TMC Slams NCW as ‘Notorious Commission for Whitepapers’
The Statesman | 20 April 2025
The Trinamul has slammed the NCW for being a political wing of the BJP. Many of the ruling party leaders in Bengal have pointed out the double standards of the NCW and the Centre in their treatment towards Bengal.
In a strong rebuke to the National Commission for Women’s (NCW) recent visit to violence-affected areas in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, the Trinamul Congress has raised serious questions about the commission’s neutrality and political motivations behind its narrative against Bengal.
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TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale revealed that NCW member Archana Majumdar, who has been prominently featured in media reports talking about the visit, is a “card-carrying BJP worker” who contested the 2021 Bengal elections on a BJP ticket before losing the race.
“What Modi’s PR agency won’t tell you: This ‘NCW member’ Archana Majumdar contested the 2021 Bengal elections on a BJP ticket & lost. She’s an active card-carrying BJP worker,” Gokhale stated, adding, “NCW has long been a political wing of the BJP. And they aren’t even good at hiding it.”
Trinamul leader Kunal Ghosh drew parallels to previous NCW visits to the state, particularly to Sandeshkhali, claiming they followed a familiar pattern of spreading misinformation. “When NCW visited Sandeshkhali the last time, that is when propaganda and misinformation began. The then NCW chief Rekha Sharma and her team had designed the Bangla Birodhi plans to defame Bengal in multiple ways,” Ghosh said, adding that the commission is now repeating the same playbook in Murshidabad.
Last year, residents of Sandeshkhali had raised concerns over how the commission and the local BJP unit collected signatures on blank papers that were later used to file fabricated rape complaints.
The TMC leaders also questioned the NCW’s selective approach to addressing women’s issues, pointing out their absence in states governed by the BJP. “Why aren’t they going to states other than Bengal? Where are they when there are atrocities against women in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh? They have come on a political assignment here and are roaming around with BJP daladash (sympathisers). They have their own interests at stake,” Ghosh said.
The TMC has accused BJP of deliberately omitting Archana Majumdar’s BJP affiliations while presenting her viewpoints as the official stance of the NCW, thereby concealing what they describe as a clear conflict of interest. “Their real agenda has been exposed: NCW has started functioning like BJP’s Mahila Morcha wing,” Ghosh added.
“BJP has an annual quota of sending a certain number of central teams to Bengal like they did in the Bogtui case, post-poll violence, and Sandeshkhali, among others. No one knows about the outcome of these Central teams and the CBI-NIA investigation,” said TMC leader Debangshu Bhattacharya.
The Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose took a sharp dig at the National Commission for Women (NCW) calling it the “Notorious Commission for Whitepapers” amid its visit to affected areas of Murshidabad.
The MP was referring to the 2024 incident in Sandeshkhali, where several women later revealed they had been made to sign blank papers during an NCW visit, which were then used to file fabricated rape complaints. With NCW officials now in Bengal again, Ghose questioned their intent.
“The @NCWIndia is not N̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶ C̶o̶m̶m̶i̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ f̶o̶r̶ W̶o̶m̶e̶n̶ but Notorious Commission for Whitepapers. In Sandeshkhali @NCWIndia made women sign blank papers to cook up fictitious rape charges. Now, at @BJP4India ’s behest, NCW in Malda & Murshidabad. The question must be asked: more white papers incoming?” she posted on X.