BJP Bengal shares clipped video to claim TMC candidate threatened women voters

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal tweeted a video of Trinamool Congress (TMC) Krishnanagar North assembly constituency candidate actor Koushani Mukherjee claiming that she threatened voters. In the video, she can be heard saying in Bengali, “Come here. Who are you? BJP? Everyone has mothers and sisters at home, think before you vote.” (এদিকে আয়। তোরা কারা? বিজেপি? ঘরের সবার মা-বোন আছে ভোট টা ভেবে ডিবি।)

“Everyone’s got mothers & sisters at home, think before you vote” – Kaushani Mukherjee, TMC candidate from Krishnanagar North.

This is how she threatened the women of Bengal, this is Pishi’s culture. The women of Bengal are definitely not safe under Pishi’s rule. pic.twitter.com/sdvPrbkUND

— BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) April 2, 2021

Mukherjee is fighting the elections against BJP veteran Mukul Roy. A Facebook page dedicated to Roy shared the clip on April 2. Vice president of BJP Bengal Ritesh Tiwari posted the video on Twitter.

Republic TV said in a broadcast, “And we have breaking news coming in from poll-bound West Bengal where TMC candidate from Krishnanagar north issued open threats to BJP supporters. In the video, Koushani Mukherjee can be heard saying those who have mothers and sisters at home must think before they cast their vote.”

Hindi outlet Zee Salam published a report on BJP’s allegations. Journalist Abhijit Majumdar wrote that Mukherjee “warned voters”. Calcutta university’s former vice-chancellor, Ashutosh Mujherhee’s great-grandson, Chayan Chatterjee, shared the video too.

News18 Bangla played the video during a broadcast and stated that Mukherjee’s statement has led to a controversy.

OpIndia published a report based on News18’s report. Another propaganda website Kreately, promoted by BJP leader Kapil Mishra, claimed that Mukherjee threatened the women of Bengal.

Remember this – Let us not make Bengal another Bangladesh

“Everyone’s got mothers & sisters at home, think before you vote” – Kaushani Mukherjee, TMC candidate from Krishnanagar North.

This is how she threatened the women of Bengal pic.twitter.com/3COUY07HQs

— Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) April 2, 2021

Clipped video

BJP shared a clipped video of TMC candidate Koushani Mukherjee. The actor herself shared a longer video where she can be heard saying, “Come here. Who are you? BJP? Everyone has mothers and sisters at home, think before you vote. Think about the safety of your mothers and sisters. If didi (Mamata Banerjee) is not there, mothers and sisters will not be safe in Bengal.” (এদিকে আয়। তোরা কারা? বিজেপি? ঘরের সবার মা-বোন আছে ভোট টা ভেবে ডিবি। মা-বোনের সুরক্ষার কথা ভেবে দিবেন। দিদি না থাকলে মা-বোন শুরখো না বাংলায়।) The part where she refers to women’s safety was cropped out of the video.

Mukherjee had also uploaded a Facebook Live clarifying the misinformation. “What I actually said was that cast your votes thinking about the safety of women. Women are unsafe in UP. We saw what happened in Hathras. If BJP comes to power in Bengal, women won’t be safe. So think before you vote, and don’t fall into BJP’s trap,” she said.

BJP Bengal and several pro-BJP propaganda handles amplified a clipped video of TMC’s Krishnanagar North candidate Koushani Mukherjee to falsely suggest she threatened voters.

[Update: Republic TV took down its broadcast from YouTube after this fact-check was published. The link has been replaced with a downloaded video.]