The BJP on February 19 demanded the removal of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for questioning the allegations of sexual assault raised by women in Sandeshkhali.
Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district saw violent protests earlier this month over alleged sexual harassment by local Trinamool Congress leaders.
Locket Chatterjee, the BJP MP from the State, said the protests by women were spontaneous and there was no politics in it, with the BJP only trying to “protect them and help them raise their voice.” She also claimed that what happened to women in Sandeshkhali was similar to the atrocities against women in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan.
“Women are most unsafe in a State ruled by the country’s only woman Chief Minister,” she said.
“The local Trinamool strongman Shajahan Sheikh, who is seen as a key accused in the complaints of sexual atrocities and land grab, is being protected by Mamata Banerjee,” Ms. Chatterjee alleged, adding that this was the reason the police had not been able to arrest him.
“He should be hanged. He deserves nothing less than capital punishment,” she said, alleging that Hindu women in the area were targeted and the accused sheltered by the administration as the Trinamool cares for “30 per cent votes”, an apparent reference to Muslim voters.
Mamata sees BJP hand
On Sunday, Ms. Banerjee said “an incident was made to happen” in Sandeshkhali and blamed the BJP for having it scripted “along with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the media.”
Criticising the remarks, Ms. Chatterjee said: “What she [Ms. Banerjee] is saying is very cheap. These are spontaneous protests. It is time to save West Bengal and throw out the Mamata Banerjee government.”
Ms. Banerjee had also said that not a single woman in Sandeshkhali had lodged a police complaint and it was she who directed the police to initiate a suo motu case in this connection. Ms. Chatterjee pointed out no complaint was registered because the local administration was hand in glove with the accused and acted like Trinamool members.
