With the media continuing to highlight the nationwide outrage over Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul's rape and violence speeches, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday accused her detractors of carrying out a campaign of "canards and misinformation".Addressing an official programme, Banerjee said while "good work" was never publicised, small matters were getting highlighted."Now, as you can see, if you do some good work that is never publicised. But if somebody does something small, or even if somebody does not do it, everybody is out with a vengeance," Banerjee said during a function at Nazrul Mancha."A campaign of canard and misinformation is being carried out against us in a planted way. It may well be, that you don't even know what has happened.""So, in such a scenario, you should keep in mind that we have to on our own arrange for ways and means to defend ourselves," she said.
Though Banerjee did not mention the Tapas Paul episode, it was obvious that her ire was directed against the media and the opposition which have been tearing at the Trinamool government over Pal's hate speech.The Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar in Nadia district was caught on video tapes threatening and warning Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres to beware of him and that he would gun them down and unleash his men to rape their women.Repeatedly using expletives to describe CPI-M activists, Paul even asked his partymen and women to prove themselves by slitting rivals' throats and killing them.Drawing flak from one and all, Paul later issued an apology letter, terming his comments a "gross error of judgment" and "deeply insensitive".The Trinamool says that the matter has ended with Paul's unconditional apology, but the opposition parties in the state are seeking administrative action including arrest of Pal, a leading actor of Bengali films. There have also been calls for his expulsion from the Lok Sabha.