Kolkata Police asks BJP's Mithun Chakraborty to appear for questioning over poll speech

Actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty has been asked by the Kolkata Police to appear before it on Monday to question him about his controversial speech during campaigning for the recent Assembly polls. The actor-turned-politician has been asked to appear via video conference. Earlier on June 16, Mithun Chakraborty was virtually questioned by the Kolkata Police after an FIR was registered against him. 

Mithun Chakraborty's controversial speech 

The BJP had appointed Chakraborty as the star campaigner for the West Bengal assembly elections. During an election campaign, the actor-turned-politician had allegedly used dialogues in his speech from his movies. However, Chakraborty so far has maintained that he used popular dialogues from his films and that he is innocent.  

"Marbo ekhane lash porbe shoshane (Will hit you here and the body will land at the crematorium)," he had said at one of his speeches

The police action against Chakraborty comes after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) filed a complaint and an FIR was registered against the actor in Maniktala after his speech. The complainant had stated that Chakraborty's dialogue contributed to the post-poll violence in West Bengal. He also added that Chakraborty promoted enmity between two sides following the West Bengal elections. TMC worker Mrityunjoy Paul who complained against Chakraborty, also filed a complaint against West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh. He had also remarked that statements by Dilip Ghosh and Mithun Chakraborty have caused "murder, grievous hurt, assault and injury" to his party workers "who have been deprived of their homes". Paul alleged that Mithun Chakraborty used the dialogues in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

West Bengal Assembly Elections and post-poll violence

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress won 213 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections that concluded last month. The Bharatiya Janata Party garnered 77 seats in the 294-seat state assembly thereby emerging as the main opposition party in the state. Violence was soon reported in several parts of West Bengal after the results of the Assembly elections were declared on May 2. The BJP and the TMC have been in a constant tussle since the assembly elections.