Sandeshkhali Violence: BJP Seeks CM Mamata's Resignation, National SC-ST Panel Meets Victims. Top Points
A team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Thursday visited trouble-torn Sandeshkhali and met the victims.
Sandeshkhali Violence: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has been facing heat over the Sandeshkhali incident. Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha has staged a protest at Ambedkar Circle in Telangana against the violence in Sandeshkhali, seeking Mamata Banerjee's resignation from the CM post. A team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Thursday visited trouble-torn Sandeshkhali.
The team was led by the panel's chairman, Arun Halder. He was accompanied by a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Anju Bala. Both met the victims and spoke to them.
The saffron party has also demanded a CBI enquiry against Shahjahan Sheikh, who has been absconding since January 5, when a mob attacked Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers during a raid at his residence in connection with an alleged ration scam. The protestors were detained by the police. Several women in the region have accused Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of land-grab and sexually assaulting them under coercion.
Sandeshkhali Violence: Top Points
- Banerjee on Thursday said that 17 people have been arrested in restive Sandeshkhali and no one involved in any wrongdoing will be spared. “We are looking into the Sandeshkhali situation; no one involved in any wrongdoing will be spared. I have sent the state women's commission there and formed a police team for Sandeshkhali,” she said, as quoted by PTI. A "sinister design is at play" to foment trouble in the area and the state government has taken all necessary actions to control the situation, she added.
- A member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Anju Bala, slammed the West Bengal CM over the violence in Sandeshkhali and called it a shameful incident. "It is a shameful incident that, in today's time as well, something like this can happen to women... The state's CM is a woman. 'Naam Mamata rakhti hai lekin dil mein mamata naam ki chiz nahi hai'," Bala told news agency ANI.
- On Wednesday, protests persisted in Sandeshkhali for the seventh consecutive day, with a significant number of women taking to the streets, demanding the arrest of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his followers.
- Arun Haldar, who met the victims in Sandeshkhali, said that a lot of people wanted to say a lot of things, but they were not given a chance. "I have received the report about Sandeshkhali. A lot of people wanted to say a lot of things, but they were not given a chance. Members of the commission & I have come here to listen to them. I will listen to them & give the report to the government. It is a constitutional body, not a political body. Tomorrow at 11 am will send the report to the President," Haldar told ANI.
- BJP president JP Nadda has constituted a six-member committee of party MPs, five of them women, who will visit Sandeshkhali on Friday.
- On Thursday, the BJP MLAs staged a walkout from the assembly demanding a statement from CM Banerjee on Sandeshkhali. She was not present at the House.
- Following this, the BJP MLAs shouted slogans against the government and staged a walkout. "We decided to walk out as there is no statement from the chief minister on the issue. Total lawlessness prevails in Sandeshkhali, and we are not allowed to go there," BJP chief whip Manoj Tigga told reporters.
- West Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari, along with BJP MLAs, were stopped on the way to Sandeshkhali, near Science City. Adhikari and other party leaders held a protest against the suspension of BJP leaders from the Assembly in Kolkata. On Monday, six BJP MLAs, including Adhikari, were suspended from the House over protests regarding the Sandeshkhali issue.
- Chairperson of the State Women Rights Commission, Lila Gangopadhyay, reached Sandeshkhali and spoke to women. The villagers lodged a complaint with the chairperson about their ordeal.
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