Mamata ‘conspired’ for arrest of Sandeshkhali women before LS polls: Suvendu

West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday (December 31) held a rally at the same place in Sandeshkhali as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did the day before and accused her government of framing “false charges” against local women for protesting against alleged misdeeds by TMC leaders.

Addressing a public meeting on the island, situated on the borders of the Sundarbans, in North 24-Parganas district, Adhikari described Mamata as a person “with mischievous intent”.

The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly vowed to constitute an inquiry commission to probe the alleged atrocities committed by local TMC leaders if the BJP comes to power in the 2026 Assembly polls.

“Women slapped with false charges”

“Mamata Banerjee had conspired for the arrest of mothers and sisters at Sandeshkhali before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. They were slapped with false charges and arrested for protesting against the atrocities by local TMC strongmen like Shahjahan Sheikh. You (Mamata Banerjee) will face action for abetting such oppression if the BJP comes to power,” Adhikari said.

Also read: Mamata hits out at BJP’s ‘fake news’ campaign during Sandeshkhali visit

Sandeshkhali saw large-scale protests in early 2024 over alleged land-grabbing and sexual harassment of women by local TMC leaders.

CM’s message on Sandehskhali violence

On her first visit to Sandeshkhali since protests erupted over alleged atrocities by local TMC leaders, Mamata on Monday asked locals not to pay anyone to enjoy the benefits of state-run schemes.

She was visiting the island to chair a public distribution programme.

The CM also urged local women not to pay attention if anyone called them for any reason and alleged that a huge amount of money was used to flare up the protest in Sandeshkhali.

Suvendu’s Hindu-Muslim equation claims

Adhikari claimed that the TMC managed to win the Basirhat Lok Sabha Seat, of which Sandeshkhali is an Assembly segment, “because of Muslim votes”.

“The BJP, however, was ahead in the Sandeshkhali Assembly segment. The results of the next Assembly elections in Sandeshkhali will be in the BJP’s favour as Hindus have already consolidated. They witnessed persecution by the TMC and would vote collectively against the ruling party,” he claimed.

Adhikari also said the BJP had won from Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly polls and from Tamluk in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections “with consolidated Hindu votes”, and asserted that this “momentum will continue”.

Also read: Sandeshkhali: SC rejects Bengal plea against High Court fiat to CBI

TMC’s “unfair electoral practices”

Accusing the TMC of resorting to “unfair electoral practices”, he claimed that the nomination paper of the late TMC MP from Basirhat, Hazi Sk Nurul Islam, was fraught with “flaws” and Rekha Patra, the BJP candidate from the area in Lok Sabha polls, lodged a complaint with the Election Commission.

Adhikari also blamed the TMC regime for “growing unemployment” in the state, claiming that there are “around two crore unemployed people in Bengal at present”.

He accused the state government of changing the names of central projects like the PM Awas Yojana, and alleged that the people of the state were deprived of financial aid under these schemes.

“TMC used fake videos”

Adhikari also alleged that the “TMC took the help of its hired people to launch fake videos and implicate simple and innocent people of Sandeshkhali”.

“A huge amount of cash was spent for that agenda,” the BJP leader claimed.

Also read: Bengal: Narratives fail to play out as TMC hands down humiliating defeat to BJP

In January 2024, ED officers were assaulted and their vehicles damaged when they went to the residence of now-suspended TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan in Sandeshkhali to conduct a raid in connection with a multi-crore ration distribution scam.

Subsequently, several women in the area claimed that Shahjahan and his men had captured swathes of land and sexually harassed them.

(With agency inputs)