The Madhya Pradesh Police has registered a case over allegations that 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans were raised in Congress party's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shared a clip on social media which purportedly shows an unidentified person shouting 'Pakistan Zindabad' towards the end of the clip. The BJP claimed that the Congress deleted the video from social media.
On its part, the Congress party has said it's a doctored video being shared by the BJP to defame the Congress.
MP's Khargone's Superintendent of Police Dharmveer Singh Yadav said the case was registered at Sanawad Police Station against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 153 (B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) in connection with the video related to pro-Pakistani slogans.
Yadav did not share any other detail and said further investigation into the case was underway.
MP Congress Committee's media department chairperson KK Mishra in a statement claimed it was a doctored video.
"The BJP is scared of the success of Rahul Gandhi's yatra. The BJP made a malicious attempt to defame this march by using a fake video," said Mishra.
Mishra said legal action will be taken against Madhya Pradesh BJP media in-charge Lokendra Parashar, who had shared the video on his Twitter handle.
On the other hand, MP BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi alleged that the video was shared by the state Congress Twitter handle at 8.52 AM on November 25 and deleted later after pro-Pakistani slogan was heard in it.
"Why the Congress Twitter handle deleted the tweet when there was no objectionable content in it? This shows the double standard of the Congress," said Chaturvedi.
BJP's Geetha Kothapalli also shared the video.
Earlier, the Chhattisgarh Police had registered an offence against a man for allegedly posting a doctored video on social media of pro-Pakistani slogans raised during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. A member of the Congress legal cell lodged a complaint in Raipur on Friday, following which an FIR was registered against the man, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, Civil Lines police station house officer Satyaprakash Tiwari said on Saturday.
The case was registered under section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the official had said.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, a mass contact initiative of the Congress, is currently underway in Madhya Pradesh.
MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also commented on the issue, saying it's "shameful" and that "divisive forces" are now part of Bharat Jodo Yatra.
"'Pakistan Zinabdab' slogans were openly raised in Bharat Jodo yatra. It's shameful. I've given orders to probe the incident. Divisive forces are brought into yatra," ANI on Friday quoted Chouhan as saying.
(With PTI inputs)
