KOLKATA/PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the ruling Trinamool Congress was so engrossed in perpetuating its ‘vote-bank’ politics that its party cadres were threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, where allegations of sexual abuse against TMC leaders have surfaced, to protect the culprits involved in the heinous crime.
“All of us have seen what the TMC has done with the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali. First, the police tried to save the culprits, now the TMC has started a new game. TMC goons are threatening the sisters of Sandeshkhali, just because the oppressor’s name is Shahjahan Sheikh. They are trying their best to save and protect him from legal action,” Modi said at a rally in Barrackpore.
His remarks come in the backdrop of multiple purported videos surfacing on social media, which claimed that a local BJP leader made several women of Sandeshkhali sign on blank papers which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault against TMC leaders.
“TMC is using every trick in Sandeshkhali, but none of the oppressors of Sandeshkhali will be spared,” said the PM.
While addressing back-to-back rallies in Barrackpore and Hooghly, Modi alleged that under the TMC rule, Hindus are turned into second-class citizens in West Bengal. He asserted that “as long as Modi is here, no one can repeal Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).”
On Mother’s Day, Modi received a portrait of his late mother Heeraben Modi from two persons at a public meeting in Hooghly. While addressing the public meeting, the PM said he was moved by the gift.
Criticizing the TMC for opposing the CAA in Bengal, Modi said, “Vote bank politics has presented a law like CAA, which protects humanity, as a villain. CAA is a law to give citizenship to victims; it does not take away anyone’s citizenship. But parties like Congress and TMC have painted it with the colour of their lies.”
Reaching out to the Matua community of the state, who are expected to benefit most from the CAA, he said, “As long as Modi is here, no one can repeal the CAA.”
Mocking Congress, Modi said, “The Congress will get fewer seats than the age of its ‘shehzada’ (Rahul Gandhi) in the Lok Sabha polls.”
In Patna Modi kick-started a roadshow on Sunday to garner support for the NDA candidate and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the Patna Sahib constituency.
Dressed in yellow kurta pyjama, Modi, accompanied by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Ravishankar Prasad, moved on a decorated chariot.
BJP conspiracy in Sandeshkhali: Mamata
Claiming that PM Modi was continuing to “peddle lies” about Sandeshkhali, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday questioned why he was silent on the allegations of molestation against Governor CV Ananda Bose and not asking him to resign. In an election rally in North 24 Parganas’ Amdanga, which is a part of the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, she said, adding the people know about the “BJP’s conspiracy” about Sandeshkhali. Banerjee said the Centre’s inaction against the governor, who is accused of molestation by a Raj Bhavan staffer, showed the BJP’s “true anti-woman character.”