Sandeshkhali, a sleepy island-hamlet in the river Kalindi in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, has been on the boil for more than a month with local people staging protests over the alleged sexual abuse of women by a leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress and his associates.
Shahjahan Sheikh, the main accused, is still at large though the police have formed a special investigation team and nabbed a few of his close aides. The protests and accusations have put the Mamata Banerjee government on the defensive, providing a political opening for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is eager to gain ground in the TMC strongholds ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Tales of intimidation and coercion
The grotesque saga of Sandeshkhali began unfolding on January 15 when a team of the Enforcement Directorate, who had reached the village to search the premises of Sheikh in connection with a multi-crore ration distribution scam, was attacked and chased away by a mob.
Sheikh has been absconding since then, but the incident paved the way for a new wave of protests in the village with several women taking to streets, holding brooms and bamboo sticks, alleging that Sheikh and his men had illegally grabbed their lands to set up poultry farms and had been sexually abusing them under coercion. The protests further flared up on February 15 when the agitators set on fire three poultry farms owned by Sheikh’s associates.
The women claimed that they were being exploited by Sheikh and his supporters for several years and that his absence in the village had now given them the courage to speak up. They further alleged that Uttam Sardar and Shibaprasad Hazra, two more TMC leaders, were complicit in the abuse.
“Party (Trinamool) men would survey every home and if there was any beautiful woman, primarily a young wife or a girl, they would take them to the party office. They would keep that woman there night after night till they were satisfied,” one of the protesting women told news agency PTI.
Though the chief minister and the Trinamool Congress insisted that the protests were orchestrated by their political rivals and that the accusations against the party leaders were motivated by politics, the allegations of sexual abuse shocked the nation and sparked off a widespread uproar, compelling the West Bengal government to launch an investigation.
A total of 18 people, including Sardar and Hazra have been arrested and charged under various sections of the IPC including 376D (gangrape), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) after two women recorded their statement before a magistrate.
West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who visited the area, told reporters, “What I saw was ghastly, shocking, shattering to my senses. I saw something which I should never have seen; I heard many things which I should never have heard. This is a shame for a civil society.” Bose has already submitted a report to the Union Home Ministry.
Politics heats up as protests rage
As the ordeal of Sandeshkhali women grabbed national headlines, the opposition parties were keen to seize the opportunity and corner the government over the law and order situation in the state, with the BJP accusing the chief minister of shielding Sheikh and other accused TMC leaders. The ruling party, however, maintained that the opposition camps had joined hands to frame their leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
A full-blown political war of words began after Chief Minister Banerjee alleged the role of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the violence. “It is not new. RSS has a base there. Riots took place there 7-8 years ago. It is one of the vulnerable riot spots. We handled the situation strongly during Saraswati Puja or else there were other plans,” Banerjee said in the Assembly last week.
The state government also stopped delegations of the opposition parties from visiting Sandeshkhali, accusing them of trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the area. However, following the intervention by the Calcutta High Court, leaders of the BJP and the CPI(M) visited the area on Tuesday and interacted with the locals.
Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) participate in a protest rally over Sandeshkhali incident, in Kolkata | PTI
The Trinamool Congress, despite having put on a brave face on these developments, is worried about the emerging caste equations in the village. As per the latest census data, dalits and adivasis account for 30 per cent and 20 per cent of the population, respectively, while the minority community makes up around 30 per cent, reported the Indian Express, quoting a TMC leader. The party fears that it will be left with no choice but to depend on the votes of the minority community if the BJP succeeds in wooing both the dalits and the adivasis in Sandeshkhali.
A section of TMC leaders also reportedly feel that the popularity of current Basirhat MP Nusrat Jahan, an actor-turned politician, has taken a hit, raising concerns in the ruling side. Last week, as tension simmers in her constituency, Jahan was seen posting reels on Instagram, celebrating the Valentine’s Day with her husband and actor Yash Gupta, with the BJP and other opposition parties questioning her priorities. As a member of parliament, Jahan’s attendance in the 17th Lok Sabha was just at 23 per cent while the national average was 79 per cent. She attended only 12 debates in the house. In what could spell further trouble for her party, the MP is facing a probe over alleged financial wrongdoings in connection with a real estate scam. In September last, the Enforcement Directorate had questioned her for six hours at its Kolkata office.
In the 2019 elections, Jahan bagged 55 per cent vote share while BJP candidate Sayantan Basu came second, securing 30 per cent votes. In Basirhat, the saffron party's vote share has steadily increased in the last two general elections with a 12 per cent hike in both 2014 and 2019. In Sandeshkhali, a seat reserved for the ST, the BJP's vote share rose from 13 per cent to 35 per cent in the 2021 Assembly elections, though the TMC, which has held the seat for the last two terms, also witnessed a meagre three per cent increase.
This is where the BJP sees a window of opportunity as the party hopes that it can cash in on the Sandeshkhali controversy to woo the women voters in the state. “The situation is horrific and is a clear example of anarchy prevailing in the area," leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari told reporters after visiting the area. On Thursday, the saffron party released a documentary on its social media platforms highlighting the plight of women in Sandeshkhali. The 20-minute video features local women sharing their harrowing experiences.
Reports claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address a women's rally in Barasat, the headquarters of North 24 Parganas district, on March 7—the eve of the International Women’s Day—and meet the distraught women of Sandeshkhali. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, too, is expected to visit the state on February 28.
The party has set a target of 35 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal and formed a 15-member election management committee to lay the groundwork for the campaign. A recent survey of a leading TV channel, however, predicted 19 seats for the saffron party, just one more than its 2019 tally.
The Trinamool Congress, which recently had ruled out a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, on the other hands, is in a damage control mode. The developments in Sandeshkhali and the ensuing outrage have perspicuously put the ruling party in a fix though it’s making every effort to make a counter narrative and paint the whole issue as political vendetta.
Three senior ministers of the Banerjee’s cabinet have already visited the area and reportedly offered compensation to the villagers whose lands were allegedly usurped by the local TMC leaders. The party also plans to hold a mega rally in the village on March 3 and has started door-to-door campaign for this.
