BJP shares photo of scribe, claims him to party worker killed in post poll clashes in Bengal

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal wing faced backlash from several quarters after it shared a video where it falsely claimed an India Today journalist as its party cadre and said he was killed in post poll violence in Bengal. The journalist Abhro Banerjee in a tweet shared the information that his picture has been misused and is being used to peddle misinformation by the social media wing of the party.

In a tweet, Abhro wrote, “I am Abhro Banerjee, living and hale and hearty and around 1,300 km away from Sitalkuchi. BJP IT Cell is now claiming I am Manik Moitra and died in Sitalkuchi. Please don't believe these fake posts and please don't worry. I repeat: I am (still) alive.”

Abhro, who lives in the national capital region, also shared the screenshot of the video from Facebook and also shared the link along with the tweet. The video is not available on BJP’s Facebook page anymore but it can be found on BJP’s YouTube channel.

Abhro is reportedly considering legal action over the video claiming him to be dead.

Allegations of post poll violence have been levelled against the Trinamool Congress by the Bharatiya Janata Party after the declaration of the results. The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday refuted the allegations and said that violence was concentrated only in areas BJP has registered wins. Earlier on Monday, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien also quashed the allegations levelled against his party by the BJP and dismissed them as intra-party feuds.