The Assam Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Thursday that one of its social media team coordinators, Ron Vikas Gaurav, has been suspended for a now-deleted post featuring an AI-generated video of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma holding a rifle.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma addressing a press conference in Guwahati (PTI)Assam BJP spokesperson Kishore Upadhyay said Gaurav was suspended and issued a show cause notice as he did not seek permission to post the video.
“He did not seek permission to post such content. Sensitive material involving the Chief Minister requires prior permission from the social media in-charge, party president or the Chief Minister’s office. The move was unauthorized, and swift action was taken,” Upadhyay said.
The video, posted on the BJP’s Assam unit’s X handle on Saturday with the caption “point blank shot”, showed Sarma taking aim with a rifle and firing at a photo of two men, both wearing skullcaps.
The video also features a picture of Sarma with the caption, “Identity, land and roots come first; why did you go to Pakistan; no forgiveness for Bangladeshis”.
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After the backlash, the party removed the video even as top party leaders claimed they had not seen the controversial post on X. On February 11, Gaurav was removed from his post.
Congress has called for strict action on this video. The party’s general secretary KC Venugopal said it was not an innocent video that should be dismissed as troll content, but “poison is being spewed from the very top” and there must be consequences.
Congress filed a police complaint against the social media post at Dispur police station on Tuesday.
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On Wednesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma criticized the post and insisted that he was unaware before uploading the video and insisted that he was ready to face any legal inquiry.
In a social media post on Thursday, Gaurav thanked the “right-wing community” for standing by him in what he described as an emotional and defining moment. “Your support has given me courage, dignity and new faith,” he said in a post on X.
