Party fires social media co-convener who posted Assam BJP's controversial video
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Guwahati: A senior leader of the Assam Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced on Thursday, February 12, that the party has fired a co-convenor of its social media team for sharing the now-deleted video of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that sparked a great deal of controversy.
The video, which was captioned "point-blank shot," allegedly showed Sarma aiming a gun and shooting two people, one of whom had a beard and the other a skull cap.
The AI-generated video was uploaded on the state BJP’s official X handle on Saturday, February 7, before being deleted due to political backlash.
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“The video was uploaded without proper vetting in an unauthorised manner. The person concerned has been removed from the post of co-convenor of the social media team,” the senior leader told PTI.
The removed social media co-convenor was identified as Ron Vikash Gaurav.
“Only a few people have the right to create posts and upload publicity materials on the BJP social media handles. Usually, they can do it on their own for sharing party programmes or speeches of our leaders. But for sensitive topics, they need authorisation from the social media in-charge or party president or the CM’s office if it involves the chief minister,” the senior BJP leader said.
Ranjib Kumar Sarmah currently heads the state BJP’s social media team, and there were four co-convenors in his team before the removal of Gaurav.
CM Sarma on Wednesday, February 11, said that the police have registered a case based on a complaint by Congress leaders over the video. He said that a BJP worker has also filed a separate police complaint over the same issue.
Sarma had on Monday claimed that he was not aware of the video, while state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi accused the CM of “inciting genocide” against Muslims through his videos and urged the police to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi had on Monday, February 9, lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad Police, seeking criminal action against the Assam CM over the now-deleted video.
Sarma had responded to it, saying, “If any case has been filed against me, arrest me. I don’t have any objection. I will be prepared to go to jail. I will always stick to my words. I am opposed to Bangladeshi infiltrators and will always remain so.”