Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday complained to the Delhi Police that his social media account was hacked in the morning by unidentified people. A tweet was posted from Chowdhury’s account which shared the infamous words of Rajiv Gandhi to justify the Anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984.
In the complaint filed at the South Avenue Police Station, Chowdhury said that unscrupulous, biased content was posted from his Twitter handle when he was busy with the Party Program and was not carrying his mobile phone.
“The content posted smacks of malice and I believe that my Twitter Account had been hacked by some wrongdoers, for the reasons best known to them”, he said on May 21.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claims that his Twitter account was hacked and has filed a Police complaint with South Avenue Police Station, New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/E07dZL0Dyq
— ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2022
On the occasion of the 31st death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, Chowdhury’s Twitter account this morning paid tribute to the former PM by sharing his infamous words “when a big tree falls, the ground shakes”, made by him in the wake of the Sikh pogrom that ensued in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984.
The infographic shared on Twitter contained pictures of Rajiv Gandhi and Chaudhury and read “Remembering Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary”. The post also contained the contentious comment that was seen as a brazen justification of the horrifying spate of violence unleashed against the Sikhs after two Sikh bodyguards assassinated the then PM Indira Gandhi.
Later, the Congress leader deleted the said infographic and posted a similar picture with the changed quote. This time the quote read, “Development is not about factories, dams, and roads. Development is about people. the goal is material, cultural and spiritual fulfillment for the people. The human factor is of supreme value in development”.
— Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) May 21, 2022
Further, in a series of tweets, the Congress leader also distanced himself from the infographic that quoted Rajiv Gandhi’s infamous comment after the Sikh genocide. “The tweet against my name in the tweeter account has nothing to do with my own observation. A malicious campaign is propagated by forces inimical to me”, Chowdhury tweeted.
In the Police complaint, Chowdhury has urged the authorities to take immediate cognizance of the matter and seal the IP address of the unidentified accused. He also has asked the Police to identify the accused and take appropriate action under the cyber law.
Rajiv Gandhi’s infamous comment
On 19th November 1984, while giving a speech in front of thousands of people, then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi justified the violence that took place after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. He had said, “Jab bhi koi bada ped girta hai, to dharti thodi hilti hai. (When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.)”
Incidentally, this is not the first time that a Congress handle has shared those words on Twitter. Back in 2016, West Bengal Congress had also shared those words from their official Twitter handle. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is also coincidentally from Bengal.
