‘Vendetta’: Mamata Banerjee condemns detention of TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale

The Gujarat Police earlier in the day detained Gokhale over a tweet about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi following the bridge collapse that left 135 people dead there in October

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday condemned the detention of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national spokesperson Saket Gokhale and called it a “vendetta”, without naming any political party.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

“It is very bad and sad. Saket is a very important and bright man. He is very popular on social media. He has done no mistake. He was coming to Jaipur. We are really upset. I condemn this vindictive attitude,” Banerjee told reporters at Jaipur airport.

The Gujarat Police earlier in the day detained Gokhale over a tweet about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi following the bridge collapse that left 135 people dead there in October.

Gokhale allegedly shared what looked like a news clipping of a response under the Right to Information Act (RTI), claiming ₹30 crore was spent on PM Modi’s visit.

“He was detained at 2 am on Tuesday and taken to Ahmedabad for a tweet against the prime minister. There are so many tweets against me. Cyber-crime, in which the security of the nation is under threat or there is a personal attack against somebody, is a punishable offence. But the Morbi incident was big. He tweeted about the news on the incident,” Banerjee said.

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gokhale was picked up from Rajasthan’s Udaipur and taken to Ahmedabad for the probe.

TMC leader Derek O’Brien said Gokhale took a Monday night flight from New Delhi before he was picked up from Rajasthan.

“At 2 in the morning on Tuesday, he called his Ma [mother] and told her that they are taking him to Ahmedabad and he would reach Ahmedabad by noon today. The police let him make that one two-minute phone call and then confiscated his phone and all his belongings,” O’Brien said in a tweet.

The BJP hit back on the allegations, and cited the arrest of Ambikesh Mahapatra, a Jadavpur University professor who was arrested in 2012 after he forwarded an email containing a cartoon on the West Bengal CM.

“Remember Mahapatra? The West Bengal government is most intolerant and vindictive. Why shouldn’t a man, who is spreading fake news against the Prime Minister on his visit to a tragedy site, be arrested?” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP’s spokesperson in West Bengal.

Banerjee visited Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan on Tuesday, and offered a ‘chadar’ at the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, and visited the Brahma Temple and ghat at Pushkar to offer prayers.

People raised ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans when Banerjee was leaving Pushkar.