'Full of rapists': BJP jibes TMC after Shatrughan Sinha's nomination
What's the story
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday slammed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for choosing veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha as its candidate for the Asansol seat in the upcoming general elections. Criticizing the decision, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya took to X, saying that the TMC rank was "full of rapists, both in real and reel life." He questioned why Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee didn't invite Sinha to join her on International Women's Day for a "sham women empowerment march."
Context
Why does this story matter?
On Sunday, the TMC announced its list of 42 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, which included expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra. Among the new names are former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who will contest from Baharampur, and Kirti Azad from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency. In response, the BJP labeled the list as a "damp squib" and termed Sinha, Azad, and Pathan "Bohiragotos" (outsiders), questioning if the party "didn't find enough sons of the soil to field?"
Twitter Post
Read: Malviya's post on X
Meet @ShatruganSinha, TMC’s candidate from Asansol. TMC rank is full of rapists, both in real (likes of Shahjahan Sheikh) and reel life.
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 10, 2024
Surprised Mamata Banerjee didn’t ask Shatrughan Sinha to join her on the eve of International Women’s Day for the sham women empowerment march. pic.twitter.com/BRHstki5gS
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BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal also criticized TMC's choice of candidates
Joining the criticism, BJP state secretary Priyanka Tibrewal pointed out the "similarities between the real and reel-life heroes" of the TMC. "According to Trinamool, real-life heroes are people like Shahjahan, who raped women in Sandeshkhali, and no wonder their reel-life heroes are people like Shatrughan Sinha, who rapes women in the movies," she said. Tibrewal also claimed out that many TMC candidates have pending cases against them, including Moitra, who was expelled from Parliament.
Sinha speaks
BJP's Pawan Singh withdraws candidature amid controversy
Earlier this month, the BJP nominated Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh for the Asansol seat. However, Singh withdrew his name from the contest after TMC alleged that his songs were crude and depicted Bengali women in a vulgar way. In response to the row, Sinha called it an internal affair of the BJP. "I don't know him (Singh) personally very well. But heard he is a singer, an artist and some of my acquaintances know him," he said.
TMC list
More on Trinamool's candidate list
The Banerjee-led party has dropped at least eight sitting MPs, renominated 16 sitting MPs, and fielded 12 women. The party also renominated the expelled MP Moitra from the Krishnanagar seat for the second consecutive term. From Basirhat, TMC fielded its former MP Haji Nurul Islam by dropping sitting MP Nusrat Jahan. Basirhat was at the center of controversy for protests by women in Sandeshkhali, alleging harassment by TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan. Notably, Sandeshkhali comes under the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.