Congress using fear, rumours and now deepfakes for its propaganda: Anurag Thakur

Lok Sabha election 2024 news: Union Minister Anurag Thakur accuses Congress of using deepfakes and propaganda, defends BJP's stance on democracy and reservations.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on May 1 said the Congress was using all types of tricks, including deepfakes, for its propaganda.

He refuted the Congress’ charge that democracy was under threat or that reservations would be taken away by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

"It was during the Congress regime that democracy was finished by imposing Emergency," Thakur told PTI Videos at the Lucknow airport.

The Minister is in Uttar Pradesh to attend several programmes and campaign rallies. "Congress is using fear, confusion, rumour, deepfake and all kinds of tricks. The way foreign powers try to destabilise any country, the Congress is using all kinds of tricks for its propaganda," he said.

The BJP has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India against the Congress alleging that it circulated the "deepfake and morphed" video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to derail the poll process, and demanded strict action against the party.

"They (Congress) have been lying constantly. They say reservation will be finished, democracy will be finished. The Modi government ruled for 10 years, there was no talk of reservation. It will never end in the Modi regime. We have given the rights to SC, ST and OBC. On the other hand, the Congress has snatched their rights," Mr. Thakur said. Reservation is under threat in Congress-ruled states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telengana, he said.

“Congress humiliated Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. It was in the Modi regime that Constitution Day was celebrated and ‘Panch Teerth’ were made. Our slogan is ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’,” he said.