“Sandeshkhali ke gundo ko ulta latka kar seedha karna jante hain hum (We know to straighten the goons of Sandeshkhali by hanging them upside down)… No matter what and whoever has committed the atrocities in Sandeshkhali, the BJP will punish these culprits. No one will be spared,” Shah said while campaigning for the BJP at Majdia in Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency in Nadia district.
Accusing TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of giving “protection” to party leaders against whom women in Sandeshkhali in neighbouring North 24 Parganas had lodged cases of sexual abuse and land grab, Shah said: “Despite being a woman chief minister, Mamata Banerjee tried to protect the culprits… In Sandeshkhali, TMC leaders tortured hundreds of our sisters, based on religion. Mamata didi was not ready to arrest the criminals. Even after the High Court’s order, the investigation was not conducted, and the court handed over the probe to the CBI.”
“Mamata Banerjee did not catch the culprits of Sandeshkhali due to the politics of appeasement. She allowed the exploitation to go on for years because of her vote bank,” the Union Home Minister alleged.
Shah’s comments came in the backdrop of multiple purported videos of Sandeshkhali women shared by the TMC in which they claimed that BJP leaders made them sign on blank papers, which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault. In a purported video featuring a BJP leader, it was claimed that women had filed sexual harassment complaints at the behest of BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.
With Ranaghat having a substantial population of the Matua community, who migrated to India and settled during the Bangladesh Liberation War with Pakistan in 1971, Shah spoke about his government’s decision to bring the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is being opposed by the TMC.
The CAA grants citizenship to undocumented migrants of all religions — except Muslims — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Mamata Banerjee had recently said that if the Opposition bloc INDIA comes to power, of which the TMC is a part at the national level, it would repeal the CAA by bringing in a new law in Parliament.
Challenging Mamata Banerjee on the issue, Shah said: “No one has the strength to tinker with the CAA. We will give citizenship to every single refugee, this is the promise of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi ji.” TMC stands for ‘tushtikaran’ (appeasement), mafia and corruption. Mamata ji, you accord a red carpet welcome to infiltrators because they are your vote bank. But you oppose citizenship to the Hindus, Sikhs… The people are going to give you a befitting reply… Mamata Banerjee became the chief minister by raising the slogan of ‘Maa Mati Manush’. But within no time, this slogan has changed to ‘mullah madrasa mafia’,” he added.
Hitting out at the TMC on the issue of corruption, Shah said only the BJP can end the TMC’s “rule of corruption” in West Bengal. “A sum of Rs 51 crore was recovered from the minister, who was responsible for giving jobs to the poor. This money doesn’t belong to the minister, it belongs to the people of West Bengal,” Shah said, referring to Partha Chatterjee, who was arrested in connection with the school jobs scam.
“Mamata Didi is criticising the CBI and ED for conducting raids in the state. We didn’t ask them to conduct raids and investigations, it was ordered by the court,” he added.
With PTI Inputs