Leading a women’s rally at Dorina crossing in Kolkata on the eve of International Women’s Day, Banerjee also criticised party turncoat Tapas Roy and Former Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for joining the BJP.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the TMC over the Sandeshkhali issue and said the storm of Sandeshkhali would reach every part of the state. Five women from Sandeshkhali also reportedly met PM Modi during his rally in Barasat.
In a tit-for-tat strategy, a group of women from Sandeshkhali also participated in the rally led by Mamata Banerjee called ‘Mahila Der Adhikaar, Aamader Angikaar (women’s rights are our commitment)’.
An Adivasi woman named Sabita Sardar from Sandeshkhali addressed the rally and said, “We are now living in peace in Sandeshkhali. The chief minister and her administration took steps and they have already returned almost all our land. We are thankful to Mamata Banerjee.”
Thereafter, Banerjee said, “‘Sandesh’ of Sandeshkhali has two meanings. One means ‘sweet’ and the other is ‘news’. So, the BJP is trying to spread ‘bhuo sandesh’ (fake news). Do not believe it.”
She further said, “Yesterday (Wednesday), BJP leaders said women are tortured in Bengal. I can challenge that women are the safest in Bengal.”
Targeting PM Modi without naming him, she said, “Where was he when women were paraded naked in Manipur, or when a woman was raped and her body forcibly cremated in Hathras? Have you forgotten Bilkis (Bano)?”
Criticising Gangopadhyay for joining the BJP, the Bengal CM said, “From the very first day, we were saying that the man sitting on the bench does not want people to get jobs. It is now clear… Every day, he was giving… interviews to news channels. Now the mask has fallen off and the real face has come out. He is now a BJP babu…”
She then said, “Wherever you are the candidate, I will go with those who lost their jobs.”
On Tapas Roy, she said, “Only one day the ED came, and he got frightened. The ED told him, ‘Join the BJP, we will do nothing.’ And he joined the BJP…”
Mamata Banerjee was accompanied by her nephew and party leader Abhishek Banerjee, among others, in the rally.