The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for fielding veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha as its candidate from Asansol in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP IT cell, criticised the TMC's decision, citing an old clip from Sinha's film and accusing the TMC rank of including individuals with dubious backgrounds.
"Meet Shatrughan Sinha, TMC’s candidate from Asansol. TMC rank is full of rapists, both in real (likes of Shahjahan Sheikh) and reel life," Malviya remarked in a post on X.
“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,” Malviya added.
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Joining the criticism, BJP state secretary Priyanka Tibrewal drew parallels between "real and reel-life heroes" of the TMC. Tibrewal highlighted the TMC's nomination of candidates with pending cases against them, including Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from parliament.
“Look at the similarity between the real and reel life heroes of Trinamool. 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,” Priyanka said.
“TMC's list when it has come out most of them are tainted. And I say so. Why? Because cases are pending against them. They have given tickets to somebody like Mahua Moitra who was expelled from the parliament. No wonder we'll see similar results in the upcoming years,” she added.
Earlier this month, Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh withdrew his candidature as the BJP candidate for the Asansol seat. Singh's decision came after criticism from the TMC, which alleged that some of his songs were vulgar and depicted women inappropriately, particularly Bengali women.
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Mamata Banerjee-led TMC on Sunday announced the list of 42 candidates for all the constituencies in West Bengal and declared its clear intention to fight the Lok Sabha elections without any alliance in the state. The list includes new figures such as Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur, and Kirti Azaad from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency. The party renominated 16 sitting MPs and has fielded 12 women candidates.