Babul Supriyo, BJP's singer-politician gets schooled over 'misinformation': Gets upset by police's tone

Union Minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo has been taking jibes at West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and claims to have exposed the shocking state of coronavirus hospital in Kolkata. In a flurry on tweets, continuing his efforts to seek an explanation on the matter, Supriyo accused the West Bengal CM for banning mobiles in hospitals and arrested Somnath Das, the person who reportedly shot the video of the hospital.

"Honble @MamataOfficial banning mobiles in hospitals 'Kind of' proves that the Bangur Hospital video was not fake -Thank you. Now here is another detail which I bring forward as People's representative•I request WB to come up with a clear Yes or No abt this info•Is this true?" he tweeted, attaching what appears to be a WhatsApp forward claiming the person who shot the video has been arrested.

In response to this, the Kolkata Police rubbished Supriyo's claims and said the information is "completely incorrect and misinformation". The police further clarified that Somnath Das hasn't been booked.

A war of words was waged with that response and Supriyo refused to take Kolkata Police's word for it. "Good u came up with a statement but, while we appreciate the work done by the Police Force in this entire country & respect your selfless service, it gives us no reason to believe u! To know why I say that, search for answers in your own documented history of TMC-'DoloDashness," he tweeted.

But Supriyo was also bothered by the police's tone in which the response was given. He demanded the police address him using the title "Hon'ble".

"BTW, like I have addressed WBCM as Hon'ble @MamataOfficial & not just @MamataOfficial using my own sense of etiquette, u shud address Ministers as 'Honble' irrespective of whether u think he/she is Honble or Not•I don't think Didi is doing an Honble job for WB yet she IS Honble CM (sic)," Supriyo wrote.

Supriyo had also claimed in a now-deleted tweet that "protocol requires" the police to mention a central minister as "Hon'ble." But the law doesn't dictate those terms.

Viral video of Kolkata's COVID-19 hospital

Supriyo had posted a video on social media showing alleged lack of social distancing between patients and a body lying on the bed in the ward for suspected coronavirus patients at a state-run hospital. The minister also demanded an explanation from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to shed light on the authenticity of the video.

"The genuineness of the video needs to be looked into, as the BJP's habit of spreading fake videos is all too well known," said state Education Minister and Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee.

In the video, a man who claims to be one of the patients admitted to the ward, complains of mismanagement in the hospital. Calling the video 'shocking', Supriyo demanded a probe into the matter.

"Since this VDO is in the Public Domain, I wud request Honble WBCM @MamataOfficial to conduct a thorough enquiry into it & release the FACTs asap," Supriyo tweeted.

On Wednesday, Supriyo again tweeted on the video, pointing out that despite it going "super-viral on all platforms, till now the WB Govt of @MamataOffical Didi, did not come up with any claim that this is a fake VDO... That takes us Very Close to believing it is indeed authentic."

IBTimes India could not verify the authenticity of the video or the post shared by Babul Supriyo at the time of this writing.

(Includes agency inputs)