Sandeshkhali Violence: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, and accused it of doing nothing to control the goons targeting innocent people in Sandeshkhali. Speaking to reporters on the sideline of a function in Bhota on Friday, the BJP MP said, "The sad thing is that the West Bengal government is not doing anything... If women were not safe under the rule of a woman chief minister, then questions start to arise on the law-and-order situation in the state," as quoted by news agency PTI.
A political row erupted between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress over the alleged attrocities on women in Bengal's Sandeshkhali after several women in the state's North 24 Parganas district, accused the TMC's strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of "land-grab and sexual assault".
On Friday, fresh protests erupted in the village as locals torched the property of the accused TMC leaders and held demonstrations against the delay in arresting Sheikh, PTI reported. The political showdown further intensified after the West Bengal police stopped women leaders of the BJP's Bengal unit from going to the strife-torn area.
Earlier, West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, who staged a sit-in outside Sandeshkhali police station demanding the arrest of Shajahan Sheikh, was detained by police and transported by boat from the restive area. Bengal police official had claimed that the state BJP chief had arrived in the region without informing the authority.
According to PTI, Majumdar expressed his desire to meet local police officials, but permission was denied, leading to the commencement of an indefinite sit-in. After unsuccessful attempts to persuade him to withdraw, the police used force to remove Majumdar from the spot.