The unrest in Sandeshkhali village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal brought into focus the atrocities committed against women by former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides Shibu Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar.
Multiple women have come forward to narrate instances of land grabbing, and sexual violence perpetrated against them by the trio. Forced by circumstances, they took matters into their own hands and gheraoed the police station.
The agitation led by women eventually led to the arrest of the 3 TMC goons. On Sunday (24th March), the BJP announced Rekha Patra, a victim of TMC’s atrocities in Sandeshkhali, as the party candidate from the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.
The Trinamool Congress party, which had been trying to downplay the unrest in Sandeshkhali as a ‘minor incident‘ soon found itself on the back foot.
Soon after the candidature of Rekha Patra was announced, TMC leaders began to dismiss her as a ‘lightweight candidate’. Thereafter, they started sharing videos of some women in Sandeshkhali who were unhappy with the BJP candidate. “We will not accept Rekha Patra as our candidate,” the women were heard saying.
“রেখা পাত্র কে প্রার্থী, মানছি না, মানবো না”
— 𝐑𝐢𝐣𝐮 𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐚 (@DrRijuDutta_TMC) March 25, 2024
Tremendous Anger among the women of Sandeshkhali, against @BJP4Bengal Candidate of Basirhat – Rekha Patra.
Rekha Patra is a resident of “Patra Para” locality of Sandeshkhali. However, after her name was announced by BJP, the women of… pic.twitter.com/sdjo5hvslP
On Monday (25th March), TMC hopped on the opportunity to claim that there was no acceptance for Rekha Patra in the Basirhat constituency (which includes the Sandeshkhali village).
A day later, several women from Sandeshkhali came forward and said that they were brainwashed into opposing the candidature of the BJP leader.
“We apologise to Rekha didi for making distasteful remarks about you. Members of one party had instigated us against you,” a woman was heard saying.
TMC downplayed unrest in Sandeshkhali village
OpIndia had previously reported how the Trinamool Congress, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have left no stone unturned to trivialise the sexual violence committed against women in Sandeshkhali.
“An incident has happened or rather made to happen. First, they sent the ED, and then its friend BJP came entered the scene. After that, some media houses capitalised on the incident. Made a hue and cry out of a minor incident (Til ke Taal)”, Mamata Banerjee said on 18th February this year.
After trivialising the seriousness of the matter, she ‘promised’ to send officers to Sandeshkhali to listen to the grievances of the villagers. This was despite the fact that the victims had accused the police of being mute spectators.
#Important 🧵
— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) March 10, 2024
How Mamata Banerjee and the TMC ecosystem denied the sexual violence against women of Sandeshkhali by Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides.
On 18th Feb, the West Bengal CM dubbed the unrest in Sandeshkhali as a ‘minor incident’.
(1/n) pic.twitter.com/nLYP3Rkc9I
Besides Mamata Banerjee, TMC MLA Udayan Guha also attempted to downplay the sexual exploitation of women in Sandeshkhali as ‘eating pie (Pitha khaowa)’ and ‘mischief (Dushtami)’ on 29th February.
“I did not know that he liked to eat pie (referring to the sexual exploitation of women) at 12 o’clock in the night. I knew that desire for such mischiefs happen early or late in the night,” he had claimed.
TMC spokesperson Jui Biswas also sought to deny sexual violence in Sandeshkhali by demanding ‘video footage of rapes’ as proof. Journalist’ Sagarika Ghose, who was recently rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat by the TMC, also trivialised the raging unrest in Sandeshkhali village as a ‘local land dispute.’
While illegal land grabbing by the Trinamool Congress was one of the concerns of the villagers, it wasn’t the crux of the issue. Sagarika Ghose shrewdly dismissed key concerns of women’s safety and threats of gang rape received by the victims from her party leaders.
#WATCH | After interacting with the locals of Sandeshkhali, West Bengal Minister Partha Bhowmick says, "We have interacted with the locals today… Lands will be given back to those from whom it was snatched. The DM has also set up camps in several districts… No woman has… pic.twitter.com/bhLsNJtpVR
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2024
TMC Minister Partha Bhowmick had earlier tried to dismiss accusations of sexual violence by women of Sandeshkhali village as ‘fake.’ On 10th March, the actress turned TMC candidate from Hooghly, Rachna Banerjee, was seen casting aspersions on the sexual violence faced by women in Sandeshkhali.
“How do we know that those who are claiming to be victims are actually victims? I will have to first go and verify those (testimonies) and find whether such incidents (referring to sexual violence against Sandeshkhali women by TMC goons) have actually taken place,” she had said.
Recently, a video of Kolkata Mayor and Trinamool Congress MLA Firham Hakim doing whataboutery on the plight of women of Sandeshkhali village had surfaced on social media. While mocking the ordeal of women, he said, “Now, you know that one ‘khali’ is grabbing all headlines. What ‘Khali’? Ah, Sandeshkhali. It is everywhere.”
Rigged elections in Sandeshkhali
In February this year, at least 7 women from Sandeshkhali spoke on camera against the election fraud carried out by TMC workers in cahoots with polling officers and the police.
During an interview with TV9 Bangla, one woman recounted, “Before I go to the polling station, they tell me that my vote has been cast.” “If we go to the polling station, the polling officers put ink on our fingers and say that our vote has already been cast…”, another woman informed.
She added, “Men in the village cannot stay here at least 6 months (during to intimidation) before elections…Men dressed in police uniform have even threatened to destroy our homes if we cast votes.”
“They do not allow us to cast our votes,” one victim lamented. Another woman narrated, “Casting votes here is same as not casting your votes.”
Aarati Patra, who had filed nomination papers from the BJP, informed TV9 Bangla, “They warned me that if I contest elections, then, they will beat me with sticks and spades. There are 3 primary goons (Sheikh Shahjahan, Uttam Sardar, Shibu Hazra) but they have a lot of followers.”
“There is no voting here. They would threaten people and forcibly take them to the polling station and put ink on their fingers,” she added.
One woman informed, “Even if police are present at the polling station, they do not tell them (TMC goons) anything. They instead work as cadres of the party,”
Another woman said that her family members were sent ‘funeral essentials’ after deciding to contest the Panchayat elections. “One of my uncles contested in the election. On the same evening, they (TMC goons) sent us flower beads, a white saree, and sweets,” she narrated her ordeal.
Importance of central forces
During her telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (26th March), Rekha Patra highlighted the menace of large-scale election rigging in Sandeshkhali.
“A big tragedy happened with us. Not just women of Sandeshkhali, the women of entire Basirhat suffered. We demand action against the accused. We haven’t been able to vote since 2011 and we hope to vote this time,” she added.
Voicing his concerns about the suffering that Mamata’s West Bengal government has caused over time and the fact that the people of Bashirhat haven’t been allowed to vote since 2011, PM Modi assured her the Election Commission of India’s cooperation as well as appropriate security measures.
It must also be remembered that elections in West Bengal are prone to violence. Several people, particularly BJP workers, were slaughtered during the 2021 West Bengal Vidhan Sabha elections and the 2023 West Bengal Panchayat elections.
Even before the 2024 elections are set to begin, the TMC has unleashed its ‘Khela’ of violence. OpIndia has reported at least 9 incidents of attacks on BJP workers since the Election Commission announced the dates for the upcoming polls.
Keeping these circumstances in mind, the deployment of central forces is thus important. It will help prevent mass casualties in the name of politics, avert sexual violence against vulnerable women and ensure free and fair elections in all 42 constituencies of West Bengal.
