Recovering quickly from Tuesday’s “deep shock” over Trinamool MP Tapas Paul’s “rape-and-murder” threats to CPI(M) workers, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accepted his apology and attacked the media for allegedly conspiring against him.
The Chief Minister who held a marathon meeting with her party leaders and elected representatives did not speak to the media. Inside reports said that during the meeting she spoke briefly on the Tapas Paul issue.
“This is a clean case of conspiracy. These media houses engage some paid agents to create such mischief. The media has conspired against Tapas by disseminating old footage to malign him and the party. I don’t know why they are doing this when he has already apologized,” Mamata Banerjee told the meeting, sending a clear message that her party and the Government was not taking any action against Paul as also ignoring the nationwide uproar against his hate speech.
The Chief Minister had on Tuesday said that Paul had “committed a blunder” before wondering “what will I do. Will I kill himIJ”Paul, who is also a famous Bangla actor had in two consecutive meetings threatened the CPI(M) workers with murder and their women with rape besides directing his followers to slit the throats of Marxists with choppers and axes, raising a countrywide hue and cry.
Even as the Chief Minister firmly stood by Paul, the top brass reportedly advised junior leaders to “refrain” from using offensive words like rape “as far as practicable” in public or at least be on guard against the “black sheep who videograph such proceedings.”The elected representatives were also asked to let the lesser known leaders do the ‘firebrand talking’ instead of them doing so.
For other words like ‘murder’, ‘slitting of throats’ the party tended to adopt a chalta hai kind of approach, as a North 24 Parganas MlA later said “if such words are not used then the CPI(M) and the BJP will invade the houses of our workers and forcibly capture their villages.”Strongly condemning the “patronisation of such a violent culture by the Chief Minister” State BJP president Rahul Sinha said: “When the head of the family is like that then the rest of the family is bound to follow her.”