Mamata Banerjee says Bengal safest for women, day after PM Modi’s attack over Sandeshkhali
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spreading false information about Sandeshkhali, where women have accused TMC leaders of sexually abusing them, and asserted that the state is the safest place in the country for women.
Banerjee, who is also the chairperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) made the remarks while addressing a TMC Mahila Wing Rally in Kolkata.
“Some people are spreading fake information about Sandeshkhali. BJP leaders are spreading canards about the safety of women in West Bengal but they maintain a stoic silence when women are tortured in BJP-ruled states,” Banerjee was quoted as saying by PTI. “West Bengal is the safest state in the country for women,” she said.
Mamata Banerjee’s remarks come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the TMC over the alleged sexual assaults in Sandeshkhali saying that the women’s rage will not be confined in Sandeshkhali and will sweep through West Bengal.
“TMC has committed a grave sin by torturing mothers and sisters. Anybody’s head will hang in shame after seeing what happened in Sandeshkhali. But the TMC is not bothered about your pain. The TMC government is using its full strength to shield the culprits. But the state government first got a shock from the high court and then the Supreme Court,” Modi said.
In Thursday’s speech, she also criticised former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who joined the BJP earlier today.
“We will ensure your defeat no matter from where you contest in the Lok Sabha polls,” Banerjee said.
She also accused the former high court judge of “taking away jobs of thousands of youths” through his judgements. “The youths will not forgive you. All your judgments are under question. We will ensure your defeat,” she alleged.
Sandeshkhali case
The island village of Sandeshkhali in the North 24 Parganas district has been in the eye of the storm since January 5, when ED officers arrived to search the home of Shahjahan, a close aide of former minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, who was arrested in October last year in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam. The ED team came under attack from an angry mob, leaving three officers injured.
On February 7, other violent protests began erupting in Sandeshkhali and other nearby villages, with groups of residents led mostly by local women, alleging sexual harassment at the hands of local TMC leaders including Sheikh Shahjahan, his brother Sirajuddin, and other associates Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar. Other villages have claimed that Shahjahan and his associates also indulged in landgrab.
Shahjahan, a former TMC zila parishad leader, was arrested by the state police on the orders of the high court on February 29. The CID later took over the investigation.
On Wednesday, Shahjahan, was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the state police on the orders of the Calcutta high court.