The Sandeshkhali issue has shown that it is only the Bharatiya Janata Party that can emerge as the true voice of women of West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said addressing a ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Abhinandan’ programme in Barasat.
Launching a blistering attack against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the Prime Minister accused the state government of protecting those responsible for the sexual assault against women and land-grabbing.
“Under TMC, women of this pious land have been violated. The events of Sandeshkhali would make anyone feel ashamed but the TMC govt does not care about your struggles. TMC govt is hell-bent on saving the perpetrator. Their acts were first condemned by the High Court and then the Supreme Court as well. Leaders of TMC are torturing the women of poor, Dalit, and Adivasis groups. TMC govt trusts its leaders more than it trusts the women of Bengal,” PM Modi said.
“The Mamata government cannot protect the women of the state… The storm from Sandeshkhali has awakened the women of West Bengal. Sandeshkhali has proven to the women of Bengal that only the BJP can emerge as their voice against this oppressive regime,” he said, adding that women’s security and empowerment are “Modi’s guarantee”.
Modi further said that the Mamata government has “eclipsed the development” of West Bengal. “The ‘Nari Shakti’ of West Bengal must unite to defeat the INDI alliance,” he added.
“The TMC government, working under the pressure of appeasement and touts, can never provide security to its sisters and daughters. On the other hand, there is the BJP central government, which has made arrangements for even the death penalty for serious crimes like rape and rape. A women’s helpline has been created so that sisters can easily complain in times of crisis. But the TMC government is not allowing this system to be implemented here. Such an anti-women TMC government can never do any good to women,” the PM said.
The Prime Minister’s visit comes amid an escalating row over the Sandeshkhali issue after the West Bengal police refused to hand over the custody of local strongman Shahjahan Sheikh, the prime accused in the attack on a team of the Enforcement Directorate during a raid at his residence on January 5 this year. He was arrested on February 29 after a massive uproar that saw women of Sandeshkhali accuse Shahjahan and other TMC members of sexual assault and land grabbing.
On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court ordered that the case be transferred from the CID of West Bengal to the Central Bureau of Investigation along with the custody of Shahjahan Sheikh. While the CBI has taken over the probe in the case of assault against ED officers, the Bengal police refused to hand over Shahjahan to the CBI, stating that the state government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order.