Despite the storm of protests over the alleged land grab and sexual abuse of the women of Sandeshkhali by Trinamool Congress leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of spreading canards about Sandeshkhali. Speaking at a rally on the eve of International Women’s Day, she maintained that the State is the safest place in the country for women.
At a rally themed “Mahila Der Adhikaar, Aamader Angikaar” (women’s rights are our commitment), at the end of a three-km foot march, Mamata Banerjee, without taking names, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of selecting amnesia while highlighting Sandeshkhali to malign her party during his recent rallies in West Bengal, especially at the BJP’s Barasat rally yesterday in which he had said that the “Sandeshkhali storm would sweep away the TMC”.
Mamata Banerjee’s remarks come a day after Prime Minister Modi tore into the Trinamool Congress over the alleged sexual assaults in Sandeshkhali saying that the women’s rage will not be confined in Sandeshkhali and will sweep through West Bengal.
“TMC has committed a grave sin by torturing mothers and sisters. Anybody’s head will hang in shame after seeing what happened in Sandeshkhali. But the TMC is not bothered about your pain. The TMC government is using its full strength to shield the culprits. But the state government first got a shock from the high court and then the Supreme Court,” Modi had said yesterday.
In today’s rally, Mamata Banerjee countered the Prime Minister and asked: “Did you go to Hathras? Did you go to Unnao? Why didn’t you show the courage to visit Manipur?” she asked. Referring to Sandeshkhali, she said: “All the fingers of a hand are not of the same length. Something happened in Sandeshkhali and we have taken steps. That does not mean that the entire West Bengal is disturbed. “The wrong sandesh (message) is being sent out about Sandeshkhali,” she said. “BJP leaders are spreading canards about the safety of women in West Bengal but they maintain a stoic silence when women are tortured in BJP-ruled States. West Bengal is the safest State in the country for women,” she maintained.