KOLKATA: The wives of two Bengali construction workers on Wednesday sought help from Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj through the BJP state unit even as Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee turned a blind eye to their plight.
Namita Sikdar and Dipali Tikadar, whose husbands, Khokon and Samar, are being held hostage by the ISIS in Mosul reached the BJP office here and met state general secretary Shamik Bhattacharya seeking the Centre’s help in rescuing their husbands.
They told Bhattacharya that they had last heard from their husbands on June 13. They added that they had not received any help from the Chief Minister in spite of sending several letters.
“My husband called me on June 13 and said he, along with other Indian construction workers, had been kidnapped four days ago. He said Samar, who hails from our district, too was being held at Mosul,” Namita said.
They said their husbands would not try to escape fearing that their captors would kill them if they were caught. “We asked them to remain calm though we are distraught. If the nurses from Kerala can be rescued because of their Chief Minister Oomen Chandy taking up their case with the Centre, why can’t our Chief Minister do so? We are without money and fear our husbands might be killed unless immediate steps are taken,” they told the BJP leader.
“If we had the money we would go to Delhi and meet Sushma. We are sure she will help us. We are poor people whom no one cares for. We thought Didi would help us, but we were wrong,” Namita said. They informed that the Bangladeshis, who were taken as hostages along with their husbands, were freed as they were Muslims.
“One Hassan, a Bangladeshi, who used to work with our husbands had spoken to us after being freed and said he was safe, but our husbands were in danger,” they said.
The Bangladeshis who were released told them that a man who tried to escape was shot in the leg and tortured to death.
Bhattachraya told Express, “I have not only faxed their appeal to Sushmaji, but also spoken to her,” he said.