New Delhi: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has taken legal action against Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh for disseminating a 19-second excerpt from his interview on social media. Gadkari alleges that the clip was shared with the aim of causing confusion, sensationalism, and tarnishing his reputation as a BJP leader.


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Gadkari further accused the Congress party of distorting the context and significance of the interview with the deliberate intention of sowing discord and division within the party.


The legal notice sent by Gadkari's advocate, Balendu Shekhar, reads, "While pursuing the said sinister act, my client's interview has also been twisted, distorted, and presented on your handle 'X' by uploading the above video, which is bereft and devoid of contextual meaning. The same has been done deliberately and consciously with a selected piece of Hindi captions."


The legal notice served by Minister Gadkari and sent by his advocate said, "My client is a Cabinet Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. Being a part of the Union cabinet of the most dynamic, decisive, visionary, progressive, and powerful government that Bharat, i.e., India, has had since independence under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I very often interact with the press and media to highlight the deeds and accomplishments of work carried out in the present government regime. In continuation of the same series, my client gave his interview to an online platform, "THE LALLANTOP," which is still available."


My client is part of the National Political Party, "Bhartiya Janata Party," which is also one of the lead components of NOA, which has formed the present Union Government, has been associated with Indian politics for the last several decades and holds a very high reputation in the general public on account of his efficacy and tireless service to the nation and the people, it said.


"My client was shocked to know, hear, and see the contents and post on the microblogging site 'X' from your party's (Indian National Congress) official handle at 9:36 AM on March 1, 2024, on which you noticees deliberately posted 19 seconds of audio and visual clipping by concealing the contextual intent and meaning of the client's interview," it said.


"The same sinister act has been done with sole intent and ulterior motives to fan and create confusion, sensation, and disrepute to my client in the eyes of the public at large, as well as a futile endeavour to build fissure and rift in the solidarity of the Bhartiya Janata Party, which is all poised to win the trust of people in the upcoming general election under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi," added the notice.


The notice further said that the Congress party leaders were trying to build a false and fictitious narrative by falsely attributing the facts and statements of the leaders of the Bhartiya Janata Party.


The notice alleges that the Congress leaders were aware of the contents of the interview and deliberately posted the Hindi captions and video by concealing the contextual meaning of the interaction, which is deliberate and malicious to malign the reputation of the BJP leader Gadkari.


"The contents of the piece of the video clip, which is devoid of contextual intent of interaction as well as a captioned Hindi title, are completely false, scandalous, factually incorrect, are completely afterthought, and are an intentional attempt by you noticees to insult and demean my client, coupled with your intent to provoke members of the Bhartiya Jan ta Party to develop an ideological rift with my client," read the notice.


"The presence of your scandalous contents on your X wall has ultimately harmed the reputation of my client as well as of the political party "BJP'', with which my client is associated, in the eyes of the public at large. The contents of your post have been shared and seen on social networking sites in huge numbers, which has resulted in big reputation damage, defamation and a great loss of credibility for my client," it said.


The legal notice further demanded that the post be deleted from the Congress party's social media handle within 24 hours of receiving the notice and apologies to Nitin Gadkari within 3 days.


If failing to do so, the notice said that the BJP leader would have no other option but to take recourse to all such actions that are open to them, both civil and criminal, at the Congress leader's risk and expense. "A copy of this notice is retained at my office for record and further necessary action," read the notice further.