In a significant political development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited Sandeshkhali, a village in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. The village has been in turmoil following allegations of sexual assault by local Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his associates.
The Prime Minister met with the women victims, listening to their experiences with the patience and understanding of a father figure. This empathetic interaction left the victims deeply moved, as they felt their pain was genuinely understood.
Sheikh Shahjahan, a 40-year-old TMC leader also known as ‘Bhai’, was arrested last week following these allegations. Subsequently, he was suspended from the TMC for six years. In addition to the sexual assault charges, Shahjahan and his associates have also been accused of land grabbing by several villagers.
Before his rally in Barasat, PM Modi criticized Mamata Banerjee over the Sandeshkhali incident, calling it a matter of shame. He accused the TMC government of trying to protect the person responsible, but noted that they had received a setback from both the high court and the Supreme Court.
The Prime Minister’s criticism came a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the case involving an attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali by Shahjahan and his supporters. The attack resulted in injuries to three ED officials and damage to their vehicle.
The situation escalated further when the West Bengal CID refused to hand over the arrested TMC leader to the CBI, just hours after the Mamata Banerjee government challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court. This has made Sandeshkhali a major flashpoint between the TMC and BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
