Congress Demands Answers from Centre Over Controversial Ministerial Interviews with Social Media Influencers

The Congress party has expressed its concerns and sought clarification from the central government regarding the recent participation of cabinet ministers affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in interviews conducted by social media influencers. One such influencer is Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as 'Beer Biceps guy' on YouTube. Supriya Shrinate, the head of the party's social media division, criticized the government and demanded transparency, questioning whether these collaborations were financed using public funds. However, Allahbadia's company denied the allegations of receiving public funding for these activities.

Supriya Shrinate expressed her views on Twitter, (inHind) suggesting that these interviews with ministers were a disguise for promoting the political agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Currently, there is a trend of prominent YouTube channels collaborating with government ministers through MyGov. Recently, the government released a tender seeking an agency to facilitate the connection between influential figures in social and digital media and MyGov.

While raising several questions, she asked “Has any agency been appointed for this…how much money will be given to this agency and will the Youtubers be paid through them…Why is BJP's propaganda being done in the name of ministerial interviews and why should public money be spent for it?...,” reported Hindustan Times.

The interviews featuring Union ministers such as S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, attracted attention when Apar Gupta, the founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, raised concerns on Monday. Gupta highlighted that these interviews were "co-presented by MyGov," a government agency, as indicated in the video descriptions. On Twitter, Gupta questioned the connection between these interviews and a tender issued by the government in March titled 'Request for empanelment (RFE) for selection of influencer marketing agencies for empanelment with MyGov'.

Additionally, Apar Gupta posted on Twitter that “If yes, then, is it proper for money from the public exchequer to fund influencer interactions with senior government functionaries?” Subsequently, he expanded on his initial comments, mentioning that he had received information stating that the interviews were "unpaid." However, he emphasized that the operations of MyGov in these areas still lacked transparency.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not responded to the accusations yet, Monk Entertainment, a digital media organization co-founded by Allahabadia, refuted the claims that he received payment for the collaboration. In the video featuring External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, the video description clearly states that the partnership is "voluntary" and "unpaid," with a focus on fostering active public engagement.

Additionally, Viraj Sheth, the CEO of Monk Entertainment, addressed Apar Gupta's viral post on Twitter and clarified that they neither requested nor were offered any payment for these collaborations. Sheth emphasized that none of the political podcasts were part of any paid promotion.