Trigger Warning: Mentions of gender based violence
Sandeshkhali, a village in the district of North 24 parganas in the State of West Bengal, has taken the media and the political circle of the country by storm. A protest broke out in Sandeshkhali earlier this month when villagers, specifically women, started demanding the arrest of Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides, Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar. For those who are wondering who these people are, Sheikh is a TMC strongman and a local TMC leader, while the other two are said to be close to him.
The story begins on January 5th, when the Enforcement Directorate went to arrest Sheikh for an alleged ration scam valued at 10,000 crore, leading to a large number of people coming out in Sheikh’s support, thrashing and chasing away the ED. But as the investigation went further, a large number of women from Sandeshkhali started coming out, accusing Sheikh and his aides, Hazra and Sardar, of land grabbing and sexual harassment.
The women allege that Sheikh and his men used to systematically harass and molest them, and this has led to a widespread protest. The charges are grave, and the Calcutta High Court has taken suo moto cognizance of the matter. The investigation is still underway. The three have been absconding since January; apparently, Hazra and Sardar were arrested after the news broke out and people started protesting. Charges of gang rape and attempt to murder were also leveled against Sardar, as reported by the Wire.
While all this is happening, the Bharatiya Janata Party has come out all guns blazing against the TMC government of West Bengal for a lack of law and order in the state. The Minister for Women and Child Development has conducted a press conference and criticized the government of West Bengal. The BJP has also been trying to give the entire incident a communal angle even though there have been no complaints of Hindu women being specifically targeted. The NCSC chairman and the NCW chair have recommended the imposition of the president’s rule in the state.
But the same Minister for Women and Child Development, who is concerned with the issues in Bengal, did not utter a single word when Manipur was burning, even though it was under the BJP’s rule, which makes the action from the BJP quite ironic and hypocritical. Yet, when she did respond to the charges by the opposition, she said, “Stop using crime against women as instruments to settle political scores.”
Which is what she and her party seem to be doing now. The parliament required an entire no-confidence motion to make the Prime Minister address the issue of Manipur, let alone the PM visiting the state. However, Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP leader from Bengal, reports that the PM might visit Sandeshkhali in the coming weeks, according to India Today. This also shows the hypocrisy of the TMC, by the way, which was swift to criticize the BJP government for a lack of law and order in the state but is in hiding today, not knowing what to do.
While the government of West Bengal must be criticized for their lack of action and failure to uphold the rule of law, the selective action from the center for going all out against an opposition-ruled state and being completely oblivious to what’s happening in one’s own state is also not acceptable.
But I would conclude by saying that for the government both at the state and the center, these incidents of violence and injustice just serve as a political tool to gain power, and we as citizens need to understand and be aware of this petty politics so that we can live in harmony and, instead of blaming each other, demand justice for the victims because it’s the people and the judiciary who are keen on getting there, while the executive keeps blaming each other for their collective failure.