Sandeshkhali row: Here's how BJP is keeping Trinamool on its toes

Sandeshkhali row: BJP chief JP Nadda had sent an all-woman high-level team to Sandeshkhali.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that BJP is behind the massive controversy over sexual exploitation allegations from Sandeshkhali. However, the BJP is all out to ensure that the Sandeshkhali pot remains boiling and the Trinamool Congress remains on the edge. Protests have erupted in Sandeshkhali since February 8 after some women from the region claimed that Trinamool strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides have been sexually harassing them for many years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address a mega rally in Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, on March 7.  Situated about 75 km away from Kolkata, Sandeshkhali falls in the same district.  The PM is expected to be on a two-day trip. Over two lakh women are expected to join the rally where the PM may mention the Sandeshkhali row and send a strong message of support for the women of the state. According to reports, some victims of Sandeshkhali also may attend the rally.  PM Modi’s last visit to Bengal was over a year ago.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is also likely to visit the state on February 29.

Leader of Opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, reached Sandeshkhali on February 20 after he was initially stopped from entering the unrest-hit village.  The BJP MP had moved the Calcutta High Court on February 19 seeking permission. The court had allowed him to enter the region.  However, the state government moved the division bench of HC challenging the order of a single bench. But the division bench refused to interfere with the single bench order. The bench granted permission to Adhikari to enter Sandeshkhali. Section 144 was also imposed in the region again. “Mamata Banerjee will lose the Lok Sabha elections and that is why she is doing all this. She has not done any development work...They will not arrest (Sheikh Shahjahan) because they need goons during elections and they have given him protection,” he told ANI. Several women in Sandeshkhali have accused local Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his supporters of land grab and sexual assault. Sheikh has absconded.

On February 19, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee claimed that what happened to women in Sandeshkhali was a reminder of atrocities against women in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan. “Mamata Banerjee has not given a single statement till now. Shahjahan Sheikh is still absconding. The police are not able to track him down. Mamata Banerjee said no FIR has been filed. Why? Because the police did not file any case. The police administration has become TMC’s office,” she alleged.

Earlier, Bengal BJP chief Susanta Majumdar took a local train after being stopped from entering the village and sat on a dharna. He was detained and released later. He camped in a lodge in Taki overnight to again enter Sandeshkhali the next day. However, the BJP alleged attack by the cops and Majumdar sustained injuries.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh raised the issue at the national level in the presence of PM  Modi in Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam. He moved the political resolution at the BJP National Council Meet and termed Sandeshkhali crisis  a “stain on civilised society”.

While praising the Bengal BJP for raising the issue, Singh said, “Whatever has happened in Sandeshkhali and the bravery with which our workers are fighting against this oppression and tyranny, I want to congratulate them. I consider such incidents to be a stain on civilised society. This should be strongly condemned.”

Meanwhile, BJP chief JP Nadda sent an all-woman high-level team to the region.  But they were stopped from entering Sandeshkhali. The BJP team, led by Union Minister of State for Education, Annapurna Devi,  met Governor CV Ananda Bose in Kolkata.

Since it ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule in 2011, the Trinamool had made North 24-Parganas its turf. Even during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,  Trinamool’s  Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had  defeated BJP’s Mrinal Kanti Debnath in Barasat Lok Sabha seat.