TMC releases video showcasing ‘hate speeches and communal slurs’ by Suvendu
Telegraph | 24 February 2024
The Trinamul Congress on Friday released a 108-second video showcasing a collage of “hate speeches and communal slurs” by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and urged the courts to note how he was spreading “hatred and bigotry”.
The attempt to corner the Bengal leader of the Opposition comes at a time when he is trying to spearhead a movement against the state government using the developments in Sandeshkhali.
Trinamul sources said the party thought the time was just right to release the video, with Adhikari bang in the middle of a controversy for allegedly calling an on-duty IPS officer, S. Jaspreet Singh, a “Khalistani”.
With the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and several other Sikh organisations having condemned the alleged “communal slur”, the purported comment has become an embarrassment for the saffron camp.
Bengal police and Trinamul had already circulated videos to try and establish that Adhikari had indeed made the “Khalistani” comment against the officer.
Friday’s Trinamul video —
in which a man resembling Adhikari appears to make controversial comments
against Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi, as well as against the police and
some tribal leaders — seeks to paint the Nandigram MLA as a serial offender.
In
the video, the man resembling Adhikari appears to refer to Mamata as “Begum”
and a “minister of Pakistan” besides using an expletive against Rahul. He also
purportedly describes the police as “lap dogs” and two tribal leaders, whom he
names, as people who “remain under my feet”.
Adhikari’s
purported comments on contentious issues such as birth control, illegal
infiltration and the CAA — issues often used to bait Muslims — have been
included in the collage and labelled “hate speech”.
Senior
Trinamul leaders including the party’s all-India general secretary Abhishek
Banerjee, MPs Sushmita Dev and Derek O’Brien and suspended parliamentarian
Mahua Moitra posted the video on their X handles as proof of the BJP’s “hate,
communal slurs, filth and venom”.
In
his tweet on X, Abhishek expressed regret that Adhikari had remained under the
protection of the high court despite “injecting venom” into Bengal.
“Despite
numerous pleas this person remains under the protection of the high court. Who
is accountable for spreading such hatred & bigotry and what compels the
Calcutta HC to shield him ?” he posted, writing several words in block letters.
Abhishek
seemed to be alluding to a 2022 order passed by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of
Calcutta High Court that said no FIR could be lodged against Adhikari without
the court’s permission. The state government had challenged the order in
the Supreme Court, but it was sent back to the high court.
Trinamul
fielded senior ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya and Shashi Panja at a news
conference on Friday afternoon to draw the court’s attention to how Adhikari
was allegedly getting away with “disrespectful and derogatory” comments because
of the court’s protection.
“These
are distasteful and disrespectful remarks. They are derogatory. And the worst
part is, he is not expressing any remorse. Look at the brazenness,” Panja said.
She added that while the party had full faith in the legal system, it expected
the courts to take note of Adhikari’s “verbal terror”.
At
the news conference, the Trinamul leaders also tried to draw the court’s
attention to Adhikari’s alleged flouting of the conditions imposed on him by
the high court when Justice Kausik Chanda allowed him to visit strife-torn
Sandeshkhali.
“The
court directed him not to give any provocative speech or create any
law-and-order situation in the restive area. Now it has been proved beyond
doubt that he called an on-duty IPS officer a Khalistani only because he wore a
turban,” Panja said.
“The
entire BJP leadership in Bengal and Delhi have remained quiet though there have
been protests against his comment across the country. The question is, how long
will he get away because of this protection?” she asked.
Asked
whether Trinamul would move court on this, she said the party was taking the
matter up in the “people’s court”.
Adhikari
and the BJP leadership have denied that he called the officer a “Khalistani”.
Adhikari
had not by late Friday night commented on the latest video released by
Trinamul.