Sandeshkhali has been tense since February first week after villagers went on a rampage while accusing TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides of land grab and sexual harassment.
Over the past two days, similar protests have erupted in Jhupkali and Belmajur villages of Sandeshkhali. In Jhupkali, protestors had set ablaze the guard room of a fishery on Friday alleging that it was set up on encroached land. A day later, local residents had allegedly ransacked the house of TMC leader Ajit Maity and beat him up.
West Bengal Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar had visited Belmajur on Friday night. Accepting that there had been a “mistake”, he had assured villagers that the police would “establish the rule of law”.
In Halderpara, residents reportedly chased the family members of a local TMC leader alleging that he had forcibly grabbed their land and given it to Sheikh’s brother Sirajuddin.
A few kilometres away in Majherpara, protestors hit the streets and sought the arrest of the two brothers. While police were trying to disperse the mob, a woman protestor was seen asking them: “Why are you not arresting Shahjahan Sheikh. You are now asking us to file complaints. When we went to file complaints, we were not entertained. TMC leaders beat us up in front of the police. Why did you not take any action then? We do not want the government’s help. We do not want Mamata Banerjee’s sympathy. We need peace. We are demanding a death penalty of Sheikh.”
Meanwhile, the police set up a complaint centre in Belmajur village and received over 50 complaints from villagers. Most of the
complaints were of land grabbing and against Sheikh and his brother. The complaint centre is part of an outreach programme started by the government on February 18 for Sandeshkhali.
Till Friday, more than 700 applications had poured in at the block development office (BDO) in Sandeshkhali village. West Bengal ministers Partha Bhowmick and Sujit Bose also visited Belamajur on Saturday.
Talking to media persons, Bhowmick said, “We come here as the government’s representatives. We got a report that the routes of irrigation channels in Sandeshkhali have been diverted to drain saltwater in different fields. We also heard all the allegations. We will restore those canals within 20 days.” “We have assured villagers of solving the problems and asked those who claimed that their land plots were taken away to lodge complaints,” Bose, the minister for fire and emergency services, said.
TMC MLA from Sandeshkhali Sukumar Mahato, who accompanied the ministers, said the ruling party had expelled Sirajuddin in January. “After receiving various complaints against Sirajuddin, we had expelled him a month ago. He assured us that would return all encroached land(to villagers) but meanwhile the Sandeshkhali agitation had started.”
The upheaval in Sandeshkhali has stoked a political storm in Bengal with the Opposition parties slamming the Mamata Banerjee-led government over the allegations levelled against TMC leaders. Hitting out at the state government on Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)likened the situation in Sandeshkhali to Nandigram, where a movement against “forcible” land acquisition by the then Left Front government in 2007-08 had catapulted the TMC to power in 2011.
“The situation in Sandeshkhali is like Nandigram. In Nandigram, people fought against land acquisition and here people are fighting against land grabbing. Here, protest began after women started their movement against sexual harassment but land grabbing is the second most common allegation in Sandeshkhali,” Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari told reporters in Kolkata. Adhikari is the BJPMLA from Nandigram.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, senior BJP Rashtriya Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan said, “Women are not at all safe in West Bengal. If the TMC government is so transparent, why are Opposition women MPs prevented from meeting the victims in Sandeshkhali? What are they trying to hide?”
On Friday, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee was stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali by the police due to prohibitory orders imposed in the area. West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also hit out at the BJP and alleged that the party would try to give the Sandeshkhali issue a “communal colour”.”
The BJP would definitely try to give the (Sandeshkhali) incidents a communal colour. Modi will not let go of this golden opportunity of creating division (among the people). That is why he is coming to West Bengal thrice, thanks to the failure of the state government,” Chowdhury told reporters. Modi will be in West BengalonMarch1and2aspartof his official programme and is expected to address a women’s rally on March 6 in North 24 Parganas district where restive Sandeshkhali is located.
Meanwhile, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee, who took a different route to reach Sandeshkhali to avoid being stopped by the administration, was stopped by the police and taken to Sandeshkhali ferry ghat on the banks of River Kalagachi.
DYFI is the youth wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Police claimed that she was stopped as Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed in the area. Mukherjee sat on a protest on the road. “Two ministers are roaming here but no section 144 is applicable (for them). We said only three people will go to the village at a time. Then also, the police did not give us permission. They are doing illegal work. We will complain against these officers in court.”
“People are alleging that their land was grabbed, their wages from the 100 Days’Work scheme were looted. They were assaulted. The West Bengal government has to give answers,” she added.
Sheikh along with his aides Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar has been accused of land grabbing and sexually harassing women by calling them to late night meetings at the TMC office. While Sardar and Hazra have been arrested, Sheikh has been absconding since the January 5 attack on ED officials in Sandeshkhali.
The team had gone to Sandeshkhali to search Sheikh’s residence over alleged irregularities in the state’s public distributions ystem.