Agencies
New Delhi
Police in India have arrested the social media head of one of the country’s main opposition parties over a doctored video of the interior minister.
The Congress Party’s Arun Revanth Reddy was detained on Friday, accused of being behind a widely-shared video showing Amit Shah promising to end support for millions of poor and under-privileged Indians.
The Congress says Reddy was not involved, and accused the authorities of clamping down on rivals as the country votes in a national election.
The governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denies the charges. Voting in India began on April 19 and has been staggered over several days until 1 June. The results will be announced on June 4.
Shah is often called India’s “second most powerful man” after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is seen as the mastermind behind the rise of the BJP. The doctored video in question showed Shah giving a campaign speech promising to end help for Muslims in the southern state of Telangana, where Arun Reddy is chief minister.
The edited video appears to show the home minister saying his party would end special treatment for other groups, too. The Indian Express reported on Saturday that authorities seized Reddy’s electronic devices to find evidence of software used to edit the video.
“He is not involved in any doctored video. We are supporting him,” said Congress’s spokesperson Shama Mohamed.
Last month, Modi used a campaign rally in which he spoke of “infiltrators” and “those who have more children” - remarks widely seen as referring to India’s Muslim minority. The Congress made an official complaint to election authorities.
