Governor, TMC leaders spar over 'fake video'

MP, 13 June 2020, Kolkata: Condemning the "untruth" over the purported video showing unclaimed bodies being dragged with a tong that raised huge controversy, the Bengal government strongly protested the desperate moves of some people with vested interests in "de-contextualising" the matter by projecting the same as an incident related to COVID-19 pandemic. 

Despite repeated information provided by the state government mentioning that those were unclaimed bodies and not of any COVID-19 patient, the circulation of misinformation continued through social media and interviews in television channels. Both the top brass of the state government and Trinamool Congress leaders consider this to be a desperate bid to malign the Bengal government and to present the state in a poor light when it is simultaneously fighting against the pandemic and the Amphan aftermath. 

"The truth behind the videos was also well explained to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar after he sought information on the same," said a senior state government official adding that the investigation after the video had surfaced has also revealed that none of the 14 bodies was of any Covid patient. 

Even the Kolkata Police has also taken legal steps against the person who had uploaded the video on social media claiming it to be those of COVID-19 patients. 

In a strong tweet, reacting to this controversy for the first time, the Bengal Home Department stated: "The recent misinformation drive to project an isolated incident of a particular agency's handling of some unidentified and decomposed dead bodies lying (post accidents etc) in a morgue has no relationship whatsoever with the current pandemic. This has been communicated in writing and in person by most senior state officials even to Hon'ble Governor. Decontextualising the incident and projecting a one-off incident on the pandemic canvas, despite explanatory communiques, adversely impacts the social mind, demotivates public administration, denigrates frontline public health workers, hamstrings further. Streamlining of all relevant procedure especially at a time when the entire state is fighting the twin blows of Covid and Amphan. GOWB condemns untruths." 

The Home Department further stated in the tweet: "Government of West Bengal respects the credo of dignity at death and while handling the COVID pandemic, it has espoused the principle by laying down transparent procedures regarding disclosure of facts, opportunities given to bereaved relatives for showing last respect to the deceased, disposal of dead bodies etc." 

A war of words began between the TMC leadership and Governor Dhankhar with several leaders of the ruling party condemning his reaction and accusing him of being a spokesperson for the BJP. 

In an online press conference, O'Brien, who is TMC spokesperson and leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, asked why the Governor was targeting the state over the pandemic issue. 

"First he would tweet on their behalf and now he is also on TV. He is now officially the BJP spokesperson. He is linking a video of a dead body with Coronavirus. Why is he selective on West Bengal? Why is he not questioning what is happening in Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh where the testing is much lower than that of Bengal? Look at the situation in Balarampur, where a body was transported in a garbage van, but he does not tweet about that," he said. 

"These things don't draw the attention of this publicity monger, headline hunting maniac," he said, listing the NHRC notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and other incidents which he said should have drawn the Governor's attention. 

Reacting to the same incident, TMC Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said on Twitter: "The Governor of West Bengal is back to firing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) arrows at the state government, which is handling Covid-19, Amphan, and the return of migrants smoothly all at once. A rotten apple never falls far from the tree." 

TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said at a time when the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has ordered an inquiry and the state government has taken up the matter seriously, the Governor is doing politics over the issue in view of the ensuing Assembly elections. 

"How can he comment on a matter which is sub-judice and lying before the Supreme Court. He is a national shame in the name of a Governor," he remarked. 

(Courtesy, source, Millenium Post- http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/governor-tmc-leaders-spar-over-fake-video-410373)