A day after PM, Mamata meets women from Sandeshkhali

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday received wholehearted support from a group of women from the troubled Sandeshkhali area who met her after a Trinamool Congress rally in Kolkata, party sources said.

During the rally held on the eve of the International Women's Day, Banerjee took a group photo with the women from Sandeshkhali, who claimed that the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties were attempting to portray the ruling party in a negative light by highlighting isolated incidents of violence.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen told PTI, "Around 10-15 women from Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas shared the stage with Didi and happily posed for a group photo with her."

The women expressed their unwavering support to the ruling party and endorsed Banerjee's stance against those accused of wrongdoing and atrocities in past years, she said.

They commended Banerjee's initiatives in Sandeshkhali and said the situation there was peaceful, Sen added.

They also expressed satisfaction with the social welfare projects implemented by the government in the area over the past decade, she said.

Another senior TMC leader and state minister Shashi Panja relayed the sentiments of the women to Banerjee, stating, "The situation in Sandeshkhali is peaceful. The women there fully support you and appreciate your social welfare projects like 'Lakshmir Bhandar'. Over the past 10 years, significant development works have been undertaken in the remote area."

The TMC rally was attended by over 200 women from the restive Sandeshkhali.

This interaction between Banerjee and Sandeshkhali women came after a similar meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and another group of women from the same area in Barasat on Wednesday.

These women had expressed concerns about ongoing atrocities by TMC leaders in the area and sought assurances from the PM regarding their safety and security.

Banerjee accused the BJP of spreading canards about incidents at Sandeshkhali while asserting that the state is the safest place in the country for women.

The Trinamool Congress supremo also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'lecturing' the West Bengal government on women's security, alleging that he keeps silence when women are tortured in BJP-ruled states.

In an apparent reference to former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who joined the BJP during the day, she said, "We will ensure your defeat no matter from where you contest in the Lok Sabha polls."

Addressing people after leading a rally in Kolkata for women's rights, she said, "Many have given fake sandesh (message) on Sandeshkhali. The way a few incidents were shown is reprehensible. Some incidents may have happened and they have not reached us. But when we get to know something, we take action. I don't hesitate to arrest TMC workers if they are at fault."

Without naming the prime minister, the TMC supremo said, "Yesterday you came here and lectured us that atrocities on women are being committed here. In Uttar Pradesh, gruesome rapes are taking place. The BJP should be shameful that our daughters were raped and burnt in Manipur."

"West Bengal is the safest state in the country for women," she said.

Banerjee's comment comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark on Wednesday that the 'storm of Sandeshkhali' will sweep Bengal and 'Nari Shakti' (woman power) will play a pivotal role in decimating the ruling party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Banerjee accused the BJP leaders of 'spreading canards' about the safety of women in West Bengal but they maintain a stoic silence when women are tortured in BJP-ruled states.

Hitting out at Gangopadhyay for 'taking away jobs of thousands of youths' across the state through his judgments, Banerjee said, "The youths will not forgive you. All your judgments are under question. We will ensure your defeat."

Banerjee claimed that the BJP is angry with the TMC as the party doesn't allow divisive politics in Bengal.

"As we don't allow their divisive politics here, Pinto Babu ka gussa aata hai (Pinto babu is angry). I refer to BJP as Pinto babu. Why is Pinto Babu angry? They sent over 400 teams to Bengal but none in Manipur where women were assaulted and stripped," she said.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday led a rally in Kolkata for women's rights.

The rally, themed 'Mahila Der Adhikaar, Aamader Angikaar' (women's rights are our commitment), was organised by the TMC a day ahead of International Women's Day.

Clad in her trademark white and blue bordered cotton sari with a shawl wrapped around her neck, Banerjee was seen greeting people and onlookers on both sides of the road with folded hands.

The Trinamool Congress supremo was seen waving at people as she marched from College Street to Dorina Crossing, around two kilometres away, in central Kolkata.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was also present at the rally.

BJP's Ranaghat Dakshin MLA Mukut Mani Adhikari, who was not happy with BJP repeating its sitting MP from Ranaghat, Jagganath Sarkar, on Thursday switched over to the TMC and participated in the rally.

"I think the TMC is the only platform where you can work for the masses. So I decided to join the TMC," he said.

Since the 2021 assembly polls, seven BJP MLAs have switched over to the TMC but are yet to resign as MLAs.

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BJP women leaders stopped on way to Sandeshkhali

Meanwhile, BJP women leaders led by party state general secretaries Agnimitra Paul and Locket Chatterjee were stopped by the West Bengal Police at New Town on the outskirts of Kolkata from heading towards Sandeshkhali on Thursday afternoon.

Following a scuffle and a bitter war of words with the police, the team was detained even as the leaders were seen holding a sit-in demonstration at the site they were stopped.

Demanding they be shown arrest memo, the four BJP women leaders launched a sit-in at New Town police station later vowing not to leave the place till they were shown document as been put under arrest.

"See how the police under Mamata Banerjee are functioning. They don't have any regard for democratic principles. They forcibly put us in police vehicles as we were peacefully proceeding to Sandeshkhali. How come New Town comes under prohibitory orders! Can you prevent us from going anywhere," Paul, the Asansol South MLA, told PTI over phone.

She said the way police are ill treating people's representatives "only happens in West Bengal."

After being stopped earlier in the day, the leaders alleged they were being prevented from heading towards the trouble-torn area on grounds that the prohibitory section of 144 of CrPC remained clamped in certain parts of Sandeshkhali.

"This is absolutely outrageous. How can the police stop us in Kolkata citing movement restrictions in Sandeshkhali?", said Bharati Ghosh, a former IPS officer and a member of the BJP team.

Paul said the team only intended to visit areas in Sandeshkhali which remained outside the ambit of the prohibitory section.

"Is section 144 imposed in Kolkata? On what grounds can the police stop our movement here?", she asked.

The police and the TMC still have a lot to hide in Sandeshkhali even though a lot of the atrocities committed there have already been exposed, Locket Chatterjee, an MP from Hooghly, maintained. BJP leader Falguni Patra was also part of the team.

"We merely wanted to be on the side of the tormented women in Sandeshkhali who are still reeling under fear since musclemen of Shahjahan Sheikh are still at large and police are doing little to address their concerns," she added.

When Chatterjee was asked to board a police van along with other women leaders, she entered into an altercation with the police officer present there.

Last week too, she was stopped at Bhojerhat while heading towards Sandeshkhali.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said BJP leaders were trying to instigate people in the area and not allowing normalcy to return.

"Police are doing their job. The situation is normal at Sandeshkhali," he said.

Alleging that the CM was 'shedding crocodile tears for women of Bengal', BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said on X, 'Yet again, Mamata Banerjee's police stops BJP delegation, led by MP Locket Chatterjee, MLA Agnimitra Paul, former IPS & national spokesperson Bharti Ghosh and WB Mahila Morcha President Phalguni Patra, from visiting Sandeshkhali, while she saunters on the streets of Kolkata, with dark shadow of Sheikh Shahjahan looming over her.'

Malviya accused the CM 'of having pawned the dignity of women of Bengal to criminals like Shahjahan, for votes of a community'.