BJP played with women’s self-respect with eye on polls: Mamata on Sandeshkhali
Times of India | 30 January 2025
12 Kolkata: Accusing BJP of "playing with women's self-respect and dignity" in Sandeshkhali with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, CM Mamata Banerjee claimed several rape complaints in Sandeshkhali were false and termed it a "disgusting conspiracy". She also blamed leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari for instigating the unrest.
In her first detailed reaction to the Sandeshkhali unrest, Banerjee, in her book ‘Banglar Nirbachan o Amra (Bengal's Elections and Us)', which she released on Tuesday, wrote: "It is clear from Sandeshkhali's video that for a few thousand rupees, they forced women to do wrong. Before the elections, they created a commotion in the country with these false and manufactured complaints per their plan."
The CM wrote, "Many central agencies — from the Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Women and Commission for Safeguarding Adivasi Rights — visited the place. But after the incident was proven false, the Election Commission was silent. Didn't the Sandeshkhali unrest have an impact on elections? It definitely did. In that case, EC should have taken steps against the false complaints. But the conspiracy was hatched by BJP, so does Election Commission have the courage to take steps against them?"
Squarely blaming Adhikari, she wrote: "The most serious thing is by maligning the reputation of Bengal, crushing the honour of Bengal's women to dust, BJP wanted to win the Lok Sabha elections. It became clear to everyone that the complaints raised against the Trinamool leadership were ‘manufactured' (sajano). And the director was the Bengal opposition leader, the traitor himself. Can you imagine how low they can stoop!"
"We saw the rape complaints were false. A section of women, who lodged the complaints, later said that they were made to sign blank white papers and those were then submitted by BJP men to the local police station. When these women even wanted to withdraw the complaints after learning about the incident, threats were given to them by the BJP," she added.
The CM said: "I felt deeply sorry for the women and sisters of Sandeshkhali for what they faced. No one should play with the honour of mothers and sisters. They do not know that for women, their self-respect and dignity are much more valuable and respectable than money. I said that if you give money, you get money, but once a mother's self-esteem is gone, it cannot be regained. But BJP wanted to stampede the self-respect of mothers and sisters in order to win the elections."