Location feature on X unleashes political storm
A political storm has erupted after X unveiled a new feature revealing an account’s location. Several accounts on the social media platform X, featuring profile pictures of saree-clad women and bios stating ‘Jai Hind,’ are actually operating from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Asian countries. Even some politically active accounts critical of the Indian Government are found to be based outside the country, and the BJP claims many pro-Congress and anti-Hindu X handles were being run from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and some other countries to build anti-India narratives. The BJP claims that even the X account of the Congress head of the media department, Pawan Khera, is based in the US.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party MP and national spokesperson Sambit Patra displayed various X accounts that he alleged were created from abroad, demonstrating social media campaigns against the Election Commission, the BJP-RSS, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on different issues, including the Congress’s allegations of ‘vote chori’.
Patra claimed that several Congress and Left ecosystem-linked accounts on X are operating from various countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe and the US to build a “narrative” in India against the BJP-RSS and the Modi Government.
“This has come to light, after X introduced a new feature a few days ago through which one can find information about the account holders’ location, date of creation, among others,” Patra said. He alleged that after using the feature, Congress leader Pawan Khera’s X account was found to be based in the United States.
“Maharashtra Congress’ X account is based in Ireland. They have now changed it to India. But when the account was created, it was based in Ireland. Himachal Pradesh Congress’ account is connected via the Thailand Android app, though it is based in India,” he added. The BJP leader asserted that after the new X feature was launched, information about the locations of many X accounts linked to Congress and the Left eco-system has either been changed to India or concealed.
Citing some of the X accounts created abroad, Patra claimed, “The account of Pratik Sinha, an influencer, showed that it is based in Malaysia. The Alt News account earlier showed it is based in the US and connected via the web. Similarly, The Caravan’s account, which earlier showed as based in the US and connected via web, was later changed to India.”
Several X such handles operating from abroad carry Indian names and pictures, but they might be fake, he added. Patra alleged that Gandhi made “baseless statements” against India from foreign soil during his visit to various countries and “tried his best to create a situation of civil war in India”.
Citing examples, the BJP leader alleged that several influencers, who are not even Indians but part of the Congress-Left ecosystem, are running smear campaigns from abroad on social media to set a narrative against the country’s election process.
The BJP leader accused that Rahul Gandhi does not merely go abroad and speak against India, nor does he only try to create an anti-India atmosphere by meeting Gen-Z abroad, but he is doing this work in a fully planned and designed manner by assigning it to his people outside the country.
“Rahul Gandhi is not fit for Indian politics; he is only suited to conspiring against India from foreign soil. The country needs to be wary of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress,” Patra said, adding, “The time has come to completely reject and sideline Rahul Gandhi and the Congress.”
Several accounts on the social media platform X, featuring profile pictures of saree-clad women and bios stating ‘Jai Hind,’ are actually operating from countries like Pakistan.
These accounts, which claim to belong to users from Uttar Pradesh or Mumbai, have been actively posting opinions on the Bihar elections and even the Red Fort blast.
However, after the release of ‘About This Account’ feature, these profiles were found to be originating from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and West Asia.
One account, going by the username @chaturvediswat, has posted over 2,000 posts against the Indian Government on topics ranging from the Red Fort black and Bihar elections. The new X feature revealed that this account is actually based out of Pakistan,” the report detailed.”
Similarly, accounts from regions of West Asia and Saudi Arabia have been posing as Indians and are indulging in heated debates on political and religious matters. These accounts use flawless Hindi to converse online, and the investigation reveals that there are several accounts on X that are based out of a foreign country, but are heavily inciting propaganda in the country,” it added.
Hitting back, the Congress accused the BJP of misleading the country by discrediting questions on ‘vote chori’, faulty voter lists, deaths of booth level officers and China’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh by raising issues of X handles of Congress leaders based abroad. Addressing a press conference,Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also alleged that several BJP-linked accounts are being operated from foreign locations and asked whether they were all indulging in “anti-India narrative”.
Patra said, “Since 2014, the Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi, his social media and advisory team, and well-known faces from the Left have been leaving no stone unturned to insult Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India.” For this, they have not refrained from even taking help from foreign forces, he alleged.
“Another narrative is about ‘Operation Sindoor’, which attempts to portray Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian Army as surrendering and weak. Pakistani handles, Bangladeshi handles, West Asian handles, and some Congress members and their supporters in the United States are behind this,” he said.
The country needs to remain cautious of the Gandhis and the Congress, he said. The BJP leader further claimed that the constituents of the opposition India block have now understood that it’s not a “Midas touch” from the Congress but an “Udaas touch”.
“In a Midas touch, whatever is touched turns into gold, but in an ‘Udaas touch’, whoever is touched loses. In Uttar Pradesh, two good boys were touching each other, and everyone saw what happened. They were trying to become good boys, but now the boys are not even coming out of their homes,” he said in an apparent reference to Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and their parties’ poll performance.“What is happening in Bihar is also in front of everyone. In Karnataka, a game of who will become the CM is going on,” he added.
