This is a vote-bank vendetta: Bengal BJP on Sharmishta Panoli arrest

West Bengal BJP president and Union Minister of State, Sukanta Majumdar, questioned why Panoli was arrested for a now-deleted video.

Kolkata: The BJP’s Bengal unit on Sunday questioned the “overnight” action of Kolkata Police against Sharmistha Panoli, a law student, accused of hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community, and called the move a vote-bank vendetta.

West Bengal BJP president and Union Minister of State, Sukanta Majumdar, questioned why Panoli was arrested for a now-deleted video.

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Panoli had tendered a public apology even though her video did not trigger any communal unrest or riot,” MoS Majumdar said.

“No riots. No unrest. Yet Mamata Banerjee’s police acted overnight, not for justice, but for appeasement. But when TMC leaders insult Sanatan Dharma, call Jai Shri Ram a gaali, mock Maha Kumbh, and push communal poison – there’s no FIR, no arrest, no apology. This is not justice. This is a vote-bank vendetta,” said Majumdar.

Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, posted on his official X handle why the city police had earlier ignored comments by Trinamool Congress leaders that had hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus.

Adhikari questioned the hyperactivity of Kolkata in the matter of Panoli for making a personal comment in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, where Hindus were targeted selectively, which she later deleted and even apologised for.

In his argument, Adhikari highlighted three such comments namely West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “Maha Kumbh is Mrityu Kumbh”, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra’s “Kali to me is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting Goddess” and Kolkata Mayor and West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim’s “Those who are not born in Islam are unfortunate. We have to bring them under the fold of Islam, and we should spread Islam among non-Muslims by endorsing Dawat-e-Islam”.

According to him, why do Kolkata Police choose to remain silent and inactive when idols of Hindu deities are vandalised in West Bengal or when there are events of stone pelting on Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti processions?

“DG@WBPolice, where have you locked up your spine when Anubrata Mondal threatens your subordinate’s wife and mother with rape?,” Adhikari’s statement read.

He had also assured that the BJP would provide Panoli with the necessary legal support in the matter.

“I would like to assure everyone that the nationalist lawyers are taking up Sharmistha’s matter and the best legal defence will be provided to her, and I hope that she will be free from the clutches of the vile and vicious Mamata Police,” his statement read.

An FIR was registered against Panoli at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15, for posting an Instagram Video, where she made some comments on Operation Sindoor that had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.

In the face of strong criticisms, she deleted that video and also tendered a public apology for the matter. However, based on the FIR registered, the police first sent her a notice, which failed since she had gone into hiding at Gurugram by then.

Thereafter, an arrest warrant was issued against her, and finally, she was arrested in Gurugram.

The 22-year-old student was arrested by Kolkata Police from Gurugram in Haryana on Saturday morning and was brought back to Kolkata on transit remand on the same day.

Panoli was presented at the city court in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon, and after a detailed hearing in the matter, she was remanded to judicial custody till June 13.