Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed a public rally at Barasat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, where Sandeshkhali is situated, after inaugurating India's first underwater Metro section between Howrah Maidan and Kolkata's Esplanade on Wednesday.
Raising the Sandeshkhali issue, Modi alleged that atrocities against women are being committed in West Bengal under the Trinamool Congress rule. "Whatever happened in Sandeshkhali is a matter of shame. The TMC government is trying to protect the person responsible for this. However, they have received a setback from the high court as well as the Supreme Court… The storm of Sandeshkhali will reach every part of West Bengal," Modi said at a 'Nari Shakti Vandan Abhinandan' programme in Barasat where thousands of women gathered.
A large number of women in Sandeshkhali have claimed that suspended TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his "gang" captured swathes of land by force, besides "sexually harassing" them. Shajahan Sheikh has been arrested by the Bengal police.
Modi arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday evening and headed straight to Raj Bhawan, where he stayed the night, a senior state BJP leader said.
{{/usCountry}}Modi arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday evening and headed straight to Raj Bhawan, where he stayed the night, a senior state BJP leader said.
{{/usCountry}}On Wednesday morning, he inaugurated the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of Kolkata Metro's East-West Metro corridor, a part of which runs under the Hooghly River. The PM also inaugurated the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and the Taratala-Majerhat Metro sections, besides other projects.
Later in the afternoon, he headed to Barasat to address a public rally.
At the rally, Modi yet again hit out at the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav over his remarks on the prime minister's family. The RJD is part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc.
"The leaders of the INDI alliance have gone crazy as the NDA is certain to return to power. Therefore, they have started abusing Modi. The corrupt leaders of the INDI alliance are asking about my family and saying that I am against familism because I don't have a family. They want to know about my family. They, however, should come here. My sisters who are attending this programme are 'Modi ka parivar'," said Modi.
Addressing the women, the PM said, “Whenever Modi goes through any suffering, then women shield me from it. The women of Bengal become Goddess Durga for me. Today, every countrymen is calling himself/ herself ‘Modi ka parivar’.”
Last week, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said that if the "tortured women" express their willingness to meet the prime minister, the party would facilitate a meeting.
Last week, Modi addressed two rallies in West Bengal, one each at Arambagh in Hooghly district and Krishnanagar in Nadia district.
He had launched a no-holds-barred attack against the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government over "atrocities on women" in Sandeshkhali and said that the entire country is seething with anger over the issue, and called upon people to ensure her party's defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.