On Tuesday (September 21), the Kolkata police booked crossdresser and influencer Sandy Saha for illegally parking his car on the Maa flyover. Saha was seen dancing on the flyover to mock the recent advertisement by the Uttar Pradesh government, which was erroneously posted by the Indian Express newspaper.
As per reports, the cops have registered a case on their own and directed Saha to appear before them at the Kolkata police headquarters. The car was identified after the traffic control room in Lalbazar watched the CCTV footage, besides the video posted by the influencer on Facebook. Sandy Saha and his driver have now been issued a notice, thereby increasing their legal troubles.
In a video posted on September 13, Saha was seen mocking the Yogi Adityanath government by claiming that ‘Maa flyover’ belonged to Uttar Pradesh and not West Bengal. “You think this is Kolkata? No, its UP!”, remarked Sandy Saha as he hurriedly crossed the road. He then stood on the divider and danced to the tunes of ‘Main Aai Hoon UP Bihar Lootne.’ He claimed, “Do you think I am in Kolkata? No, I am in UP. Look how the State has developed… This is our famous Maa flyover. This is UP. Did you see that we have Royal Bengal here? Look at the development in the State… Let me dedicate a dance on this occasion.”
“Many of you are jealous by witnessing the progress of Uttar Pradesh. Several people who live in Kolkata might claim that this is not UP, ” he added. All of a sudden, Sandy Saha then turned paranoid and inquired, “Will the police catch me on the road? Will they kill them? Will I be run over by a car? I am scared?” After a few minutes of theatrics on the flyover, he concluded by saying, “Namaskar! We have done great development here! Jai UP!”
According to his Instagram bio, Sandy Saha is an actor, creator, entertainer and dreamer. He is the first ‘openly gay’ participant of MTV Roadies Extreme. He loves cross-dressing and has been spotted wearing sarees and other female outfits. Saha has over 14 lac followers on Facebook, 4 lac followers on Youtube and 2.3 lac followers on Instagram.
Maa Flyover controversy, UP govt ad and hithob by the Indian Express
Earlier on September 12, the Indian Express had apologised for using the photograph of the Maa flyover in Kolkata in an advertisement for the Uttar Pradesh Government. The newspaper said that the advertorial was prepared by the marketing department of the newspaper. Indian Express said in a statement, “A wrong image was inadvertently included in the cover collage of the advertorial on Uttar Pradesh produced by the marketing department of the newspaper. The error is deeply regretted and the image has been removed in all digital editions of the paper.”
The statement came after propagandists such as Dhruv Rathee, Saket Gokhale, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra and others had blamed the Yogi Government for the goof up. This left people speculating whether it was a deliberate hitjob against the Yogi Government ahead of the assembly elections in the state. Some were convinced that it was done intentionally. From the statement of Indian Express, it is clear that the Uttar Pradesh Government had nothing to do with the advertisement. The entire advertorial, with its goof ups, was prepared by the marketing department of the newspaper. Despite this, Sandy Saha went ahead to mock the UP government.
