New Delhi: The verbal duel between Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) escalated further on Friday after the former shared a cartoon on X.
The cartoon shows Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Bengal, in a pose in which she appears to be kicking the Prime Minister off a hill, where he along with other leaders are trying to climb using a ladder.
Amit Malviya, the national in-charge of Information Technology for the saffron party, expressed serious apprehension regarding the cartoon posted by TMC, calling it a direct threat. “No words can be strong enough to condemn this illustration, which can be interpreted as TMC’s direct threat to the very life of our Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister, and BJP Bengal leaders,” Malviya wrote in a strongly-worded note on X.
He added that the illustration and its accompanying caption convey a troubling message and appear to harbour a sinister intent against the party leaders. “Will the Election Commission of India (ECI) take note and check this sinister plot before it is too late?” he asked.
Mamata Banerjee, the sitting CM of Bengal, is shown kicking the Prime Minister of India. This is a direct threat to harm the life and kill the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and BJP Bengal leaders.
Will @ECISVEEP take note and check this sinister plot before it is too late? https://t.co/Bbkw0N5TGN— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 29, 2024
The controversial cartoon, shared by TMC featured a caption that reads, ‘Bengal’s gates are fortified, and Smt. @MamataOfficial stands guard! The Bohiragoto BJP Jomidars who are trying to crawl their way in, will find themselves tumbling head over heels.”
This confrontation between TMC and BJP leaders occurred prior to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. West Bengal, with its 42 Lok Sabha seats, is one of the states where elections will be conducted in all seven phases, alongside Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
In the 2019 elections, TMC and BJP engaged in intense competition in West Bengal, resulting in TMC securing 22 seats with a vote share of 43.69%. The BJP won 18 seats gaining a significant ground with 40.64% vote share, while Congress obtained two seats. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) drew a blank.