West Bengal police’s arrest of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha State Secretary Pamela Goswami on Friday for the possession of cocaine worth Rs 10 Lakh has sparked a meme fest on social media. Reportedly, the police were acting on inside information and they have been tracking Pamela and Prabir Kumar Dey for their alleged part in the drug smuggling inside the state.
In a recent video trending on Twitter, Pamela demands a CID probe into the case claiming that BJP MP Rakesh Singh, who is close to the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has a larger part to play in this case. However, Rakesh Singh has denied the claims while talking to a local news media. He added that it is part of the Trinamool Congress conspiracy to defame BJP ahead of the elections. He suspects that more BJP names might be revealed as part of this conspiracy.
While the police suspect that she is part of a larger conspiracy, involving supply and trafficking, the state BJP has been pushed to a corner. Senior party leaders from the state say that since the Model Code of Conduct is not yet in place, all of this could be a “state-sponsored drama” to paint the BJP in a negative colour. A few of them went so far as to claim that Pamela might have been framed, but added that the “law must take its course”.
“Acting on a tip-off, the New Alipore police carried out an operation and spotted one Honda car in front of Parameswari Bhawan at NR Avenue. After searching the car, approximately 90 grams of narcotic material (suspected cocaine) worth approximately Rs 10 Lakh was found,” said Sudheer Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata South zone. Besides, the 23-year-old Pamela, the police also nabbed 38-year-old Garia-resident Prabir and 26-year-old Somnath Chatterjee.
Twitteratis, however, have gone on to compare the situation between Disha Ravi and Pamela Goswami, and even Rhea Chakraborty and Pamela to compare the BJP and their allies’ anti-drug stance during the whole Sushant Singh Rajput fiasco. Some have gone to use Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami’s iconic “Mujhe drugs do (give me drugs)” dialogue during a live show to the Pamela situation. Some have also been tagging Kangana Ranaut to ask why she hasn’t responded to this situation, and whether her anti-drug stance is limited to outside the party. While NCB was very proactive in probing drug cases against their political opponent, the federal agency is missing from the scene of action in West Bengal.
Netizens began to compare Disha with Pamela, asking how “an environmentalist who stood for farmer’s protest is an anti-national” while “drug-peddlers within the Yuva Morcha are nationalists”.
They also asked how the party could claim “conspiracy” without any evidence when there is actual evidence of evidence planting in many of the Bhim Koregaon accused including Rona Wilson. A US-based digital forensic consultant Arsenal Consulting had revealed that incriminating evidence was planted in Rona Wilson’s computer. Yet, now, the BJP is claiming that there might be a conspiracy behind the Pamela incident.
Moreover, many had pointed out that Disha was not given proper legal support during her arrest. The Delhi police should have taken permission from Bengaluru courts for her transfer and should have provided her with her lawyer or at least some legal counsel of her choice. However, Disha was presented in front of the Delhi court without any legal counsel. Yet, the BJP now claims that the law should go at its pace.
Meanwhile, Twitter is also trending with #WeSupportShyamRangeela after a pump operator had filed a complaint against his sarcastic video on the rise of petrol price in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s voice.
He had earlier gained popularity for mimicking Modi, and a few people had warned him against using Modi’s voice for his videos.
