BJP accuses Sonia Gandhi of crying for terrorists after Batla House encounter
Madhubani: In a recent election rally in Bihar's Madhubani, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda made a startling claim, stating that senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had shed tears for terrorists following the Batla House encounter in 2008. During the encounter, Delhi police inspector Mohan Sharma and two terrorists, Atif and Sajid, were killed.
Nadda's remark was in reference to a statement made by Congress leader Salman Khurshid in 2012, where he claimed that Sonia Gandhi had tears in her eyes after seeing images of the Batla House encounter. However, another Congress leader, Digvijaya Singh, refuted Khurshid's claim, stating that Sonia Gandhi did not cry.
Nadda accused the Congress of always standing in support of those who attempt to weaken India, questioning their sympathy towards terrorists. He labeled this alliance as the "arrogant alliance" and questioned whether the people would support them.
This accusation comes amidst a heated political atmosphere where the BJP and Congress are engaged in a war of words over various issues, including allegations of the Congress promising to redistribute wealth among Muslims and implementing religion-based reservations, which the BJP claims goes against the principles of the Indian Constitution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also joined the fray, accusing the Congress of preparing to cut the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) to implement reservations based on religion, which he deemed unconstitutional.
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Factchecker Zubair says X posts withheld in India after govt order
Meta restricts access to several Facebook pages
New Delhi/Bengaluru: Fact-checker and Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair said that several of his posts on social media platform X have been withheld in India following a government order issued under provisions of the Information Technology Act.
Zubair said on Tuesday that he received an email from X informing him that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had issued a blocking order under Section 69A of the IT Act. The platform conveyed that it was legally bound to restrict access to the specified content within India. The mail further stated that the posts would continue to remain visible outside the country, adding that it was unable to share further details due to legal restrictions and suggested that the order could be challenged before a court or taken up with the ministry concerned.
According to Zubair, the posts identified by authorities included videos purportedly showing incidents of violence during Ram Navami processions. Questioning the move, Zubair alleged that the content was shared by him to counter what he described as misleading narratives had been targeted.
In a related development, access to several Facebook pages has also been restricted in India. Users attempting to visit the pages of Molitics, National Dastak and satirist Rajeev Nigam are shown a notice stating that the content is unavailable in India in compliance with a legal request.
National Dastak said it had received a communication citing Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act. Molitics editor Neeraj Jha said the page had been restricted domestically and that no reasons were provided. Rajeev Nigam also stated that his page would no longer be visible to users in India following the action.
The government is empowered to direct intermediaries to block public access to content on grounds of national security and public order under Section 69A of the IT Act. Section 79(3)(b) provides that intermediaries may lose safe harbour protection if they fail to comply with government directions to remove unlawful content.
Government data shows that more than 1.11 lakh pieces of online content had been blocked as of March 31, 2025, with reports indicating that the Union Home Ministry has been issuing an average of around 290 takedown notices per day.
