Why did TMC MP Sagarika Ghose label a Bangladeshi woman shoplifter as Indian?

New Delhi: Former journalist and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose surged to the top of X’s trending topics in India on Wednesday amid accusations of spreading misinformation.

The controversy erupted over a viral video of a woman caught shoplifting at a Target store in the United States, which Ghose and others linked to an “Indian woman” and used to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

However, fact-checks quickly identified the woman as Rabeya Sultana, a Bangladeshi national, in a case dating back to July 2024, not a recent incident involving an Indian citizen.

Ghose, known for her sharp critiques of the BJP and her transition from journalism to politics, has faced fierce condemnation.

The controversy began on November 3, 2025, when a video from CrimeTimeCam, a YouTube channel documenting arrests, resurfaced online, showing a woman attempting to steal clothes worth over $500 from a Target store in Illinois.

The footage, originally posted in July 2024, captured the suspect’s arrest after she allegedly tried to flee, claiming she had “forgotten” to pay.

Enter Ghose. Drawing from a misleading Times of India article that referenced the clip alongside a separate, confirmed case of an Indian tourist’s shoplifting in New York, Ghose shared a post on X, framing it as emblematic of a “crisis of ethics” under Modi’s leadership.

She tied the incident to broader accusations of moral decay fostered by the BJP, suggesting the woman’s actions reflected a national ethical lapse.

In a blistering attack, commentator Anand Ranganathan alleged “glaring hypocrisy” by TMC MP Sagarika Ghose. He said she has maintained a “deafening silence” on escalating atrocities against women in West Bengal.

He cited incidents including Taliban-style public whippings of women in Murshidabad in October 2025, the gang rape at RG Kar Medical College in August 2024, and UAPA charges against journalists such as Sharmistha Panoli for criticising the TMC.

Ranganathan argued that, despite this, Ghose quickly pinned a petty US shoplifting case on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies. He said she falsely branded the suspect, Bangladeshi national Rabeya Sultana, as Indian and framed it as an “ethical crisis” in the BJP.

He added that official US police reports swiftly dismantled that narrative.

Women in Bengal are being whipped Taliban style, gang raped inside hospitals, hounded for their journalism - and not a squeak - but some random woman is caught shoplifting in some random country and Sagarika Ghose is quick to blame Modi.

My views on the hypocrisy of the TMC: pic.twitter.com/rCSxVlIpqs

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 4, 2025

Ghose’s controversial record

This isn’t Ghose’s first brush with X firestorms. The 58-year-old, who joined the TMC in 2021 after decades at CNN-IBN and authored books like Indira: India’s Most Powerful PM, has long been a polarising figure. Critics accuse her of anti-BJP bias bordering on “Modi-phobia,” while admirers praise her as a liberal voice against authoritarianism.

Past incidents include:

2017 Yogi Adityanath tweet: Ghose faced legal threats for allegedly defaming Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath with unverified claims, leading to a police case for “fake news.”

Communal discord post: She deleted a tweet claiming “Muslims are being killed all over India,” sparking FIR threats and accusations of inciting riots.

2012 “Ugly Indian men” gaffe: A tweet calling Indian men “ugly” went viral, turning her into a meme and trending topic for days.

Rajya Sabha hypocrisy claims: Upon her 2024 TMC nomination, old tweets surfaced where she vowed never to accept a political ticket, which critics called a betrayal of journalism ethics.

Ghose has often hit back, labelling critics “troll armies” and describing online abuse as “the social media version of gang-rape.”

In a June 2025 column, she critiqued the Modi government as embodying “Misinformation, Opacity, Distractions, Incompetence” (M-O-D-I), a piece that drew both applause and backlash.