The Congress on Tuesday asked Twitter to mark as “manipulated media” the tweets of 11 Union ministers on the “fake” toolkit as was done in the case of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra.

In a letter to Twitter’s lead for legal, policy and trust & safety Vijaya Gadde and its deputy general counsel and vice-president Jim Baker, Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said several ministers of the Narendra Modi government had propagated the fabricated material to mislead the nation and gain undue political advantage.

Surjewala said the basis on which Patra’s tweet was flagged applied to these ministers as well.

Some of the ministers posted more incendiary and defamatory comments with the allegedly forged toolkit, he said, annexing links and screenshots to his letter. “It is also a matter of fact that people tend to believe as true and take on face value any information that is put up directly by a Union minister of the Government of India through their verified Twitter account.”

Hence, it becomes all the more imperative to tag “manipulative media” on all such tweets by ministers.

Minister for animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries Giriraj Singh, for instance, tweeted the “toolkit” with the comment: “It is unfortunate for the country that the soul of the main Opposition party Congress is dead, only body is alive. The Corona patient who didn’t fall at the Congress feet was left to die. The Congress kept celebrating the bodies being burnt in the crematorium but didn’t extend any help.”

That the top ministers were engrossed in maligning the Opposition party amid the greatest humanitarian crisis India is grappling with has allowed the Congress to go on the offensive.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “Truth remains unafraid.”

Congress research department chief Rajeev Gowda and social media head Rohan Gupta on Tuesday refused to comply with a Delhi police notice for joining the probe and said they would cooperate with the Chhattisgarh probe, citing a Supreme Court ruling.

Congress general secretary Ajay Maken said Delhi police hadn’t yet registered any FIR while Raipur police had lodged an FIR and started an investigation. The Supreme Court has ruled that the investigation will be done on the basis of the first FIR in case multiple complaints are registered in different states.

The Congress came down heavily on Delhi police for visiting the Twitter office, condemning it as an intimidation tactic. Surjewala said the intention of Delhi police was clear as they were questioning Twitter instead of BJP leaders.

The ministers Surjewala mentioned in the complaint to Twitter included: Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan, Prahlad Joshi, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Thawarchand Gehlot, Harsh Vardhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

The Congress described the toolkit controversy as a concerted action to divert attention from the horror of Covid-19 mismanagement.

Among the tweets Surjewala mentioned was Piyush Goyal’s: “Dividing India and attempting to fracture the Indian social fabric with communal hatred is Congress’s second nature. Disgraceful to see the Congress party and its leaders engaging in political deception….”

Shekhawat tweeted: “Congress toolkit is not just on paper but an action plan that has been executed by the entire nexus of Congress cabal. But is making innocent Indians pay with their lives for political gains justified? Will India ever forgive you?”

The tweets give the impression that it is the Congress, not the BJP, that is in power now.