Centre Sees Conspiracy in the Protest ‘Toolkit’, Orders Issued to Social Media Firms

The Delhi police on Friday ordered social media giants, including Google, to provide information on the creators of protest “toolkit”, and a case has been registered against unnamed persons.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

New Delhi: Responding to the “toolkit” shared by climate activist Great Thunberg on Twitter and growing global support for farmers’ protests, minister of external affairs, S. Jaishankar said “it has revealed a lot” and India was waiting to see “what else comes out”.

According to ANI, Jaishankar said, “It has revealed a lot. We have to wait and see what else comes out. There was a reason why Foreign Ministry reacted to statements which some celebrities gave out on matters on which they obviously didn’t know very much.”

The “toolkit” is a document that suggests peaceful actions such as holding a Twitter storm and protesting outside Indian embassies and the offices of the Adani and Ambani corporate groups to mobilise support for the farmers’ protest in India.

The Delhi police on Friday asked Google and some social media giants to provide information about email ids, URLs and certain social media accounts related to the creators of a “toolkit” shared by the teen climate activist and others on Twitter in connection with the farmers’ protest.

The cyber cell unit of the Delhi police had on Thursday lodged a first information report (FIR) against “pro-Khalistan” creators of the “toolkit” for waging a “social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India”.

Also read: Delhi Police Register Sedition, Conspiracy FIR on Climate Activist Greta Thunberg’s Protest ‘Toolkit’

Deputy commissioner of police (cyber cell), Anyesh Roy, said a letter has been written to Google and other entities seeking information from them about people who created these accounts and uploaded these documents including the “toolkit” on social media.

Police said they have sought details about the email ids, domain URLs and certain social media accounts mentioned in the “toolkit”. This document was uploaded through Google doc and shared later on Twitter.

“As of now, we are waiting for details from the concerned entities and based on information provided by them, we will proceed with the investigation further,” Roy said.

A senior police officer said that the original document will help the investigators in identifying the creators of the “toolkit” and the person who has shared it.

He said the document in question was created, edited and pushed by certain people, and “it is important to identify them since there is an element of conspiracy”.

The case against unnamed persons has been registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), police said.

According to a senior Delhi police officer, the initial investigation has suggested the document’s link with a pro-Khalistan group, named ”Poetic Justice Foundation”.

He said considering the unfolding of events in the past few days, including the violence on January 26, it has revealed “copycat execution” of the action plan mentioned in the ”toolkit”, which was also aimed at waging “a social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India.”

According to police, the toolkit has a particular section that says – digital strike through hashtags on or before January 26, tweet storms on January 23 onwards, physical action on January 26 and watch-out or join farmers march into Delhi and back to borders.

The document ”toolkit” was aimed to spread disaffection and ill-will against the government of India and creating disharmony among various social, religious and cultural groups, the police added.

(With PTI inputs)