Kolkata: The West Bengal Police on Friday blocked teams from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress from entering strife-torn Sandeshkhali village, where women have accused some local leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress of torturing and exploiting them.
Police cited prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) -- which bans the assembly of four or more persons at one place -- to stop the BJP and Congress teams at Rampur, around two kilometres from Sandeshkhali.
The BJP team was formed by party chief JP Nadda on Friday and comprised six members. It was stopped around 11 am.
The Congress team was led by state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and was stopped around 3 pm
“You saw how the TMC and BJP played the communal card to secure seats in the 2021 assembly polls in Bengal. This card is being played again at Sandeshkhali. Forget President’s Rule, the BJP will not even declare this region a disturbed area,” said Chowdhury. Imposition of President’s rule was recommended by a National Commission of Scheduled Caste team that visited Sandeshkhali on Thursday.
The BJP team, led by Union minister of state for education Annapurna Devi, returned to Kolkata and met governor C V Ananda Bose, who visited Sandeshkhali on February 12.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP team, led by Union minister of state for education Annapurna Devi, returned to Kolkata and met governor C V Ananda Bose, who visited Sandeshkhali on February 12.
{{/usCountry}}“We interacted with some of the village women over video call. The TMC government has failed to protect the dignity of women. This cannot be tolerated in a democratic country,” Annapurna Devi told reporters.
The developments came even as the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the assembly, moved the Calcutta high court, seeking deployment of central paramilitary forces in the region and permission to enter the affected villages later this month. Adhikari was stopped from entering the village on Thursday, as was Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday.
Sandeshkhali, an assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, has been roiled by tensions since January 7, when an Enforcement Directorate team that arrived to raid TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan’s house in connection with the public distribution system scam 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 harassment and exploitation by local TMC leaders.
Shahjahan is charged with a host of offences ranging from money laundering to harassment. He is absconding.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has blamed the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the tensions, saying her government was investigating complaints that emerged from the violence-hit region, and asserting she has “never tolerated injustice in her life”.
Local women - many of whom belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities - allege that zilla parishad members Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, and Shahjahan exploited them.
The police arrested Uttam Sardar on February 10, shortly after TMC expelled him for six years. Bikash Sinha, a local BJP leader, and Nirapada Sardar, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s former Sandeshkhali legislator, were also arrested. All three have been charged with inciting violence.
The TMC has refuted the allegations.
“Chowdhury’s party failed to win a single assembly seat in 2021. His allegations are based on his fear of being routed in the Lok Sabha polls,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
An ally of the Congress, the CPI(M) did not support the demand for President’s Rule, saying it violated people’s rights. “Even the Supreme Court has made observations against the imposition of central rule in many of its judgements,” CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.