Didi says phone tapped | She is politicising deaths: PMAudio clip war erupts in Bengal

Shubhadeep Choudhury

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Tribune News Service

Kolkata, April 17

A purported audio clip — in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is heard proposing a rally with the bodies of Cooch Behar firing victims as “such a move could lead to more tension” in the state amid the ongoing elections — dominated the campaigning scene in West Bengal on Saturday.

In the clip, allegedly made viral by the BJP, Banerjee is heard telling Partha Pratim Roy, TMC candidate from Sitalkuchi, that an FIR must be filed in connection with the deaths and family members of the slain men should do it. A lawyer should be consulted for this purpose so that the in charge of the central forces deployed at the polling booth and also the SP of Cooch Behar could be named in the FIR.

At Asansol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broached the subject of the leaked audio tape featuring Mamata’s conversation with Roy and remarked that he was aware of the Bengal CM’s reputation of doing politics over corpses.

“The death of four persons in firing was tragic. But ‘Didi’ wanted to politicise the deaths. How far can you go for your vote bank politics, Didi?” Modi asked. Mamata did not deny the authenticity of the taped conversation. Speaking at a rally in Katwa, she claimed that there was nothing new in the audio tape as she had already announced on April 10 (when the firing took place) that she would visit the affected families the following day. She failed to go there the next day owing to the EC order making the area out of bounds for politicians for 72 hours, she said.

The CM, however, objected to the tapping of her phone. “How dare you intercept phone conversation of a Chief Minister,” she said, adding that she had ordered a CID probe into the matter. Even Modi would not be spared, the TMC supremo said. The BJP submitted a memorandum to the CEO, alleging that the tape was released by TMC insiders.