Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal on Saturday, accusing it of “sexual abuse” and “land grab” in the Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas state. He said that the ruling party “did not want the accused to get arrested.”
PM Modi further said that the Bengali ladies were used as a “vote bank” by the ruling party.
During his speech to the audience in Krishnanagar, Prime Minister Modi stated that although the women of Sandeshkhali “cried out for justice,” the State’s ruling party “looked elsewhere.”
PM Modi stated, “Using the slogan of ‘Maa, Maati, Manush’, the TMC government used the women of Bengal as a vote-bank. Today, Maa, Maati and Maanush are all in the TMC mode of governance. Women of Sandeshkhali kept asking for justice, yet the government did not hear them.”
PM Modi said that the TMC had no “intention” of arresting the principal accused In the Sandeshkhali incident. “But the nari shakti of Bengal stood like a Durga (goddess Durga).”
“In Bengal, the police do not decide when a criminal must be arrested; it’s the criminal who decides everything for himself. The state government did not want the accused in the Sandeshkhali incident to be arrested…,” he added.
He added that all BJP workers supported the Sandeskahli ladies in their fight for justice, adding, “Then the state government relented,” alluding to the arrest of Shahjahan Sheikh.
The accusations of “sexual abuse” against Shahjahan Sheikh, who was apprehended earlier this week after going missing for more than a month, have sparked intense rallies in Sandeshkhali in recent days.
At a function in Krishnanagar, the state leadership of the BJP also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit by Prime Minister Modi is significant since the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in April-May.
