Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a video of Kolkata Mayor and Trinamool Congress MLA Firham Hakim doing whataboutery on the plight of sexual violence in Sandeshkhali village has surfaced on social media.
The video was shared on X (formerly) Twitter by BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya. In the video, Firhad Hakim was heard mocking the ordeal of women in Sandeshkhali. “Now, you know that one ‘khali’ is grabbing all headlines. What ‘Khali’? Ah, Sandeshkhali. It is everywhere.”
“Yes, some people have done injustice. Some people have forced themselves upon the women. Our party has made the mistake of intaking such people from the Communist Party of India (Marxist),” he attempted to conveniently shift the blame to his rival party.
Mamata Banerjee’s close aide Firhad Hakim, who also happens to be the Mayor of Kolkata and dreams of turning Bengal into Pakistan, mocks the struggles of the people and women of #Sandeshkhali. He asks "What Khali is in news now?" (Video1 – 46sec)
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 17, 2024
He further justifies the rapes… pic.twitter.com/M31IWh4vlK
“They (The police) have found 2 cases where women were called to the (party office) and sexually violated. I am telling you that this was there even during the CPIM era,” Firhad Hakim claimed.
“There was a CPIM goon here who raped Mamani Haldar and killed her. The body of the victim was found after 13 days. At that time, there was no TMC in power. It was the CPIM era,” the TMC leader resorted to whataboutery.
He further brazened out, “Many political parties, especially the BJP, are now going to Sandeshkhali and giving it publicity.” The video was originally uploaded on the YouTube channel of ‘The News Bangla’ on 4th March, 2024.
This is not the first time that a TMC leader has downplayed the atrocities unleashed against the women of Sandeshkhali village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
On 10th March, actress turned TMC candidate from Hooghly, Rachna Banerjee, claimed, “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.”
Sandeshkhali horror
On 8th February this year, hundreds of women in Sandeshkhali took to the streets to protest against land grabbing, non-payment of wages and sexual violence committed by Trinamool Congress goon Sheikh Shahjahan and his two aides Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar.
The women attacked Shahjahan’s illicitly obtained properties and set fire to a poultry farm owned by Shiba Prasad Hazra. They also surrounded the Sandeshkali police station and demanded the immediate arrest of the trio. The agitation in the village lasted for 3 days.
During that time, the TMC goons retaliated and the police acted as mute spectators. In several cases, the cops themselves resorted to harassment of the women. It had come to light that the residents were the subject of sexual violence by the TMC for a long time.
In a bid to pacify the angry villagers of Sandeshkhali, the TMC leadership suspended Uttam Sardar from the party for six years. The suspended TMC leader and Zilla Parishad member was subsequently arrested in the Sandeshkhali police station area on 10th February 2024.
On 17th February, the police arrested TMC leader Shibu Prasad Hazra over land grabbing and sexual exploitation of women in Sandeshkhali.
After large-scale protests and intervention of the Calcutta High Court, the primary accused Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested on 29th February.
