Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale has accused the BJP of deploying a “sinister toolkit” in West Bengal aimed at toppling the Mamata Banerjee-led state government.
In a post on X, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed, “There’s an organised campaign being run by BJP by trending ‘Mamata Must Resign’.”
Lamenting that “a genuine protest has been hijacked entirely by BJP”, Gokhale explained it in an X thread.
“It’s been 5 days since CBI took over the case & there are zero updates. But not a single protest has been done against CBI. Genuine protestors have now been replaced by BJYM & BJP workers on the streets of Kolkata. In their own words: the only agenda is toppling the Govt,” he added.
To support his arguments, Gokhale attached screenshots of the hashtag being used and driven by “BJP and Hindutva” handles. “No genuine protestors or ordinary people have used this hashtag,” he added.
Giving a timeline of the events, he wrote, “The hashtag BJP have been trending is ‘Mamata Must Resign’. This is how it started: On 15 Aug, After CBI took over the case, BJP IT cell issued a call to ‘trend’ the hashtag ‘Mamata Must Resign’. This was amplified by BJP ecosystem including head of OpIndia.”
Then, he flagged the statistics to allege that the trend is an organised work of BJP IT cell and not something from ordinary people.
“Over 2 lakh posts in just 4 days using the exact hashtag #MamataMustResign. This is not organic. And the reach? Over 91 million. Impossible for ordinary accounts,” he added.
The TMC MP also alleged that the BJP’s IT cell is boosting the trend through bot accounts across multiple countries. According to data shared by Gokhale on X, nearly 45 percent of the posts promoting the trend originate from the US. Other major sources include Russia, Eritrea, Nigeria, Colombia, and Suriname.
“CBI has been silent for 5 days just to help BJP run conspiracies. This ‘toolkit’ of BJP+CPM to destabilize Bengal will get a befitting response. We will not allow justice to be derailed,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the case, and will hear it on August 20. This comes as protests by doctors continue to affect healthcare across several states, including West Bengal and Delhi.
In West Bengal, junior doctors have been on strike for 10 days, demanding justice and improved security measures. The protest has also spread to Delhi, where resident doctors have been striking for a week, and Goa, where services at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital have been disrupted for three days.
The Indian Medical Association’s 24-hour strike, which started on Saturday, has ended, but the Action Committee for the Central Protection Act in Delhi has announced the continuation of their strike due to unresolved safety issues. Doctors in Delhi plan to hold a candle march at Rajiv Chowk Metro Station.
