BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday tried to brazen it out after being called out by the police for disinformation on social media.
A probe revealed that his allegation of Kashmiri men residing in Baruipur having installed a "compact and high-performance wireless network bridge" was actually a harmless device for Internet connectivity being used by two engineers from Madhya Pradesh exploring pisciculture opportunities here.
Adhikari, who had also shared the flat's address on X and tagged Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar and the National Investigation Agency, did not take it down despite the clarification by Baruipur police.
He also did not issue an apology.
Instead, he issued a statement demanding more answers from Baruipur police district's chief Palash Chandra Dhali, apparently suggesting that the whole truth wasn't being told.
The activities of the Nandigram MLA — whose hardline Hindutva thrust has so far underwhelmed Bengal — since Wednesday have not gone down well with his party, according to sources. No prominent leader wanted to comment on record on this particular faux pas. The party also removed from its official profiles a video of Adhikari's protest event outside the Assembly, in which he was seen and heard saying "Hindustan murdabad (death to India)!" — presumably by accident, which the TMC mocked as a "Freudian slip" — while a Pakistan flag was being burnt in his presence.
"Boddo barabari korchhey (He is being overly immoderate)," said a source in the BJP state unit.
Baruipur police district issued a statement on X: "In reality, the two individuals, one of them a Hindu and the other a Muslim, both from Madhya Pradesh, rented a flat in Baruipur about three weeks ago. Engineers by profession, they were exploring business opportunities in pisciculture in West Bengal through a local friend. There is a simple Jiofibre network in their flat as is used by numerous citizens, with nothing suspicious about it," read the post.
"It is unfortunate that some people choose to disseminate such inaccurate and potentially inciteful information through social media, instead of communicating it to a state or central agency," it further read and went on to warn "that any kind of public insinuation against any individual without verifying the facts is legally punishable".
Speaker Biman Banerjee wondered what Adhikari was trying to achieve. "We are profoundly saddened by the Pahalgam incident. Now, we should prioritise maintaining calm and protecting harmony. I don’t know why the leader of the Opposition is trying to incite violence. He also burnt the Pakistan flag, gave inflammatory slogans.... It is most unfortunate," said the Speaker and TMC leader.
The Congress chief spokesperson for Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, demanded Adhikari's immediate arrest. "The likes of Adhikari are enemies of the people, enemies of the nation, they want to... destroy the nation for their petty political gains," he said.
CPM state secretary Md Salim said: "Two engineers — a Muslim and a Hindu — from Madhya Pradesh are living in that apartment. Adhikari and his party are opposed to this harmonious co-existence. They want hatred instead."
"I also question the state police for allowing such hatemongers to go unpunished. I demand the police take suo motu action against Adhikari," added Salim.