BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on February 23, launched a scathing attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the Sandeshkhali issue, saying the land of the brave, West Bengal, from where the first cries of the struggle for India’s independence were heard, is now echoing with the cries of tortured, grieving and completely broken women.
“The land of the brave, West Bengal, from where the first cries of the struggle for India’s independence were heard, where Surya Sen, Subhash Chandra Bose and others fought, and where both Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana were written, is now echoing with the cries of tortured, grieving and completely broken women,” he said during a press conference here.
“And the sad part is that the government there is taking an extremely insensitive and inhumane, even threatening, attitude towards this issue,” he added. He also accused the West Bengal SIT of pressuring the women to not pursue the matter instead of giving them justice.
“The sad thing is that such things have come to light. Instead of giving justice to the tortured women, the West Bengal SIT is trying to somehow pressurise them so that they do not take the matter further,” he said.
He also accused the West Bengal Government of not only threatening the media but also filing an FIR against them. “Today, the BJP Mahila Morcha President, our West Bengal Mahila Padadhikari, Mahila Sansad and Vidhayak were stopped from going there. Yesterday, our State BJP Chief Sukanta Majumdar was forcibly prevented from going there. And now the government has imposed Section 144 there. And not only that, the media people who are reporting are not only being threatened but FIRs are also being filed against them,” he said.
Trivedi added that criminalisation of politics in West Bengal is far more extensive and concerning than anything seen before in India. “The case of inciting violence against the police (Shahjahan Sheikh) and the case of sexual assault against women are both related to them. Additionally, they are also implicated in the case of usurping tribal lands. In my opinion, safeguarding such multifaceted criminal elements might be rare in Indian politics. You must have seen the criminalization of politics but such a type of multidimensional criminalization of politics and its subsequent political patronage and protection are unprecedented in Indian history,” he said.
The Sandeshkhali area has been witnessing unrest for over 10 days as women protestors are seeking justice against alleged atrocities committed by TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides. A large number of women in Sandeshkhali had accused Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of “land-grab and sexually assaulting” them under coercion.
The Kolkata Police on Friday stopped and detained BJP MP Locket Chatterjee when she, along with other party leaders, were on their way to trouble-torn Sandeshkhali. Meanwhile, a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team reached the Sandeshkhali area on Friday to ascertain facts through a “spot- inquiry” into the incidents of violence in the North 24 Parganas islands and meet the victims.
The Commission has observed that the recent incidents in Sandeshkhali, as have been reported in various print and electronic media, indicate a prima facie violation of human rights, shocking the conscience.
Earlier on February 20, the NHRC issued a notice to the DGP directing him to submit a report within two weeks in a case where a journalist of a news channel was detained by police in Sandeshkhali.
The Commission also asked its DIG (investigation) to find out the facts by telephone and submit his findings to the Commission within a week.
(with inputs from ANI)
