Sandeshkhali Horror: Will it be Mamata’s Nandigram moment?

“West Bengal is the safest state in the country for women.” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had the gall to make this statement following the painful outcry of hundreds of women of Sandeshkhali who said they were being sexually abused over the last several years by TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his goons.

For Mamata Banerjee it’s convenient to give a political colour to the uproar over Sandeshkhali – or shall we say that’s the only safety valve she can hope to give to her government. If the issue turns into a “BJP versus TMC” slugfest, Mamata hopes it will deflect people’s attention and they will not register the sheer sexual and human rights abuses happening with impunity and immunity in her state – to which she has been turning a blind eye ever since she got the CM chair.

Local sources tell us that Sandeshkhali is not the only locality in West Bengal afflicted in this manner. There are many more Sheikh Shahjahans and Sandeshkhalis in other areas of the state, especially the 14 assembly segments bordering Bangladesh. If the uprising of Sandeshkhali gets replicated in other areas too, and if more victim faces manage to come forward and expose their abusers, Mamata will be left with no trace of political credibility whatsoever.

In nurturing and protecting the likes of Shahjahan Sheikh, Mamata Banerjee might have made her biggest political mistake yet

Her political survival is at stake, which is why Mamata has hit the panic mode, lest Sandeshkhali turns out to be her Nandigram moment.

In nurturing and protecting the likes of Shahjahan Sheikh, Mamata Banerjee might have made her biggest political mistake yet. Her actions – of allowing Shahjahan’s goons to attack Enforcement Directorate officials at his premises in Sandeshkhali, of then sheltering him for 55 days, of ‘arresting’ him only when things got too hot, of resisting his CBI custody till the last possible minute – are all indications of a panicking leader who feels the situation is fast slipping out of her hand.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out the TMC government’s “sins” at Barasat in 24 North Paraganas, the same district as Sandeshkhali, Mamata did a ‘Mahilader Adhikar’ (women rights) rally in Kolkata where she made statements like “Some people are spreading canards about Sandeshkhali” and “Bengal is the safest place for women”.

One wonders why Mamata has not visited Sandeshkhali till now? If all the charges are ‘canards’, surely she should be able to prove her government’s innocence better from Ground Zero!

Women form a formidable chunk of voters anywhere, and in Bengal the Trinamool Congress has used it as a support base through schemes such as Kanyashri, Rupashree and Lakshmir Bhandar. Now the possibility that stares TMC in the face is that the Sandeshkhali episode can rip apart the trust of this voter chunk, giving it a big blow in the coming Lok Sabha elections, with a ripple effect later.

THE CUSTODY DRAMA

The ED has alleged that the Bengal police arrested Shahjahan Sheikh in the ED case even though he has 40 other cases against him so that the custody does not go to the CBI.

The Calcutta High Court had directed that the CBI be handed over the case of attack on ED officials and the custody of Shahjahan Sheikh, while slamming the Mamata government for “protecting” the accused. “There can be no better case than the case on hand which requires to be transferred to be investigated by CBI,” a high court division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam ruled. The HC also came down heavily on the West Bengal Police, calling it “totally biased”.

Within hours of the HC order, the TMC government challenged the order in the Supreme Court. And it was none other than Congress leader and Bengal government’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi who took the matter to the highest court. The Supreme Court, however, refused an urgent hearing of the matter and asked the state to mention the case before the Registrar General.

Even then, it was a very reluctant Mamata Government that handed over Shahjahan’s custody to the CBI. The high court even issued a notice of contempt and asked the Criminal Investigation Department of Bengal Police to file an affidavit within two weeks for not obeying its orders within the stipulated time.

Mamata’s reluctance was puzzling, to say the least. Why would a government go to such lengths to protect an accused? Why not let the law take its course? Or will Shahjahan’s custody with central law agencies spill such beans that could threaten Mamata government’s very existence?

PM MODI’S MESSAGE

“The sandesh (message) of Sandeshkhali will not go khali (empty/in vain)”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi roared at a rally of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha in Barasat, in the same district as Sandeshkhali. At an earlier public meet at Arambagh in Hooghly district, he had said: “The entire country is reeling with anger after seeing what TMC has done to the sisters of Sandeshkhali.”

The land of Bengal has been the inspiration of women’s power (Nari Shakti), the PM said. Bengal’s women power has given a direction to the country, he said while naming many historical lady legends from the state. “But, in this land, under the Trinamool rule, women have suffered atrocities. Trinamool has committed a grave sin. What happened in Sandeshkhali would make anyone hang their head in shame. But the TMC government doesn’t care about your pain. It is using all its might to protect the oppressor of Bengali women.”

The PM pulled no punches when he lashed out at the mahila-virodhi (anti-women) model of TMC governance, under the leadership of a woman CM.

After the public meeting, the Prime Minister met a few women from Sandeshkhali who shared with him the atrocities they have been experiencing and later expressed happiness that the PM listened to them like a fatherly figure.

News agency ANI quoted a Sandeshkhali victim who said: “Thanking Prime Minister Modi, we told him openly about the atrocities being committed on every person. We told the Prime Minister how we were tortured… He assured us of help… We voted the Chief Minister to victory but she insulted us… She did not even talk to us… We felt very good after talking to PM Modi… We requested him to deploy the Central Force here because we have no faith in the state government.”

A local from Sandeshkhali told the media on camera earlier: “We are going to PM Modi to urge him to ensure that we can cast our vote, justice for atrocities against women and peace.”

Here we need to remember that when local BJP leader Pradip Mondol was murdered in the 2019 post-poll violence, the initial police complaint had Shahjahan’s name. But when the chargesheet was filed in court, his name had been dropped.

Such was Shahjahan’s clout that TMC candidates who contested from Sandeshkhali assembly constituency often won unopposed or with margins as high as 95 per cent. The constituency comprises two blocks – Sandeshkhali 1 and Sandeshkhali 2 – in North 24 Parganas district.

QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS

We have been watching scores of women on camera sharing their plight openly, naming the culprits. Many of us mediapersons have personally met or spoken to the victim women – their narration of what they’ve been going through at the hands of TMC goons is heart rending.

The questions that arise are: Why is the TMC government so hell bent on giving Sheikh Shahjahan a clean chit in the face of so many open charges against him? Why hasn’t Mamata made any effort to personally meet the women of Sandeshkhali? If the Bengal police were not listening to the locals’ complaints, did they have orders to protect Shahjahan and his men? What is the basis of Shahjahan’s clout that he could walk into police custody after his so-called ‘arrest’ as if he’s the lord and master of all he surveys?

A local from Sandeshkhali told the media on camera: “We are going to PM Modi to urge him to ensure that we can cast our vote, justice for atrocities against women and peace

In October last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested West Bengal Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in a case relating to irregularities in the State’s public distribution system.

The ED, in a prosecution complaint filed before a court in Kolkata, mentioned cash transactions worth crores of rupees into the accounts of family members of the arrested minister, three fake companies and a “maroon colour diary” with details of financial transactions with the minister. The maroon diary was found with date-wise details of receipt of cash in huge amounts, as per ED document.

A day after the arrest of the minister, the Trinamool Congress leadership brought out protest rallies in different parts of the State in his support. Mamata is reported to have told her Cabinet during a meeting that Jyoti Priya Mallick “is innocent and is being falsely framed in the case”.

The West Bengal government makes it a habit of trying to protect those among its cadre who are accused of serious crimes. The key question that comes to mind is: Why not let the law take its own course? Is there more to this than meets the eye?