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The BJP has accused Mamata Banerjee and the TMC of coming up with new ways to "harass and implicate BJP workers and supporters"
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has begun preparations for the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls by addressing the problem of fake news and rumours circulating on social media -- especially those that the party claims show TMC in bad light.
For this, according to a report by Hindustan Times, Chief Minister Banerjee has asked the West Bengal and Kolkata Police to strengthen their cyber-crime cells. At a recent address on Police Day, the chief minister had said that tackling cybercrime is the state government's priority.
According to the report, over the past five months, over 250 people have been arrested in West Bengal on charges of posting or forwarding allegedly harmful fake news and rumours.
"The chief minister has asked to explore options if students from IIT and various universities could be roped in for internships at the cybercrime cells of the state police. All police stations have been asked to tackle all complaints of cybercrime and potentially harmful fake news on a priority basis," a senior police official said.
TMC's Derek O'Brien, a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) and the party's national spokesperson, said TMC is "not fighting a lollipop match."
"We are fighting an election and we would do whatever it takes to fight the BJP, both on the ground and in the virtual world, to counter their fake new and rumours," O'Brien said.
Banerjee, too, had recently targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party's IT cell, indicating that it was behind some of the recent fake news and rumours circulating on social media, the report said..
The BJP, which analysts say is making rapid inroads in the state ahead of the crucial polls, has accused Banerjee and the TMC of coming up with new ways to "harass and implicate BJP workers and supporters".
"Mamata Banerjee knows very well that she is losing ground and that’s why she is coming up with new ways to harass and implicate BJP workers and supporters. Our party workers are being either implicated in false cases or murdered. But none of her tactics would work as people of Bengal have come to see her true face," Rahul Sinha, BJP's national secretary, said.