Addressing a public meeting at BLRO ground, Adhikari claimed that when the BJP “will come to power”, a probe commission will be set up on Sandeshkhali and Mamata Banerjee “will be put in jail”.
He accused her government of framing false charges against women in the area for protesting against the alleged misdeeds by local Trinamool Congress leaders.
“After almost one year of Sandeshkhali protests, Mamata Banerjee went there for the first time and said she had forgotten all those things,” he said.
Lashing out at the chief minister, the senior BJP leader said, “You may forget Sandeshkhali but we will remember… We will take revenge with interest, but within the purview of the
constitution.”
“Mamata Banerjee held her rally in the ground which was named after Shahjahan Sheikh. Due to the movement of mothers and sisters of Sandeshkhali, the name of the ground has changed now. Not only this soil, but the whole world salutes the fight and protest of the women of Sandeshkhali. They will not forget your fight. We salute your fight,” he said.
In his speech, Adhikari said, “All Hindus of the world unite… We will not get Muslim votes, but if Hindus unite, we can defeat the TMC from here.”
Additionally, he also asked the CPIM and Left parties, “Do lal jhanda (red flags), we have no problem. But you can’t divide the Muslim votebank. You only can divide the Hindu vote which is helping TMC. Do not do that. If we come to power, you will also be able to file your nomination in the panchayat election. Let us first defeat the TMC.”
He further added, “She went to Nandigram (in the 2021 Assembly elections) to defeat me. But I defeated her and returned to Kolkata. I have made possible the wins of my brother Soumendu Adhikari in the Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency and Abhijit Gangopadhyay in the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency. We will have to make Mamata Banerjee the former Chief Minister now.”
Earlier when Mamata Banerjee announced her visit to Sandeshkhali on December 30, Adhikari also said he would visit the area on December 31.
On her first visit to Sandeshkhali, to chair a public distribution programme, since protests erupted over alleged land grabbing and sexual harassment of women by local TMC leaders, Banerjee had on Monday asked the residents not to pay anyone to avail benefits of state-run schemes.
The CM had also urged local women not to pay attention if anyone calls them for any reason and alleged that a huge amount of money was used to flare up the protest in Sandeshkhali.
Sandeshkhali was in the news earlier this year due to widespread protests by local people, including women, over various incidents of sexual assault and land grabbing allegedly involving suspended TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his two aides, Shibu Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar.
On January 5, Sheikh’s supporters allegedly attacked three Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali, when they had gone to raid his residence in connection with the ration distribution “scam”.
On February 8, several local women of Sandeshkhali took to the streets with brooms and sticks, and blocked the road demanding immediate arrest of Sheikh and his aides. Shahjahan Sheikh was arrested on February 29 after being on the run for around two months.
— WITH PTI