BJP Faces Challenges in Bringing Sandeshkhali Victims to PM Modi's Barasat Event

The BJP is having trouble bringing Sandeshkahli's purported sexual assault victims to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's event in Barasat on Wednesday because some of the ladies who fought against the crimes have suddenly changed their minds and declined to go.

On Wednesday, Modi is expected to attend the "Shakti Vandan Concluding Karyakram" at Barasat's Kachhari Maidan in order to advocate for women's empowerment and to unveil several new projects aimed at empowering women. The national BJP unit is prepared to broadcast the event live in every mandal (an organizational zone made up of a few villages) in the nation. Modi is expected to address a few Sandeshkhali victims during the program.

According to a source, the BJP had first compiled a list of fifty women who had come out to publicly report being sexually harassed by Trinamul officials and had filed charges against Sheikh Shahjahan, the local strongman, and his associates prior to their apprehension.

When we started talking about the specifics of how to get these twenty ladies to Barasat, two of the women who had filed charges of gang rape abruptly stopped talking to us. Given that the governing party is attempting to prevent them from attending the program, we can see why they are under pressure. However, we're still making every effort to bring them," a BJP leader who is part of the team transporting Sandeshkhali victims to Modi's public gathering said.

According to a source, the BJP had originally intended to build a special platform only for the ladies of Sandeshkhali, but the proposal was shelved and members of the conflict area were given access to a separate enclosure instead.

On Wednesday, around a lakh women from all across the state would gather in Barasat to hear from Modiji. Alongside the prime minister on the dais will be a few women who are icons in their own areas. The event's official organizer, Phalguni Patra, Bengal President of the BJP's Mahila Morcha, said that the Sandeshkhali victims will not be present on stage.

Chief BJP spokesman in Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya, a member of the Rajya Sabha, said that Trinamul was attempting to prevent women from the conflict-ridden area from getting to Barasat.

"Trinamul is attempting to stop our employees from attending party programs this time, as they have done in the past. We are optimistic that a sizable number of victims will attend the event," he said.

Even if some of the victims were hesitant to go to Barasat, a BJP official in Sandeshkhali predicted that more ladies from the various communities in Sandeshkhali 1 and 2 blocks would attend the gathering.

"I'm not familiar with those specific faces. I can confidently state that tomorrow will see the arrival of at least 1,000 ladies in Barasat," said Tapas Ghosh, the district head of the BJP's Barasat organization.

According to Trinamul, the majority of people and victims refused to attend Modi's event in Barasat because they knew Mamata Banerjee will be there to support them and provide them with justice.

The people of Sandeshkhali are already aware that Mamata Banerjee and her administration are standing up for them and offering them justice. They saw the police detaining the accused parties and the government stepping forward to give back the land that had supposedly been taken by a few individuals. Accordingly, the BJP's strategy of playing politics with the underprivileged of Sandeshkhali would fail, as stated by Partha Bhowmick, the state's minister of irrigation and one of the Trinamul leaders tasked with bringing about reform in Sandeshkhali.