A political slugfest erupted in West Bengal on Saturday after a video went viral showing a BJP leader claiming that the protests staged by the women at Sandeshkhali against alleged sexual harassment by local Trinamool Congress leaders were orchestrated by the BJP.
The man seen in the purported video has been identified as local BJP leader Gangadhar Kayal. The BJP is claiming that the video has been doctored by the Trinamool out of the fear of defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee played the entire video at a press conference on Saturday, claiming that the 'sting operation' shows to what level the BJP can stoop.
"They have crossed all limits. In the video, BJP's local Mandal chief is heard claiming that the entire Sandeshkhali movement was orchestrated by the BJP with sinister motives. The person who was allegedly harassed is now claiming that nothing happened to her," Banerjee said.
He also claimed that the BJP leader seen in the video said that opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari was the main brain behind the conspiracy.
In the purported video, Kayal could be heard claiming that he was assigned to persuade some local women to orchestrate the movement by Adhikari.
Banerjee also claimed that it was a clear attempt to malign the image of West Bengal, as there was no case of sexual harassment in Sandeshkhali.
"The use of robots to detect explosives in Sandeshkhali was another doctored show. All these were pre-planned," Banerjee claimed.
Soon after the video was released, Kayal said that although the person shown in the video was him, he never made any such claims.
"My voice in the video was doctored using technology. This is a conspiracy against me and my party," he said.
Suvendu Adhikari, meanwhile, claimed that the release of the 'doctored' video is yet another example of Trinamool's desperation stemming from the realisation that the Sandeshkhali episode has weakened its position in West Bengal.
"This is a joint conspiracy by a top Trinamool leader, his consulting agency, and a former journalist, who runs his own news portal now. Kayal will file a complaint with the CBI in this regard. This doctored video has been released by Trinamool out of the fear of defeat," Adhikari said.
State BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya said that soon after the Trinamool released the video, the BJP leadership talked to the local people who confirmed that the video was doctored and the voice in it was not that of Kayal.
(With inputs from IANS)
