Kolkata: Trinamool released a sting video showing a Sandeshkhali BJP functionary admitting that many of the charges, including rape in the area, were levelled following instructions allegedly from party seniors, including the LoP in Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari. BJP dismissed the clip as “fake”.
The 33-minute video focuses on Sandeshkhali Block-II BJP mandal president Gangadhar Koyal. “We have followed Suvendu da’s (BJP MLA Adhikari) instructions. He helped us. We convinced TMC people to do all this (level allegations). They (complainants) never said no, they did whatever we told them to do. He (Adhikari) told us that if we could not do this, if we could not get the big shots (Trinamool seniors of the area) arrested, we would not be able to stand (survive) here,” Koyal is heard saying. “I had to do all this very smartly. We said it (the alleged rapes and torture) happened seven, eight months ago. We had to work hard,” he adds.
Trinamool, including party chief Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, latched on to the video. The CM first took to X and then spoke at length at public meetings in Nadia’s Chakdah andTaherpur during the day. “The sting shows how deep the rot is within BJP. In their hatred for Bengal’s progressive thought and culture, the Bangla birodhis (anti-Bengal brigade) orchestrated a conspiracy to defame our state. Never before in the history of India has a ruling party in Delhi tried to malign an entire state and its people. History will witness how Bengal will rise in rage against Delhi’s conspiratorial regime and ensure their bisarjan (defeat),” she wrote on X.
Adhikari was guarded in his response: “I have not seen the video. I will find out whose voice it is and speak on the matter.” Later, he said truth could be “twisted and a misleading version circulated. But its shelf life is very short. Ultimately, truth prevails,” he said. “I will approach CBI and seek a full probe so that the perpetrators are punished.”
Koyal himself later called the “viral video a conspiracy and a plot”. “They have used technology to fake my voice. This is a ploy to defame me, my party, the mothers of Sandeshkhali and my leader (Adhikari),” he claimed.
