Bengal tribal women allegedly forced to perform dandavat parikrama, BJP criticises

The BJP claimed that around 200 tribal women from Tapan in South Dinajpur district had joined the party on Thursday. Four of them, however, yielded to the TMC’s alleged threats and returned to the ruling party following which they were forced to perform the parikrama

A video purportedly showing three women performing a “dandavat parikrama” has become the latest flashpoint between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its main opposition the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee (File Photo)

While the BJP alleged that it was an insult to the tribal community as the tribal women were forced by the TMC to perform the dandavat parikrama at South Dinajpur in north Bengal for joining the BJP, leaders of the ruling TMC countered that the women did it on their own as an atonement after realising their fault and returned to the TMC within 24 hours of joining the BJP.

“TMC has time and again insulted tribal people. This takes it even higher. This is highly condemnable. We firmly stand with our karyakartas (workers) and will do everything to protect them,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar wrote on Twitter.

People familiar with the matter said that the women had quit the TMC on Thursday to join the BJP, however, returned to the TMC the next day and were seen performing the dandavat parikrama on the road in the evening.

“Some people came and forced us to join the BJP. We came back home and couldn’t sleep the whole night. We would never leave Mamata Banerjee. We would remain with her forever. We performed the parikrama as atonement. We would never commit such a mistake again,” one of the tribal women told local reporters.

The BJP claimed that around 200 tribal women from Tapan in South Dinajpur district had joined the party on Thursday. Four of them, however, yielded to the TMC’s alleged threats and returned to the ruling party following which they were forced to perform the parikrama.

“These Tribal women (Martina Kisku, Shiuli Mardi, Thakran Soren and Malati Murmu) doing Dandavat Parikrama are residents of Balurghat. This is not a religious ritual but a punishment meted out by local TMC leaders because they joined the BJP. WB is in ruins under Mamata Banerjee,” Amit Malviya, in charge of BJP’s IT cell and co-in-charge of West Bengal, wrote on Twitter.

Earlier this week while addressing a political rally in East Midnapore, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the BJP has managed to “purchase” a few tribal people to join the party.

Pradipta Chakraborty, a TMC women-wing leader from South Dinajpur, told the media: “It feels so good to see that the village women, within a few hours of joining the BJP, have understood their fault and have returned to the TMC. Good sense has prevailed.”

The BJP while claiming that it is an insult to the tribal community has urged tribal communities to protest. The party also staged a demonstration outside the local police station in South Dinajpur.

The crucial panchayat poll, to be held in the next few months, is being considered a litmus test for all political parties in the state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.