Cong warns of legal action against BJP leaders for sharing 'misleading' Rahul video, demands apology
New Delhi (PTI): Accusing BJP leaders, including former Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, of sharing "deliberately fabricated and distorted reportage" on Rahul Gandhi's comments in Kerala, the Congress on Saturday threatened to take legal action against them if the saffron party fails to apologise.
Rahul Gandhi also lashed out at the BJP and the RSS, alleging that "propaganda and lies" are their foundation.
The opposition party attacked Rathore and called him "shameless" after Twitter labelled a post by him on a video of Rahul Gandhi's remarks in Kerala as "media presented out of context".
In a letter to BJP chief J P Nadda, Congress general secretary in-charge communication Jairam Ramesh said he was appalled to note that several BJP leaders have been deliberately and enthusiastically sharing "mischievous" reportage that occurred on a news channel on Friday.
"The original video was Shri. Rahul Gandhi's comment on the SFI violence on his Wayanad office but it was deliberately and mischievously doctored to appear as if it was a comment on the heinous murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur," Ramesh said.
It was immediately brought to the attention of all concerned that the reportage was false and deliberately misleading, he said.
"What is of even greater concern, is that several of your party colleagues, including Rajyavardhan Rathore, MP, Subrat Pathak MP, Kamlesh Saini, MLA and others, have enthusiastically and without verification published and shared the deliberately fabricated and distorted reportage," Ramesh said in his letter.
"Despite being cautioned by my party colleagues that the clip was maliciously false and misleading, Rathore persisted with amplifying the same, first deleting and then re-uploading the same," he said.
This leaves no doubt that Rathore's actions were deliberate and part of your party's strategy to defame the former Congress president, the party and to further polarise an already sensitive, communal situation, Ramesh alleged.
''The fact that some of your colleagues may have deleted the false reportage later after uploading and sharing is no excuse whatsoever because the damage has already been inflicted,'' he said.
"We have already initiated appropriate legal action against the original broadcaster. We expect that you and your party colleagues will cease and desist from spreading such falsehoods," Ramesh said in his communication to Nadda.
"Furthermore, I expect that you will immediately issue an appropriate apology on behalf of your colleagues who have acted with such reckless disregard towards the truth.
"If this apology is not issued today, we will take appropriate legal action against your party and its leaders who insist and persist in using social media in such a blatantly irresponsible and criminal manner," Ramesh warned.
There was no immediate reaction from the BJP.
In an apparent reference to the issue, Rahul Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi said, "Whole India knows the history of BJP-RSS, which warms its hands by pushing the country in the fire of hatred.
"No matter how much these traitors try to break the country, the Congress will continue to do more work to unite India," he said.
The communication department head, Pawan Khera, said that those BJP leaders who have put out "fake video" of Rahul Gandhi should be ready to tour the country as they will have to make rounds of the courts of many cities.
"Doctored Shameless Rathore has this honour of being labelled by @twitter as a man who posts fake content," Khera tweeted, sharing a screenshot of Twitter's flagging of Rathore's post.
Congress' social media in-charge Supriya Srinate also slammed the BJP for sharing the video to mislead people and called Rathore a "fake news peddler".
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
