Banerjee said she was “heartbroken” over the plight of women in Sandeshkhali and asserted that the BJP should not have played with the dignity of women in the trouble-torn area as its “conspiracy now stands exposed”. “I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for what happened to the mothers and sisters in Sandeshkhali. No one should play the game of dishonour,” the CM said, while addressing an election rally in Basirhat, in support of Basirhat Trinamool candidate Haji Sheikh Nurul Islam.
Mamata Banerjee’s remarks came against the backdrop of multiple videos surfacing on social media claimed that a local BJP leader purportedly made several women in Sandeshkhali sign blank papers, which were later filled up as sexual assault complaints against TMC leaders.
Hitting out at the BJP, she said, “People would have never understood how the BJP had hatched the conspiracy, had the videos not surfaced. The BJP should not play with the dignity of women.”
The TMC chief also said she would soon visit the Sandeshkhali region. “As soon as our candidate Haji Nurul wins Basirhat, my first visit will be to Sandeshkhali. I will go to meet the people there,” she said.
Sandeshkhali falls under the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in North 24 Parganas district and this was the Chief Minister’s first visit to the Lok Sabha seat since the flare-up in January this year. The area will vote on June 1.
In her appeal to the voters, she asked them to inform and write to her if they feel someone has committed any mistake. “If
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you are angry with someone, you have the right to express it. You send a letter to my house. I will see if not today, at least tomorrow. If the letter is urgent, I will see it first. In 99.9 percent cases, I do as much as I can,” she told the supporters at the rally.
“We have indications coming in… the BJP is losing,” claimed Mamata Banerjee, adding, “Their (BJP) job is to spread lies. “Trinamool chor hai” was said all around. Who is the biggest robber and the biggest thief? It’s the BJP.”
Mamata Banerjee also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speaking with Sandeshkhali protester and BJP candidate Rekha Patra over the phone, alleging that the country has the “worst track record in terms of women’s safety and security under BJP rule.”
“PM calls someone over the phone, holds a tutored conversation, and circulates that on television. But how many people does he actually talk to like this? It is under Modi’s tenure that women have been tortured in most parts of the country, one incident after another took place in UP. But girls are not oppressed in Bengal. Any one or two incidents that occur, action is taken immediately. Kesto-Vishtu, Ram-Rahim – no one is spared if girls are tortured in Bengal,” Banerjee said.
As she warned the BJP from doing communal or religion based politics, Mamata said, “Don’t divide Hindu-Muslims. When everyone donates blood at the donation camp, there is no Hindu-Muslim written on that blood. Muslims get a Hindu’s blood and vice-versa and the recipient survives, that’s the beauty of our country.”
The TMC chief also accused BJP of spending crores of rupees to plot and conspire against political parties, but not give money for 100 days of work. “Ahead of polls they gave someone Rupees 2,000 and others Rs 5,000 to plot and conspire, but you don’t give money to 100-day workers. How our country is being run?,” she said.
Referring to the fish-flocks in Sandeshkhali and Basirhat, Banerjee said, “We are making a policy that no one can forcefully take possession of the fish flocks and land areas.”
– WITH PTI INPUTS