Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas on Wednesday sent a legal notice to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT cell chief Amit Malviya over a tweet linking the former's remark on inflation to Union minister Smriti Irani. A major row erupted on Tuesday after BJP leaders shared a video clip of Srinivas's speech at the Congress's Sankalp Satyagrah claiming that comments were directed at Smriti Irani.
Calling Srinivas an “uncouth, sexist man”, Malviya claimed that the youth Congress chief was referring to Smriti Irani when he said “darling bana ke bedroom mein bithaane ka kaam kiya”.
"This uncouth, sexist man is President of the Indian Youth Congress. Darling bana kar bedroom mein... This is the level of discourse, when referring to a woman minister, just because she defeated Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. A frustrated Congress is hurtling down the path of irrelevance [sic]," Malviya in a tweet on March 27 had said.
The youth Congress reacted strongly to the charges, claiming BJP leaders were sharing a doctored video to tarnish his and the party's image. “It is nothing but a disinformation and fake news campaign initiated by BJP supporters and office bearers,” it said in a statement.
In a clip of his speech delivered in Hindi, Srinivas can be heard saying, "The BJP means inflation. These same people in 2014 used to say that there is inflation witch which has been made to sit... Smriti Irani has become a little mute and deaf. That witch (Daayan)... Inflation witch (Mehengaai Daayan) has been made a darling and made to sit in the bedroom."
{{/usCountry}}In a clip of his speech delivered in Hindi, Srinivas can be heard saying, "The BJP means inflation. These same people in 2014 used to say that there is inflation witch which has been made to sit... Smriti Irani has become a little mute and deaf. That witch (Daayan)... Inflation witch (Mehengaai Daayan) has been made a darling and made to sit in the bedroom."
{{/usCountry}}The legal notice stated it is a well-known fact that the comments made by Malviya on social media for abusing and tarnishing the image of BV Srinivas publicly based on wrong facts and with malicious intent.
"That the said statements made by you not only are of bad taste, and ill-willed but violate the provisions of Section 66E, 66A, 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 499, 34, 44, 120, 500 of IPC, 1860," he added.
Malviya was also asked to publicly apologise to BV Srinivas over the tweet.
"He is also known as the 'Oxygen Man of India. It is a well-known fact that the comments made by you on social media are based on wrong information and were made with malicious intent," the notice further stated.
The notice also accuses Malviya of aiming to defame Srinivas in connivance with other members of his party, the BJP and of having made baseless claims on social media platforms, like Twitter earlier also.