Toolkit row to resonate in IT panel after ministry's comprehensive reply

Congress and BJP have already sparred over the issue after a team of Delhi police visited Twitter India's office on Monday

The 'Congress toolkit' versus 'Manipulated Media' issue is set to resonate in a big way in the upcoming meetings of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology, as the panel has received a comprehensive reply on the issue from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The Chairman of the panel is Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. BJP Nishikant Dubey, who is a member in the same panel, on Monday wrote to Lok Sabha Om Birla, asking for the sacking of Tharoor from the Committee and disqualifying him as MP.

The trigger for the spat was a particular letter written by the panel to the Information Technology Ministry at the behest of Tharoor.

Read | Toolkit row: Congress seeks 'manipulated media' tag on Twitter posts by 11 BJP ministers

In his letter to Birla, Dubey is learnt to have said, "the Standing Committee is the extension of parliament but Mr Shashi Tharoor has made this committee an extension of the Congress Party. Where he is more concerned about his party's and Rahul Gandhi’s agenda than the nation itself. Recently, on the Twitter toolkit controversy he is asking for explanations from the Ministry of Information Technology when Twitter’s action is against this nation's IT law. Tharoor is helping Twitter act against the government and the nation."

In a series of tweets, Tharoor on Wednesday justified his decision to write to the ministry and hit back at Dubey, saying "members are advised to communicate directly with the Chairman and/or the Committee Secretariat, rather than ventilating their concerns in the media without discussion."

"With reference to allegations circulated publicly recently by a member of the Parliamentary Committee on IT relating to the #ManipulatedMedia issue, this is to clarify that, given the Committee's inability to meet in current circumstances, it communicates with Ministries in writing as required," Tharoor said.

He said that the Committee Secretariat had written to the Information Technology Ministry by email on May 4 and May 25 on this matter and received a detailed and comprehensive reply on May 26, which is being circulated to all panel members for their information.

Tharoor said that since the Committee was already examining the subject of "Safeguarding citizens' rights & prevention of misuse of social/online media platforms," which relates to this issue, it is well within its mandate to seek a clarification on this matter from the ministry concerned.

He also had a piece of advice for Dubey. "As a matter of established practice and good form, members with issues to raise relating to the work of a Parliamentary committee are advised to communicate directly with the Chairman and/or the Committee Secretariat, rather than ventilating their concerns in the media without discussion," Tharoor tweeted.

The Congress and the BJP have already sparred over the issue after a Delhi police team visited Twitter India's office on Monday to serve notice in the 'toolkit' case and know the reason why Twitter categorised the toolkit-related tweets of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as "manipulated media". The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology disapproved of Twitter's action and called it "prejudiced".