Ahead of the Panchayat polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party has sparked a new controversy after using images of violence in Bangladesh in its election manifesto to assert “lawlessness” in West Bengal.
In a bid to reinforce its claim that there is lawlessness in the state under the current regime, the BJP manifesto released on Tuesday used a number of pictures of violence and vandalism, one of which was allegedly of the 2013 Bangladesh violence, reported IANS.
That is not a photograph of Bengal. They have used a 2013 photograph of Bangladesh in the manifesto and claimed it to be a picture of violence here. No party in the history of Bengal has constantly made such false, malicious and instigating statements. We are ashamed of their actions.Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee
"Such falsehood under the banner of a political party is an insult of democracy in Bengal," he addeed.
On running a fact check, some of the photographs used in the manifesto were found to be from Bangladesh when the country was marred with violence. One of the contentious photographs portraying two youths standing beside a blazing vehicle was found to be originally taken by a news agency AFP in 2013 and its image description reads as: "Supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) shout slogans near a bonfire during a protest in Dhaka on March 11, 2013." The Indian Express reported that the picture is from a time when Bangladesh was facing violence over war-crime trials.
Another image which showed defiled Hindu idols was allegedly taken in Nasirnagar in Bangladesh in 2016, reported The Indian Express.
The BJP, however, claimed that the images portray the real picture of Bengal.
Our manifesto talks about how lawlessness and violence has taken over Bengal under the current government and how the Chief Minister and the administration are constantly backing the trouble mongers. In several places in the state communal violence took place and the Hindus were attacked like in Bangladesh. In that context the picture was used.State BJP President Dilip Ghosh
Quoting police source, The Indian Express reported that a case has been filed against Ghosh and others after a TMC worker registered a complaint. The report said the police has not yet revealed the name of the complainant.
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