The BJP State Chief for West Bengal, Sukanta Majumdar, was released from Apollo Hospital in Kolkata on February 17. Majumdar was admitted to the hospital after he was injured during a police lathi charge as a scuffle broke out between police and party workers in Basirhat on February 14.
Earlier, on February 14, the BJP state president lost consciousness during a scuffle that broke out between security forces and party supporters while he was leading a sit-in protest against the prevailing situation in Sandeshkhali.
After he fell unconscious, the Balurghat MP was taken to a hospital in Basirhat, where he was put on oxygen support. He was later shifted to a private hospital in Kolkata, where he had been kept in the ICU.
Women in Sandeshkhali have been up in arms over the last few days over alleged atrocities committed against them by TMC leader Sheikh Shajahan and his aides. A six-member delegation of the BJP, constituted by the party’s national president, JP Nadda, and comprised of Union Ministers and MPs, was stopped by the police in West Bengal on February 16 during their visit to Sandeshkhali.
The delegation had been tasked with gathering facts on the alleged incidents of sexual harassment and violence against women in Sandeshkhali. The six-member team included party leaders Annapurna Devi, Pratima Bhowmik, Sunita Duggal, Kavita Patidar, Sangeeta Yadav and Brij Lal. BJP leader Agnimitra Paul accompanied the delegation to Sandeshkhali.
Meanwhile, the BJP delegation, met West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose after being stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali on February 17, asfter their meeting, a member of the delegation said they would personally interact with the women protesters in the area after securing permission from the Supreme Court.
“Today, we had to return after being blocked midway into our journey to Sandeshkhali. We will move a petition in the Supreme Court, urging that we be allowed to go to Sandeshkhali. We will definitely go there. The way women, children and newlywed brides have been tortured in Sandeshkhali by TMC goons and the police will be highlighted. They will get justice,” Annapurna Devi, a member of the BJP delegation, told reporters after visiting the Governor on February 16.
BJP leader Agnimitra Paul, who was also a member of the delegation, claimed that Union Ministers such as Annapurna Devi and Pratima Bhowmik were heckled while on their way to Sandeshkhali on February 16.
“We spoke about the injustice that was meted out to us. Our Union ministers, including Annapurna Devi and Pratima Bhowmik, were heckled today and the media was not allowed to visit there. We complained about all this to the Governor,” Paul told media.
Veteran actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mithun Chakraborty on February 16, lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government in connection with the Sandeshkhali incident and said political parties need to transcend their differences in addressing atrocities.
“There couldn’t be a more disgusting thing than this. With women, you’re playing such a kind of game? This is unbelievable. We all do politics, but this is beyond politics. This shouldn’t happen. We all have the responsibility to raise our voices and to make sure that they don’t have to suffer this plight,” he said.
(with inputs from ANI)
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