The Congress on Tuesday went to the police against BJP president J.P. Nadda and several of his colleagues, accusing them of forgery with the intent to divert attention from the “mammoth failure” of the Narendra Modi government in handling the pandemic.

The party sought the registration of an FIR against Nadda, Union minister Smriti Irani, spokesperson Sambit Patra, general secretary in-charge of organisation B.L. Santosh and others for forging the letterhead of the Congress research department and printing fabricated content on it to malign the Congress and create disharmony in society.

The complaint seeks action under the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act, demands seizure of the devices on which the forgery was done and the arrest of the people involved. It was filed by Congress research department head Rajiv Gowda and social media head Rohan Gupta.

The Congress has said it will move court to get instructions under Section 156 of the CrPC for registration of an FIR if Delhi police don’t act on its complaint.

The party approached the Tughlaq Road police station after BJP spokesperson Patra held a news conference to release the document, describing it as a “toolkit” to defame the government and Prime Minister Modi for pandemic mismanagement.

Several cabinet ministers, BJP chief ministers and senior ministers shared the document, which they labelled the “Congress toolkit”, arguing that the Opposition party was engaged in maligning the country and the Prime Minister.

The document contained points on which the Opposition party could corner the Prime Minister, such as the lack of transparency on the PM CARES Fund or the decision to spend thousands of crores on the Central Vista project during the pandemic; how it could highlight the service of the Youth Congress; and reach out to the media and intellectuals.

The BJP leaders tried to give the impression that the news reports questioning the Modi government’s role in the pandemic, the criticism for allowing the Kumbh and the praise for the Youth Congress’s efforts to help the Covid-affected were all stage-managed.

Gowda said the Congress could not have ignored the BJP’s “outrageous behaviour” and Gupta added that they would write to all social media platforms for action against those who spread the false message after the FIR was registered.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said conspiracies were being hatched to “turn a petty man into a towering leader”. Dressing up Modi’s image was now an impossible act as the whole world has seen the reality, he added.

Smriti Irani File picture

Khera said: “That has been their strategy. Don’t address the real concerns and target those who ask questions. They maligned students and activists to begin with. Then they targeted intellectuals, artistes and authors (who returned their awards in protest against lynchings). They tried to malign the protesting farmers (by calling them Khalistani, Maoists, Pakistani and Chinese agents). Now when the entire country is distressed, struggling to survive the curse of the coronavirus, they have attacked the Congress and the media instead of solving the real problems of oxygen, medicines and hospital admission.”

“The citizens of this country would not have been in such grief if the government had spent its time and energy in the management of Covid. But they are obsessed with Modi’s image, desperate to refurbish his leadership credentials. In public life, you face criticism and questions. You deal with them by providing answers. But the BJP resorts to diversionary ploys, character assassination, lies and politics of deception,” Khera said.

The Congress held another news conference to explain how the death figures were being allegedly manipulated in Uttar Pradesh.

Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “The official figure for Lucknow says that 2,268 deaths occurred in the last one year due to Covid. The truth is that in the last 45 days — between April 1 and May 15 — 7,890 death certificates had been issued. Between February 15 and March 31, 5,970 death certificates were issued. The abnormal jump clearly shows death by Covid. But the state government does not consider them Covid-related deaths.”

Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party leader Atadhana Mishra also referred to the alleged manipulation of death figures and said: “Earlier the death certificates were issued by the Lucknow Nagar Nigam. Now they cannot issue death certificates without clearance from the chief minister’s office. The government failed to provide medical assistance to the people and dignity in death as well. Tyres are burnt to dispose of bodies, JCB machines are digging pits to dump bodies. This government has no moral right to continue in office.”