On Friday (April 7) night, BJP (West Bengal) President Dr Sukanta Majumadar alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party forced four tribal women to do ‘Dandavat Parikrama’ for daring to join the saffron party.
He tweeted, “Martina Kisku, Shiuli Mardi, Thakran Soren and Malati Murmu, resident of Tapan Gofanagar, Tapan, joined BJP yesterday. They belong to ST community. Today, TMC goons forced them to return to TMC and punished them by asking to do Dandavat Parikrama.” Another woman
“TMC has time and again insulted tribal people. This takes it even higher. This is highly condemnable. We firmly stand with our karyakartas and will do everything to protect them,” he further added.
The tweet of Dr Sukanta Majumadar was accompanied by a 27-second video of three women stretching on the road as if they were emulating the ‘Dandavat Parikrama.’
TMC has time and again insulted tribal people. This takes it even higher. This is highly condemnable. We firmly stand with our karyakartas and will do everything to protect them.
— Dr. Sukanta Majumdar (@DrSukantaBJP) April 7, 2023
As per a report by TV9 Bangla, the incident occurred on Friday (April 7) in Balurghat in the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal. About 200 people had defected to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress on the previous day.
BJP leader Swarup Chowdhury accused the TMC leadership of successfully coercing 3-4 of the 200 party workers into joining the TMC again. “The way TMC leaders forced the women to rub their noses on the road for them to be accepted back into the party is highly shameful and insulting,” he said.
Chowdhury also vowed to approach the State Women’s Commission about the incident. This has led to a war of words between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. TMC leader Pradipta Chakraborty claimed that the women realised their mistake within 24 hours of joining the BJP, and therefore they returned to TMC the next day and performed the atonement by crawling on the ground and rubbing their noses on the ground. She said that the party will meet the others who joined BJP to convince them to rejoin TMC.
Pradipta Chakraborty also said that the people who joined the BJP on April 6 were not members of any political party but they were supporters of TMC, and BJP misled them into joining the party. “Some women, who were not affiliated with any political party but supported the Trinamool Congress were misled into joining the BJP. They later realised their mistake and performed ‘Dandavat Parikrama’ to repent for it,” she claimed.
Tribal woman claims she willingly performed Dandavat Parikrama
Meanwhile, one of the women, who was seen rubbing her nose on the road in the viral video, claimed that she acted out of her own accord. Martina Kisku told TV9 Bangla that she could not sleep all night after deserting the Trinamool Congress.
“After we joined BJP, we thought about our decision all night? We thought what did we do? It then dawned to us that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has provided us with several schemes such as Kanyashree, and Lakshmi Bhandar. We will not leave her and hence came back,” Hindustan Times Bangla quoted her as saying.
However, political circles in the district say that this was a ‘punishment’ by the TMC for the women for deserting the party and joining BJP.
