Days before the Lok Sabha Elections start, W3Layouts, a startup based in Andhra Pradesh, on the 24th of March, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of stealing a code and using it for the Party’s website, without permission.
Based out of Nellore, the startup accused the BJP of stealing the code and removing the back links to ensure there was no mention of the Company’s name anywhere.
The Company posted a blog on its website detailing its allegations. “We, at W3Layouts, were initially happy and excited that BJP IT cell was using our template, then devastated to see our work being used by BJP removing the backlink without paying, and giving no credit whatsoever to W3Layouts. While the visible backlinks were removed, it was clear that BJP was still using the W3Layouts code as it was evident in the source code of the page,” the Company said in its blog.
In order to escalate the matters, the startup even posted the issue on Twitter. Shortly after, the team realised the ruling Party changed the code entirely.
Although the startup builds free HTML links for people to download, it requires an acknowledgment of its work, the lack of which accounts as plagiarism.
“While they may have changed the code completely now, we are surprised at how a National Political Party headed by a leader who calls himself the “Security Guard (Chowkidaar) of the Country” chose to steal a small shop’s sweat and blood and also chose to disregard the claim when found cheating,” the Company added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to make a comment about the matter.
Stay tuned to the page for more updates.
