Refuting Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was behaving like a ‘shahenshah’ (emperor) and wasting public money in celebrating his government’s second anniversary when the country is reeling under drought, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that the event at India Gate was a one-day affair and part of the government’s attempt to present its record to the people.
In an interview to The Hindu , Mr. Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described himself as ‘pradhan sevak’ (prime servant) and there could be no emperor in a democracy. Taking a dig at chief ministers of non-BJP ruled States like Kerala and Delhi, Mr. Singh said, “We don’t advertise daily and in States where we have no presence. It’s not like we have been elected to a corporation or a Union territory and advertising in newspapers in Chennai, Assam, Nagaland and Sikkim.”
Content regulationSignificantly, he shared the news that the Central government is looking to regulate content on social media by bringing amendments to the Information Technology Act. Just last year, the Supreme Court had struck down the controversial Section 66 A of the IT Act, which made posting ‘offensive’ comments online a punishable offence.
