New Delhi: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would form a panel to investigate the atrocities committed in Sandeshkhali and put Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee behind bars if the party comes to power in West Bengal.
Adhikari, who is the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, said, “You (Banerjee) have asked the people to forget whatever has happened. The people of Sandeshkhali will not forget. Even I will not forget. If BJP comes to power in West Bengal, a commission would be set up to probe into the Sandeshkhali events. You had framed women of Sandeshkhali and sent them to jail. BJP will send you to jail too for lodging false cases against women.”
“We will take revenge with interest, in accordance with the law, while remaining within the bounds of the Constitution,” said Adhikari, who visited Sandeshkhali a day after the chief minister’s visit to the area in North 24 Parganas district.
Speaking at a BJP outreach programme in Sandeshkhali, Adhikari alleged Banerjee hatched a conspiracy to file false cases against women in the area ahead of the 2024 elections, in a bid to punish those who lodged protest against local TMC strongmen like Shahjahan Sheikh.
‘Let bygones be bygones’: Mamata Banerjee
Adhikari salvo comes a day after Banerjee urged people in the area to “let bygones be bygones”. It was the CM’s first visit to Sandeshkhali since violent protests erupted in February 2024 over allegations of sexual assault and land grabbing by certain Trinamool Congress leaders.
On Monday, Banerjee said that she knew that a big game was behind the protest and money was at play. “People later realised that the entire matter was a lie. The truth eventually comes out. Let bygones be bygones. I do not want to keep these things in mind,” Banerjee had pointed out.
The BJP had made Sandeshkhali a key electoral issue against the TMC, particularly in the Basirhat constituency, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections this summer. The TMC, in sharp response, accused Adhikari of orchestrating the “conspiracy” and “paying women” to falsely accuse local TMC leaders of sexual assault, with an aim to defame Bengal before the polls. The TMC bagged the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.
