The war of words between leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the purported video of saffron-clad men threatening fish shop owners near a temple in C.R. Park, Greater Kailash, to shut their establishments continued to play out in the national capital on Wednesday (April 9, 2025).
TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who had shared the video on her X handle a day earlier and accused the “saffron brigade BJP goons” of intimidating fish-eating residents of the south Delhi colony, dominated by Bengalis, on Wednesday launched a fresh salvo against the BJP.
“If they are not BJP workers, then why have they still not been arrested even though their faces have been captured by the camera?” she said on X.
The TMC MP added that the temple in question was built by the very sellers the “BJP goons” wanted to evict. “Is the BJP now going to tell us what to eat and where to have legal shops?” she said.
No arrests have been made in the case so far, said DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan.
In response to Ms. Moitra’s barbs, BJP’s Greater Kailash MLA Shikha Roy and party’s Bishnupur (West Bengal) MP Saumitra Khan said on Wednesday that the three individuals who had threatened the fish shop owners are not members of the BJP.
Ms. Roy, who visited the market and bought fish from the shop owners, said the party had not asked any worker to threaten business owners in C.R. Park.
“The local fish market is operating within the legal framework. BJP workers stand with the fish market vendors. We will not allow attempts to intimidate, threaten or remove them to succeed,” said Ms. Roy.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva lashed out at Ms. Moitra, accusing her of tarnishing the national capital’s image by reposting an unverified video from an unknown account.
“She has previously been involved in spreading deliberate lies against the BJP. Reposting this video could be a part of her ongoing campaign,” said Mr. Sachdeva.
BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya claimed that the video in question is “false and fabricated”.
“It appears to have been shot with the intent to promote ill will among communities,” he wrote on X.
In response, the Krishnanagar MP took to X, saying, “Stop saying ‘purported’ incident. The C.R. Park video of the BJP goons is 100% true. Troll army lies won’t work. Had it been doctored, Delhi Police would have registered a zillion IT Act cases against me.”
Meanwhile, fish sellers in the market told The Hindu that the three men in saffron attire had visited the market twice last week and threatened them.
The sellers said they did not interact with them and informed the market association chiefs about the incident.
Ashok Bose, the vice-chairman of the East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony, the apex body of C.R. Park’s Bengali community, said they became aware of the issue through social media.
“The fish market was here even before the temple was built. In fact, shopkeepers pooled money to build the temple,” Mr. Bose said.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – April 10, 2025 06:36 am IST
