EC castigates Abhijit Ganguly for his “What is your price” remark about Mamata Banerjee
The Election Commission on Friday strongly condemned former Calcutta High Court judge and the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Tamluk, Abhijit Ganguly’s “What is your price” remark on Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying it was “improper, injudicious, beyond dignity in every sense of the term, in bad taste” and prima facie violated the model code of conduct (MCC).
In the light of this violation, the election body gave Ganguly time till 5 pm on Monday to respond to its show-cause notice, to explain why “appropriate action” should not be taken against him.
The row arose after a video surfaced recently in which he could be heard making the controversial allegations (in Bengali) against the chief minister, while referring to the Sandeshkhali sting by Trinamool Congress, in which it was revealed that the BJP leader from Sandeshkhali and the party’s candidate for Basirhat, Rekha Patra and several others had allegedly taken money to heap accusations of rape against local strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.
“(Trinamool says that) Rekha Patra was bought for Rs 2,000. What is your price, Mamata Banerjee? If Rs 8 lakh is given to you, you provide one job. If Rs 10 lakh is given to you, rations get transported to another country … Is your price Rs 10 lakh? Is Rekha Patra easy to buy because she is poor?” [Translated from Bengali]
He even questioned how a woman can bring such charges against another woman, adding, ”Is she (Mamata Banerjee) even a woman?”
Trinamool Congress strongly condemned these remarks and lodged a complaint with the EC. It said that the remarks violated Sections 354, 503, 504, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and were also in contravention of the EC’s MCC in being “repugnant to the honour and dignity of woman”, “low level personal attacks”, an ”attack on personal life” and “malicious or offending decency and morality”.
It posted on X that Ganguly’s remark was “disrespecting nit just her but all the women of Bengal” and that “the agents of the Nari-Birodhis shall never be tolerated by our mothers and sisters”.
