BJP Releases New Video Countering TMC's Sandeshkhali Sting Claims

Days, after a purported sting operation video was released by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal on Sandeshkhali, a fresh purported video, was uploaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday, in which a woman featured in the previous sting video alleges that she was forced to tell lies and that the video was "highly edited".

In the new video uploaded by Amit Malviya, BJP's IT head on X handle on May 10, the woman stated, "I had to lie to save my husband and child. This was an edited video. I spoke for one hour. Where is the entire video? Only two to three lines were shown in the sting video. I was threatened that if I didn't say the lines, my husband and child would be attacked. Selling dignity may happen in big cities not in villages like ours," as reported by Hindustan Times.

Photo Credit: PTI

BJP's Sandeshkhali Sting Claims

Meanwhile, a team from TMC is being planned to meet President Droupadi Murmu to apprise her of how the BJP allegedly coerced women villagers in Sandeshkhali to lodge false complaints of sexual assaults.

Shashi Panja, addressing media personnel in Kolkata on Saturday, stated, "The BJP had formally taken a team, comprising some women from Sandeshkhali, to meet the President. She was misguided. Now the TMC too should formally send a team to meet the President. We need to clarify everything and tell the President that those were false cases of sexual assault and that she was misguided by the BJP. We must place the truth before her."

The party has already lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging that the BJP paid money to women and made them file false complaints of rape in Sandeshkhali. The TMC is also planning to move the poll panel against Rekha Sharma, chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), the party said on Friday, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district began making headlines on February 7 when villagers, mostly women, demanded the arrest of TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides over allegations of sexual assault and land grabbing. Shahjahan was arrested on February 29 on the orders of the Calcutta High Court. He was later handed over to the CBI.

On May 4, however, a purported sting video surfaced in which Gangadhar Koyal, a local BJP leader from Sandeshkhali, was allegedly seen stating that there were no rapes and women were paid to lodge false complaints of sexual assault. The TMC continued its offensive for the straight seventh day with party supremo Mamata Banerjee and other leaders attacking top BJP leaders over the Sandeshkhali incident.

"Every day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was launching attacks. Do they (BJP) think that we don't have ears and eyes and we can't understand anything? For a woman, dignity is more important than money. This Is a heinous crime. The poor women never knew what was written on the documents on which they were made to sign. Such things happened in the past. Now they are coming to the forefront with the truth," Banerjee said while addressing an election rally in Hooghly, as per media reports.

Although Union Home Minister Amit Shah didn't spare any words on the sting video while attacking the TMC over the Sandeshkhali incident from two back-to-back rallies in Nadia and Birbhum on May 10, the BJP has uploaded fresh videos on social media in which village women could be seen purportedly talking about the atrocities unleashed by arrested TMC strongman Shahjahan.

In one video, a woman said, "Didi should come to Sandeshkhali and see what's happening. You (Mamata Banerjee) are also a woman like us. Why couldn't you come to Sandeshkhali?" Another woman in a video stated, "They (TMC strongman Shahjahan and his aides) forcefully took our land. We were not allowed to speak. If we spoke, threats would follow. They would flash crude bombs and guns. Men, 25 to 30 of them, would barge into our house. I live with my father. We had to give in."