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3 TMC ministers meet residents of Sandeshkhali, CM targets BJP
A six-member BJP panel, headed by Union minister Annapurna Devi, was stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali by the administration
Three West Bengal ministers on Sunday rushed to Sandeshkhali, which has been witnessing violent protests since early this month against allegations of sexual atrocities on women and land grabbing by local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, to speak to the residents about their grievances, even as chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for trying to create disturbance in the state.
After meeting aggrieved people who assembled at Kalinagar village, fire services minister Sujit Bose, irrigation minister Partha Bhowmick and forest minister Birbaha Hansda said the ruling TMC will raise money and compensate those who have suffered losses because of local party leaders. Sandeshkhali’s TMC legislator Sukumar Mahata also accompanied them.
“We are here to listen to the grievances and also meet our local leaders,” Bose said, and claimed that allegations have come from a few places in Sandeshkhali, which has 16 panchayat areas. “We are not trying to muzzle anyone’s voice; the accused persons have been arrested.”
The state land department also opened camps to register the complaints of villagers about alleged land grabbing by some local TMC leaders. Several farmers have alleged their land were forcefully grabbed and turned into salt water fisheries over the last decade, making the soil unfit for conventional farming.
Since police have clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), barring assembly of five or more people, at 19 locations in Sandeshkhali, the ministers said they met the villagers at Kalingar, where the order was not in force.
A six-member BJP panel, headed by Union minister Annapurna Devi, was stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali by the administration, citing prohibitory orders.
Sandeshkhali, an assembly constituency comprising 16 village panchayats in North 24 Parganas district, has been witnessing tensions since January 5, when an Enforcement Directorate team that arrived to raid TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan’s house in connection with a money-laundering case was attacked by a mob. Even as Shahjahan has evaded arrest, since February 7, villagers led by local women have held violent protests against alleged sexual harassment and exploitation by local TMC leaders.
So far, 18 people, including local TMC leader Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, both members of zilla parishad, have been arrested in connection with various cases registered over complaints of sexual assault, land grabbing, attempt to murder and inciting violence in Sandeshkhali.
Hazra, a village panchayat member who was arrested on Saturday evening, was remanded in police custody till February 26 by the Barasat court on Sunday. “Hazra has been charged with gangrape, attempt to murder and molestation,” Arun Pal, the public prosecutor, told reporters.
A crowd assembled outside the court premises demanded arrest of Shahjahan, TMC’s Sandeshkhali unit chief, who was defended by chief minister Banerjee a few days ago.
Local women, most of whom belong to scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) communities, have accused Hazra and Sardar of exploitation and torture. Both are known to be close aides of Shahjahan.
Meanwhile, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the BJP of orchestrating the incident in Sandeshkhali with the help of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Speaking at a government event in Birbhum district, the TMC chief said that not a single woman in Sandeshkhali has lodged any first information report (FIR).
“Not a single woman (from Sandeshkhali) has lodged any FIR. It was me who directed the police to lodge a suo motu case. Our block president has been arrested,” Banerjee said. “The entire incident was engineered. First, they (BJP) sent ED to Sandeshkhali and then the BJP entered the area.”
She added that if “anyone complained that money was taken from them, then we will return it. But nobody has made such an allegation.”
National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma is scheduled to visit Sandeshkhali on Monday.
Rejecting Banerjee’s allegations, state BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “The arrest of Shibaprasad Hazra proves that rape and molestation took place. If TMC is talking of returning money, then it is evident that extortion and land grabbing took place at random.”
