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Updated: Feb 28, 2019 16:26 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cautioned the Bharatiya Janata Party workers against opposition’s attack ahead of the Lok Sabha elections saying they are the “master of fake news”. PM Modi told the BJP workers, in an interaction through mega video-conference on Thursday, that the opposition has made “spreading fake news as their agenda.”

“I appeal to the BJP workers to focus on three things – positivity, honesty and accuracy over social media,” PM Modi said adding, “Make sure that you don’t share fake news. Today, the opposition has mastered the art of spreading fake news.”

He said, “The opposition will try to mislead you to negativity. Don’t fall in their trap. We have uncounted positive things to share.” The Modi government has been under attack from the opposition over a range of issues ranging from alleged corruption in Rafale deal, farm distress to lack of job creation over the past five years.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi has led frontal attack on PM Modi alleging that he scrapped the original Rafale deal which was being negotiated during the UPA regime to benefit “his businessman friend”. Rahul Gandhi has named industrialist Anil Ambani as a beneficiary in the Rafale deal alleging that his firm, Reliance Defence got at an offset contract from Dassault Aviation at the best of PM Modi.

The government and the Reliance Group have rejected the allegations levelled by the Congress-led opposition. The BJP has accused the Congress of spreading misinformation over Rafale deal, which was signed between India and France in 2016 for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

“Always take precaution on social media. Don’t forward negativity, delete it not only from your mobile phone but also from your mind,” said PM Modi while asking the BJP workers to be careful while using social media.

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Responding to a question by a BJP member from Assam, the prime minister said social media will play a key role in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, in which he expressed confidence to do well citing his government’s “good performance”.

“In 2019, social media and our volunteers handling it will play an important role,” he said asking the BJP workers to reach out to “crores of beneficiaries” of central government schemes and put out their short videos on social media.

In a veiled attack at Pakistan, PM Modi said, “Enemy country spreads fake news now-a-days, even in the UN…We have to be alert.” In 2017, Pakistan had used a photograph of a Palestinian girl, who had been injured by shrapnel in Israeli attack, to accuse Indian forces of committing “brutality” in Kashmir.