Mamata's team tracks net for more spoofs

Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was arrested over a spoof on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was the first victim of a watchdog body put in place by her party two months ago. But he isn’t the only one on its hitlist.

“We’ve zeroed in on many people, but the Jadavpur University professor was the first we decided to take action against,” said a Trinamool Congress leader.

The tracking team, comprising around 450 members of the Trinamool students’ wing, is hard at work infiltrating Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and other social networking sites.

It looks for derogatory pictures, posts and remarks against Banerjee, her party and the government, which the chief minister claims is part of a CPM conspiracy to malign her. The tracking is done from Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and even London. The trackers report directly to Trinamool Bhawan.

Mahapatra was arrested on April 13. And notwithstanding the backlash that followed, the watchers are still on the job.

As Sankudeb Panda, president of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, said, “If someone tarnishes Didi’s image, the law will take its course.”