West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spreading false information about Sandeshkhali, where women have accused TMC leaders of sexual abuse, emphasising that the sate is the ‘safest place’ in the country for women, challenging the BJP’s claims during a rally in Kolkata.
“Some people are spreading fake information about Sandeshkhali. 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.. I challenge BJP and say that Bengal is the only place where women are safe,” Mamata Banerjee said while addressing a rally of women supporters in Kolkata.
According to a report in NDTV, some women from Sandeshkhali, where serious allegations against local TMC leaders have surfaced, also participated in the march, themed “Mahilader Adhikar, Amader Angikar” (women’s rights, our commitment).
Prominent women Trinamool leaders, including Sushmita Dev, Shashi Panja, and newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP and journalist Sagarika Ghose, joined the event. Mamata’s nephew and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also participated.
In her speech on Thursday, she also highlighted incidents of violence against women in other BJP-ruled states and raised questions about their reaction.
“Where were you when women were paraded naked in Manipur, when a woman was raped and her body forcibly cremated in Hathras? Have you forgotten Bilkis (Bano)?,” the TMC supremo questioned.
Accusations on Abhijit Gangopadhyay
Responding to former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who joined the BJP earlier today, Mamata expressed skepticism about expecting justice from someone affiliated with the BJP. She accused the former judge of “taking away jobs from thousands of youths through his judgments”.
“A BJP babu was sitting on the bench and he joined BJP. How can you expect justice from them?,” she stated.
Mamata’s remarks followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of the TMC over alleged sexual assaults in Sandeshkhali.
PM Modi had said that the women’s anger would not be limited to Sandeshkhali but would sweep through West Bengal. He condemned the TMC for not addressing the “pain of the victims” and accused the Mamata-led government of shielding the culprits.
“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 noted.
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