The Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has removed the general secretary of its women’s wing after she was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department from Darjeeling district for alleged child trafficking. Juhi Chowdhury has been remanded in 12-day police custody. Ms. Chowdhury denied the charge and dubbed it a ‘political conspiracy.’
The incident has not just put the party leadership in a spot. According to BJP insiders, it has also widened the fissures between the two rival factions led by State president Dilip Ghosh and former State president Rahul Sinha. The infighting was evident in the sharply contrasting versions of the trafficking issue provided by Mr. Ghosh and Mr. Sinha.
Different voices
The State president said Ms. Chowdhury had been suspended for ‘maligning’ the party’s image by accompanying some people to Delhi (to meet the Central leadership) “without the State leadership’s permission [and thus] she has been removed from all party posts till the investigation is over.” Mr. Ghosh, however, has not said anything about the embarrassment the incident has caused to the Bengal BJP.
However, Mr. Sinha, currently a national secretary, admitted that the alleged involvement of Ms. Chowdhury in the child trafficking case had “definitely embarrassed” the party.
“We are keeping an eye on the matter and the party has also started a probe into it. But I think Ms. Chowdhury’s involvement is limited to the official matters [of the related child care home in North Bengal] and she is not directly involved in child trafficking,” he said.
‘Politics of vendetta’
But later in the day, Mr. Sinha — in a clear shift of stand — said the allegation against Ms. Chowdhury was the outcome of “Trinamool Congress’ politics of vendetta.”
Ms. Chowdhury and her father had been removed from all party posts to “ensure that political posts do not hamper the investigation,” he said. Mr. Sinha also suggested that the party “believes Ms. Chowdhury will get a clean chit from the court.”
According to party sources the “constant flip-flop” by Mr. Ghosh over the issue has further complicated the situation.
