A war of words broke between West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president Sukanta Majumdar and Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra over a comment allegedly made by the former about chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Demanding an apology for what the TMC deemed a misogynistic statement, its leader Mahua Moitra on Tuesday criticised the BJP, branding it as “anti-women” and highlighting the contradiction between their rhetoric about ‘Nari Shakti’ (women empowerment) and the alleged comments made by the BJP state president.
“While PM @narendramodi keeps talking about Nari Shakti, his Bengal State President has called for the public to slap our Hon’ble Chief Minister. Our leader, Smt.@MahuaMoitra denounced @DrSukantaBJP’s outrageous remark against Smt.@MamataOfficial and called for a public apology from the @BJP4India camp for their CHAUVINISTIC and PATRIARCHAL attitude towards women!” the TMC wrote posting a video statement of Moitra.
HT could not independently verify the alleged remarks by Majumdar, a video of which had gone viral and was circulated widely by various TMC leaders.
Moitra also urged other BJP members to denounce such remarks.
Hitting back at Moitra, Majumdar, in a late-night post on X, said, “A lady who shows a ‘Particular’ finger now and then in public, was found insulting journalists, using derogatory abuses etc., will now teach lessons of respect using a cropped portion of my speech… Grow Up.”
News agency PTI reported that a state BJP leader anonymously expressed disapproval of the alleged comments, distancing himself from them while maintaining criticism of Banerjee’s politics.
TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar expressed shock at the derogatory remarks directed at the only woman chief minister in the country. She also questioned the motive behind such comments and raised concerns about the degradation of political discourse when leaders resort to such language.
