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News Desk: Addressing a rally at Deganga in North 24 Parganas district, TMC MP Nusrat Jahan accused the saffron party of creating communal hatred in the state.
She said “BJP is more dangerous than COVID-19. They are trying to divide the people of Bengal into religious lines”
She added “They don’t understand the Bengali culture and humanity”
BJP’s social media head Amit Malviya reacted to this statement of Jahan. He took to Twitter to slam the MP.
He tweeted “In WB, the worst kind of vaccine politics is unfolding. First, Siddiqulla Chowdhury, a sitting minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, holds up trucks carrying vaccines. Now a TMC MP, campaigning in Muslim majority Deganga, likens BJP to Corona. But Pishi is silent. Why? Appeasement?”
Fact Check
A video got circulated on social media where TMC leader Siddiqullah Chowdhury was seen waving a a stick towards a crowd. People are sharing the video with a claim of Chowdhury beating those agitating against the traffic jam caused due to a protest led by him. BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya along with many other Twitter users, tweeted the video on January 13, 2021, with the caption, “A West Bengal minister, Siddiqullah Chowdhury protested against farm laws in East Burdwan Galsi. When people started agitating against the road blockade then Minister was seen hitting people with a wood stick”
A Facebook page, Nation with Namo, also shared the video with the claim that TMC-led protestors disrupted the delivery of truck carrying COVID-19 vaccines. The page shared the video with the caption, “Truck carrying COVID-19 vaccines stopped by TMC-led protestors disrupting the delivery of life-saving vaccines is a new low for Mamata Banerjee’s TMC!”
After a fact checking it was found out that the people were protesting against the farm laws under the leadership of Jamiat Ulama-E-Hind (Bengal unit) at the Burdwan-Durgapur highway. As the protesters were gathered on National Highway, a truck carrying the vaccine from the central store in Kolkata to Bankura was re-routed. Siddiqullah Chowdhury said “We were sitting in protest against the farm laws. Our stage was not on the highway. It was near the Eidgah next to the road but some protesters were sitting on the road. When I heard about the vaccine vehicle, I told the police to give it a passage. Accordingly, the police escorted it through an alternate route. There was no problem. It is my responsibility. I even announced on stage that no medical vehicle or ambulance should be stopped”
After speaking to the Traffic Police official of Burdwan, he said “The permission was already taken for the protest and arrangements were made accordingly. But as National Highway is a busy route, there was a traffic jam due to the protest. Hence, the coronavirus vaccine van was diverted. But the intention of the protestors was not to divert the coronavirus vaccine van, it happened as a ripple effect”
On asking if Chowdhury hit those protesting against the traffic jam, the official denied. He said, “He was using the stick against the protestors who were on road to clear the blockade and give way for vehicles”
Hence Chowdhury did not use the stick against those protesting against him, rather he used it to clear the road blockade.
