Ex-CM Rawat marches to Uttarakhand BJP office over being called 'Pakistani spy'

Dehradun, Dec 25 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Thursday marched towards the BJP state headquarters here and objected to being depicted as a "Pakistani spy" in an AI-generated video, demanding proof from the ruling party.

The former chief minister, along with his supporters, marched from Nehru Colony Fountain Chowk towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state headquarters. However, the police stopped them a short distance before their destination.

There was a brief scuffle between Congress workers and the police. Rawat alleged that the video showed him as a traitorous "Pakistani spy" who was being shot.

He said, "My image is being tarnished. If you call any respected citizen of the country a 'Pakistani spy', then he ( his reputation) is dead at that very moment. By showing me being shot, you are also inciting violence against me." The Congress leader said, "I ask the BJP, either provide proof or apologise." The former Union Minister alleged that the BJP has committed five offences, including calling him a Pakistani spy, to tarnish his and his party's image.

He said that by misusing artificial intelligence, the Uttarakhand BJP's IT cell has presented his image in a way that disrupts social harmony, making him the focal point of the controversy.

The Congress leader also accused the BJP of spreading the lie that he had declared a public holiday for Friday prayers during his tenure since 2017. He asked them to produce the gazette notification for the same.

Rawat alleged that during the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP had spread a lie against him that he had promised to establish a Muslim university if he came to power. However, they have not been able to provide any proof to support the claim to date.

Referring to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's repeated claims regarding demographic changes in the state, he asked the BJP to provide official details on the extent of the change in each year.

Rawat said he would continue to seek answers from the BJP on these questions, and for six consecutive days in January, he will visit the BJP headquarters.

The former chief minister said that for now, he will focus entirely on the Ankita Bhandari murder case. He claimed that new revelations have emerged and said CBI should investigate the case.

On Tuesday, Rawat also filed a case against the BJP's official handle for allegedly spreading misinformation against him.

In this regard, he said that if the police do not act on his complaint, he will approach the court and the public.

The BJP state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan termed Rawat's march a drama. He said that Rawat first filed a case with the police regarding the viral video, expressing faith in the law, but the very next day, he marched to the party headquarters.

Chauhan claimed that Rawat is attacking the BJP because he considers it an obstacle to his appeasement policy.

He said that the party has already clarified that it has neither created nor is broadcasting any such video. PTI DPT OZ SHS SHS