TMC accuses BJP of staging Sandeshkhali, cites video

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of scripting the Sandeshkhali incident and questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was silent on the issue of a woman alleging sexual molestation by Governor C V Ananda Bose.

"The entire Sandeshkhali incident was preplanned. The BJP had scripted it well. The truth has been exposed. I have been saying this for a long time," Banerjee said at an election rally in Chakdah in Nadia district.

"I have not seen the entire video. I will definitely see it," she added.

The TMC earlier in the day released a video on social media, in which a man, claimed to be Gangadhar Kayl who is a BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali, was heard saying that leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly "Suvendu Adhikari is behind the whole conspiracy".

While Adhikari said the video is doctored, Kayl lodged a complaint to the CBI alleging that it was a morphed and edited video.

However, the authenticity of the video posted by the TMC could not be verified.

"PM Modi gave sandesh (messages) regarding Sandeshkhali, but remained silent on the representative of the Centre, the Governor's sexual molestation issue," she said.

Allegations of sexual abuse and land grab against TMC leaders have surfaced in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhisekh Banerjee accused the BJP of orchestrating the Sandeshkhali episode and claimed a video vindicated the Trinamool Congress's stand that the saffron party was behind the incidents.

"I never thought the politics of Bengal would stoop so low to get votes… We have been saying from day one that a shameless attempt was made to malign Bengal ahead of the elections,” Banerjee told a press conference in Kolkata.

In the press conference, Banerjee who is considered number two in the TMC, alleged that for creating grounds for imposition of Article 355 in Bengal, he orchestrated the entire incident in Sandeshkhali.

Banerjee asserted that the honour of Bengali women were compromised by such allegations in Sandeshkhali, which he believes are aimed at maligning the state.

He demanded that the BJP top leadership apologize for “maligning” Bengal about Sandeshkhali within 48 hours.

The TMC national general secretary also wondered what Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had mentioned Sandeshkhali incidents several times during his election rallies will say now.

Responding to the TMC's allegations, Adhikari said, “It is a fake and doctored video. It seems that the TMC sensed defeat (in the election) and is trying to divert attention. There have been hundreds of complaints by women of Sandeshkhali."

In his written complaint to the CBI, Kayl 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 his complaint, Kayl also provided the link to the YouTube video.