Dehradun: Former chief minister and Congress veteran Harish Rawat marched towards the Bharatiya Janata Party state headquarters in Dehradun on Thursday along with other party workers after an AI-generated video labeled him a “spy”. The clip also accused the former CM of placating some minorities.“I am not a spy. Now, either they (the BJP) will give me proof that I am a spy or they will apologize… They always come up with such tactics before elections to deliberately give a wrong message to the voters,” said Rawat, who also filed a complaint in this regard at the city's Nehru Colony police station on Tuesday.After a brief scuffle with police on their way to the BJP office, Congress leaders, including Rawat, staged a sit-in protest on Thursday holding placards and raising slogans against the ruling government. “We will not give up until the truth comes out,” Rawat said.In his FIR, he alleged that the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party had on December 18 uploaded an “AI-generated derogatory video on the party's official page run by the Bharatiya Janata Party Uttarakhand president and other associate members” depicting the party as “anti-national” to tarnish its public image. “As I have nothing to do with this video, I am deeply hurt by this act and am extremely saddened to see this (clip) stirring up religious sentiments,” the former CM's signed application said. An FIR was registered against 'unknown' social media users under BNS section and IT Act.Rawat also said that baseless allegations were leveled against him in the 2017 and 2022 state polls. “The BJP accused me of giving leave to Namaz on Friday and the party also spread misleading news that the Congress government in the state would build an Islamic university,” Rawat added.Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand unit of the BJP said the video was not made by the party and there was no intention to tarnish anyone's image. “If Harish Rawat files any case, it will be investigated. The party also wants to look into such footage and all legal procedures will be followed,” said Manveer Singh Chouhan, the BJP's media in-charge.
