BJP's conspiracy in Sandeshkhali alleged by TMC leaders

In a joint press conference, TMC leaders Shashi Panja, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale accused the BJP of being anti-Bengal.TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said the video proved that no rape happened in Sandeshkhali, and called it BJPs conspiracy.The BJP hatched a huge conspiracy.

The TMC on Sunday accused the BJP of orchestrating the Sandeshkhali case after a video showed a man, allegedly linked to the BJP, claiming that women were tutored to make allegations of sexual harassment.

At a press conference in Delhi, the TMC showed the video in which the man, who the TMC claimed is BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali Gangadhar Kayal, was heard saying that Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari is allegedly behind the whole conspiracy.

In the video, whose authenticity could not be independently verified by PTI, the man was heard saying that Adhikari had allegedly asked him and other BJP leaders of the area to ''instigate three-four local women to level allegations of rape against three TMC leaders, including Shajahan Sheikh''.

In his written complaint to the CBI, Kayal said the video in question was uploaded from an unverified YouTube channel owned by someone named 'Williams'.

"It can be seen that the same (footage) has been made using my face and the voice has been moduled using Artificial Intelligence (AI) so that it can mislead the public at large," the BJP mandal president said. In a joint press conference, TMC leaders Shashi Panja, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale accused the BJP of being ''anti-Bengal''.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said the video proved that no rape happened in Sandeshkhali, and called it BJP's ''conspiracy''.

''The BJP hatched a huge conspiracy. This video shows no rape has happened in Sandeshkhali. They wanted to create a situation so that the president's rule could be imposed in West Bengal,'' Ghose said.

''The prime minister is repeatedly speaking on Sandeshkhali, while they took no action in the case of Prajwal Revanna, and gave ticket to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's son... They just want to malign Bengal,'' she said.

''The real culprits are the BJP leaders who forced the women to lie,'' she added.

Rajya Sabha MP from TMC Saket Gokhale said the BJP's target is not the TMC, but the people of West Bengal.

''They are not targeting TMC, they are targeting the people of Bengal. They deprived the state of fund, they deprived MGNREGA workers of work... Why are you making the people of West Bengal suffer?'' he questioned.

''Election is a political battle. What is unacceptable is you cooked up a story to malign the image of West Bengal,'' he said.

He also said that the Election Commission should take note of the development.

''The EC has not yet deemed it fit to intervene even once. The EC has shown no keenness on finding out the truth of what happened in Sandeshkhali. Would the EC stop the PM from making further remarks on Sandeshkhali?'' he asked.

West Bengal's Minister of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Shashi Panja said the state has been maligned by ''anti-Bengal BJP.'' ''We are sad the central agencies and commissions like the National Commission for Women, the SC Commission also supported them,'' Panja said.

''They fabricated allegations of sexual harrasment. The BJP should apologise,'' she added.

Sandeshkhali in the North 24 Parganas district had erupted in protests after several women accused now-suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates of sexual abuse and land-grabbing. He has been arrested and is now in CBI custody.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)