‘Wronged, distressed women will get justice’: Suvendu Adhikari after visiting Sandeshkhali

NORTH 24 PARAGANA (West Bengal): Addressing an accompanying media crew on a visit to battleground Sandeshkhali on Tuesday, the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said the people in the area expressed satisfaction with the order of the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, granting him permission to visit the trouble spot.

The BJP leader was accorded a rousing reception and treated to a petal showers as he arrived in Sandeshkhali, which has been on the boil after hundreds of local women came out on the streets, accusing fugitive TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his henchmen of sexual exploitation and excesses.

#WATCH | West Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh proceed to Sandeshkhali in a boat as Calcutta High Court allows them to visit the area.

High Court says they can go to Sandeshkhali but they cannot take any party worker or supporter with them due to Section 144… pic.twitter.com/fOrFNafU42

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

The BJP leader said, “People in this area are very happy with the Chief Justice’s verdict (letting him visit the island). With the arrival of the CBI, the state police have disappeared. All the wronged and distressed women of Sandeshkhali will get justice. The rapists, looters, mafia and those accused of vote theft will all go to jail”.

“People are with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and trust the BJP to do them justice. I visited all the villages (of Sandeshkhali) in three to three-and-a-half hours,” the LoP added.

#WATCH | In Sandeshkhali, West Bengal LoP and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari says, "…I visited all villages. 14 of our BJP workers are in jail…People in this area are very happy. CBI has arrived and the State Police has gone away. They will get justice. The rapists, looters, mafia… pic.twitter.com/3crAZk0Qj6

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Claiming that all those involved in the alleged atrocities in Sandeshkhali are ‘Mamata’s people’, Adhikari said each and every one should face the law, including the absconding Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides. “They (the Sandeshkhali accused) are Mamata’s people, including Shahjahan and his aides. Not only Shibu (Hazra) Uttam Sardar, Jia-ul-Mollah, and Jahangir, exemplary action should be taken against all the people close to Shahjahan,” the BJP leader said.

On the BJP leaders detained by the West Bengal police in connection with the case, Adhikari said, “As many as 14 of our workers are in jail. Our Lok Sabha convenor, Bikash Singh, who is the former district president, has been arrested on false charges. However, we are ready to fight. They put him in a cell on trumped-up charges in a bid to reap political benefits (ahead of the Lok Sabha elections). He will get bail soon”.

Adhikari said he was confident that the people of Sandeshkhali would shower their electoral blessings on the BJP in the upcoming polls and help Prime Minister Modi return for a third, straight term at the Centre. “I am confident that the people here will vote en masse for PM Modi in the Lok Sabha elections and do their bit to make him return for a third, straight term in office”, he said.

Adhikari also shared that he will also be visiting another island in the vicinity named Jeliakhali from where similar reports of alleged torture have emerged. “Our leaders will keep coming here despite curbs and crackdowns. I will try to visit the Jeliakhali island from where there have been similar reports of torture (on women)”, he said.

Meanwhile, responding to claims by West Bengal Cheif Minister Mamata Banerjee that Aadhar cards were being deactivated, Adhikari wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the former has a ‘malafide intention’ to stoke ‘public hysteria’ for ‘political gain’.

“WB CM Mamata Banerjee has been intentionally and deliberately creating panic amongst the People of the State by peddling politically motivated FAKE NEWS that the Central Government is going to Deactivate Aadhar Cards before the Lok Sabha Elections in order to deprive the beneficiaries from receiving benefits of various social welfare schemes”, Adhikari posted from his official handle on ‘X’.

Adhikari said that her assurance of issuing an ‘Identity Card’ as an alternative to the Aadhaar amounts to interference with matters under the Union List. “Her assurance of issuing an Identity Card as an alternative to the Aadhaar Card is nothing but an unauthorized interference in the Subject Matter of the Union List as enlisted in the 7th Schedule of the Indian Constitution”, he added in his post.

“I have written a letter to the Hon’ble Prime Minister; Shri @narendramodi Ji apprising him about the malafide intention of Mamata Banerjee to create public hysteria for political gains,” the BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, responding to an incident in which a Sikh police personnel claimed that a BJP protester labeled him as a ‘Khalistani’ as he was wearing a turban, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said, “Someone may have commented something on the conduct of that particular police personnel. But the BJP considers all members of the Sikh community as our brothers and sisters”.

On the Sikh protesters who had planned to gherao the BJP headquarters in protest against the alleged labelling of the police personnel as a ‘Khalistani’, Sinha said, “Those persons were sent by the Trinamool in an attempt to stoke communal tensions. However, I had a word with them and assured that we have no intention to hurt Sikh sentiments”, (ANI)