BJP West Bengal President Dilip Ghosh.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: Staring at a controversy, the BJP on Sunday tried to avert a crisis in the Sandeshkhali episode, with the local leader in the sting claiming that Artificial Intelligence was used to defame him.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said that money was exchanged for the video to be produced.
The BJP, which had majorly raked up the issue ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, saw itself in a sticky situation after a sting operation showed a local leader Gangadhar Koyal allegedly claiming in the video that it was at the behest of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari that the allegations of violence and sexual abuse were being made against expelled TMC stongman Sheikh Shahjahan.
In the video, Koyal, a BJP Mandal (booth) president, is also heard saying that the women of Sandeshkhali were not assaulted sexually but were projected as rape victims after directions from the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
In Bengal, the BJP’s poll campaign was woven around the narrative of the TMC using violence to silence opponents. The BJP was also facing a challenge after a woman came forward to file sexual harassment allegations against governor Ananda Bose.
On Sunday, Koyal alleged that it was not him but an AI imprint of him in the video. “I have come across a video where it can be seen that I am accusing (the BJP for the Sandeshkhali episode). This video has been made using my face and the voice has been modulated using Artificial Intelligence,” he said, further alleging that TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee was behind it.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh, too, accused the TMC of fabricating the sting video. “People are being bought and sold … they are even being seated or installed at the Raj Bhavan in exchange for money. However, this sting video won’t make any difference. It was not the BJP but the common people of Sandeshkhali who hit the streets in protest against the TMC. Shahjahan has confessed to the charges … his henchmen even attacked the ED and CBI teams,” Ghosh said.