Digital vandalism by Congress to remove content from govt websites: KTR

"After the Congress party formed the government in December 2023, vital content on Telangana government websites and social media handles began disappearing. Some important websites were also taken down," he said.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday said the Congress government was engaged in digital vandalism by removing vital content pertaining to the previous BRS administration from Telangana government websites and social media handles.

In a pointed request to Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, Rama Rao called for urgent intervention and immediate redressal of the issue. “After the Congress party formed the government in December 2023, vital content on Telangana government websites and social media handles began disappearing. Some important websites were also taken down,” he said.

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Initially attributed to “maintenance issues,” the former Minister doubted that this was a deliberate act of digital vandalism, possibly involving people at the helm of the affairs. He highlighted that thousands of photos, videos, and texts from the tenure of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (June 2014 – December 2023) were removed. This content, he stressed, was essential to Telangana’s history and was funded by public money.

If the new government decided not to host it on official platforms, it should be archived rather than deleted. “Future generations will not forgive the destruction of this valuable public property,” he said, emphasising the importance of preserving the State’s digital records.

Rama Rao reminded Santhi Kumari that as the Chief Secretary, she was responsible to safeguard all material, physical, and digital assets of the State. He also assured to send a detailed letter outlining the issue, including links to the websites and social media handles where information was deleted.

The key concerns raised by Rama Rao included the State History Page (https://www.telangana.gov.in/about/history/), which though it had a brief history of Telangana from the prehistoric period to the State formation, was deleted. “It is an essential resource for citizens, tourists, researchers, and investors globally,” he said.

Next was the Reports Page (https://www.telangana.gov.in/reports/), which hosted significant reports released by the Government of Telangana between 2014-2023. These reports were invaluable for students, researchers, and investors, he said. He also mentioned the Telangana CM website (https://cm.telangana.gov.in/), from which all content related to the tenure of erstwhile Chief Minister K Chandrashekkar Rao, from June 2, 2014, to December 3, 2023, was removed. This information should have been archived, not deleted, he said.

Rama Rao also mentioned the Telangana CMO social media handles on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter (X) and Instagram, from where thousands of photos, videos and texts related to Chandrashekhar Rao’s tenure were removed. This digital content was crucial for historical archiving and should have been preserved, he reiterated.