The Congress said on Sunday that stronger legal action against some BJP leaders was being initiated soon after an FIR was registered in Jaipur against “Zee News and others” for distorting Rahul Gandhi’s statement in Kerala to link it to the ghastly Udaipur killing.

“Our decency should not be seen as shackles. It is our ornament. We have tolerated this malicious campaign for too long. Now anybody doing mischief with doctored videos will face strong legal action,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.

“This is not the first time attempts have been made to defame Rahul Gandhi by using doctored videos and distorted messaging. In several cases in the past, we sent legal notices to TV channels. They accepted mistakes and removed the videos, requesting us not to take action. Some TV channels are repeat offenders. But this distortion is intended to provoke communal violence. Zee News has apologised but BJP leaders still have the distorted video on their Twitter accounts. We will take action that they won’t be able to forget,” Khera added.

On Saturday, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh had written to BJP president J.P. Nadda, threatening legal action if the party and some of its leaders did not apologise for amplifying the distorted message.

The Congress has changed its strategy, hoping that aggressive legal action may put some curbs on the media who have been hostile to them and have been continuously running programmes to run down the Opposition parties. The Youth Congress on Saturday held demonstrations outside Zee offices at several places, including in Mumbai and Noida.

The Congress also hopes that the legal action against the BJP leaders will at least bring into focus how the political duet between the ruling party and a section of media sustained the false narratives against the Opposition.

The FIR registered in Jaipur’s Banpark police station by a Congress worker will cover the activities of BJP leaders who shared the video posted first by Zee News. The FIR was registered under IPC sections 504 (intentional insult), 505 (criminal intimidation), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Zee News had showed a report that suggested Rahul had described the Udaipur killers as “children” and sought forgiveness for them. Rahul was actually talking about the attack on his Wayanad office by SFI supporters.

Had the attempt to link Rahul’s statement to the Udaipur killing that outraged the entire country gone unchallenged, it would have had grave consequences for the Congress MP’s political career. The fake report was in line with the false narrative to project the Congress as anti-Hindu.

Khera said: “Somebody who was the information and broadcasting minister of India shared the doctored video. He first deleted the video when we pointed out it was false but again posted it with a nasty comment. One BJP MP and one MLA also shared the video. We are not going to tolerate it anymore. They should be prepared for a strong legal action.”

Rajyavardhan Rathore, who held the information and broadcasting portfolio in Modi’s first term, posted the video with this message: “Whether it is Udaipur or Wayanad, the character of the Congress which stands with the JNU gang which chants slogans like ‘Afzal hum sharminda hain’ and ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ doesn’t change. Who sowed the seeds of jihadi terror, who nurtured it. Please think.”

Lok Sabha member Rathore, a senior leader of Rajasthan, did not sound remorseful at all.

Rejecting the Congress demand for apology, he tweeted: “Rahul Gandhi and Congress need to apologize. Otherwise, they should be ready for strong legal action. They will have to face the consequences for making baseless allegations against RSS and BJP to influence the course of investigation.”

On the Zee News anchor, who repeatedly tendered apology since Saturday, Khera said: “While he is apologising, he is also liking the congratulatory messages on Twitter for running that fake news. We don’t have any fight with the media but the media has to do its work. They know better than us what media’s work is.”