Bengal Governor Harassment Case: BJP, Left Highlight Victim Woman's Link With Ruling TMC

Bengal Governor Harassment Case: BJP, Left Highlight Victim Woman’s Link With Ruling TMC

Amid the allegations of sexual harassment against West Bengal Governor, CV Ananda Bose, by a temporary staff member of Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, the opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and CPI (M), have started questioning the links of the woman to the ruling party. The opposition parties are pointing to an event where the mother of the accuser contested as a Trinamool Congress candidate in a local election in East Midnapore District of West Bengal in 2002. According to news agency IANS, East Midnapore is the native district of the woman who filed the police complaint of sexual harassment against Governor Bose on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Governor Bose has described the allegation as an “engineered narrative” coined to gain electoral benefits.

The fact of the accuser’s mother contesting as a Trinamool Congress candidate in 2002 was revealed to the media by veteran CPI(M) District Secretary in East Midnapore, Niranjan Sihi.

“I remember everything. To me this is a ploy to divert attention from other burning issues in the state like the Sandeshkhali development and the loss of school jobs,” he said.

The BJP’s former National Vice President, Dilip Ghosh, had described the entire development as a “scripted” strategy on the part of the ruling party.

“This kind of dirty politics will result in the downfall of the ruling party. But one thing is clear. When the ruling party can target someone in this position and that too in such a manner, the condition of the ordinary public is well-imaginable,” Ghosh said.

On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at a public meeting, questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” in the matter.

(With input from agencies)