharply, with the party's social media and digital platforms chairperson Supriya Shrinate dismissing the allegations as “foolish” and accusing the BJP of weaponising misinformation.

Reacting to the BJP’s press conference, Shrinate said the ruling party was twisting data from a newly introduced X feature that displays the purported 'location' of an account — a feature which, she pointed out, the platform itself has clarified may change owing to travel, technical glitches, or other inaccuracies and “cannot be considered accurate”.

Shrinate said: “The BJP should remember that their party or Narendra Modi are not the nation.”

She also countered the BJP’s charge by questioning why several prominent accounts associated with the ruling establishment also appear based in foreign-linked locations.

She cited several examples, translated from her remarks originally in Hindi:

• If the issue is about handles, the BJP must answer why Gujarat BJP and Startup India’s X accounts showed Ireland as their location, and why DD News and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s accounts appear to be operated from the United States.

• Many BJP supporters’ handles show locations such as Malaysia, South Africa and South America.

• And why is the X account of Narendra Modi’s ‘dear friend’ and ‘national ally’, the Adani Group, showing Germany as its location?

Shrinate said the BJP was attempting to manufacture a narrative that dissent or criticism of the government was “anti-national”, and accused the party of deflecting from key governance failures.

Her remarks came hours after BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that X accounts “created from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and the US” were being used to push anti-India and anti-Election Commission narratives “at the behest of Rahul Gandhi and the Left ecosystem”.

Patra displayed screenshots of accounts he claimed had foreign-linked locations, and alleged that even the X account of Congress media department head Pawan Khera appeared to be “based in the United States”.

Patra said: “Since 2014, the Congress — especially Rahul Gandhi and his team — have not refrained from taking help from foreign forces to insult Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India.”

He further claimed that after X introduced the account-location feature, “many Congress-linked accounts quickly changed their listed locations to India”.

Congress leaders, however, said the BJP was “manufacturing conspiracy theories” to divert attention from unemployment, inflation, and governance failures.

Shrinate reiterated that the BJP’s interpretation of the X feature was “misleading and politically motivated”, adding: “This is yet another attempt to silence criticism by calling it foreign-sponsored.”