'Vulgar dance' at TMC's booth conference in Cooch Behar sparks controversy

Local TMC leaders of Balabhut gram panchayat in Tufanganj of Cooch Behar district have courted controversy for organising a 'vulgar dance' at their booth-level conference on Friday.

Tufanganj: A video showing a "vulgar dance" at the Trinamool Congress booth conference at Balabhut village in Tufanganj has sparked controversy. In the video, which has gone viral, the dance performance was held in front of TMC Balabhut local president Altaf Ali Bepari and other leaders, who were sitting on the dais. Both the TMC and BJP leaders condemned the incident. The authenticity of the video, however, has not been verified by ETV Bharat.

The TMC leaders and workers organised a booth-level conference on Friday at the TMC-run Balabhut gram panchayat. The dance performance was organised at the conference. BJP district secretary Uppal Das, who posted the video on social media, said, "The present government has taken the culture of Bengal to the gutter. How can such a vulgar and obscene dance be performed with TMC leaders sitting on the stage? TMC has maligned the culture of the state."

Tufanganj-1B block president of TMC Pradeep Kumar Basak said that he had seen the viral video and condemned it. "Such a dance at the party conference should be condemned," he said. Basak said he would approach the TMC district president in this connection. It may be mentioned that the Odisha government has recently directed the police to take action against alleged vulgar dance in jatra shows. It was said that the performances could not be seen with families. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation issued a directive to the jatra organisers and disallowed "vulgar dance" shows during the Khandagiri Mela.