Former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP's Tamluk candidate Abhijit Ganguly triggered a row after a purported video surfaced online, in which he could be heard making controversial remarks about Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while referring to the recent Sandeshkhali sting.
"(Trinamool Congress says) Rekha Patra (BJP's Sandeshkhali pick) was bought for Rs 2,000. What is your price, Mamata Banerjee? If Rs 8 lakh is given to you, you provide one job. If Rs 10 lakh is given to you, rations get transported to another country...Is your price Rs 10 lakh? Is Rekha Patra easy to buy because she is poor?" Abhijit Ganguly said at a rally.
He further questioned how a woman can make such charges at another woman. "Is she (Mamata Banerjee) even a woman?" the former High Court judge asked.
The remarks by Ganguly triggered a spate of condemnation from Trinamool Congress, who moved the Election Commission to take cognisance of the matter.
Taking to X, Trinamool Congress called out Abhijit Ganguly's "blatant misogyny" and the "agents of the nari-birodhis (against women)", saying they shall never be tolerated by Bengal's mothers and sisters.
"Abhijit Ganguly has crossed limits of decency by trying to put a supposed monetary value on the only female CM in India, Mamata Banerjee. Therefore, disrespecting not just her but all the women of Bengal. Bengal has no place for such blatant misogyny and the agents of the Nari-Birodhis shall never be tolerated by our mothers and sisters. We vehemently condemn his remarks and urge the Election Commission to to intervene immediately," Bengal's ruling party tweeted.
Trinamool Congress leader Santanu Sen also condemned Ganguly's remarks, saying it was "shameful" of a former judge to use such words to "malign a woman chief minister". "This is the guarantee of the BJP that women under BJP rule will be insulted in this way," he added.
Trinamool Congress's Bardhaman-Durgapur candidate, Kirti Azad, also condemned the remarks by Abhijit Ganguly, saying that such acts "could only be done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party".
The BJP, however, claimed the video was "fake".
"We don't agree with the existence of any such videos. This is a ploy by the TMC to release fake videos and malign the BJP. But that won't make any difference in the elections," BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.
Abhijit Ganguly's purported comments were in reference to the recent Sandeshkhali sting, which claimed that multiple women in the Bengal village were paid Rs 2,000 to file complaints of atrocities against local Trinamool Congress leaders. It also claimed that the entire ordeal was conspired by BJP leader and Bengal's Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
Last week, a woman and her mother-in-law withdrew their rape complaint against Trinamool Congress leaders, alleging they were made to sign a 'white paper' without even knowing the contents of the same at the behest of the National Commission for Women.
