Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma believes that Sandeshkhali could be the “downfall” of his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress. The state BJP leaders have already been accusing the police and the administration of working hand in glove with the perpetrators as they exploited women and usurped their lands.

West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali has been on the boil for weeks over allegations of sexual atrocities on girls and land grabbing by native Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders.

National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma on Monday said 18 complaints had been received from women in Sandeshkhali, of which two are complaints of rape. On February 12, Union Minister Smriti Irani alleged that “Hindu” girls from decrease castes had been “raped” regularly by TMC workers. The state police ruled out a communal angle in the violence.

What is Happening in Sandeshkhali?

• For almost a month, Sandeshkhali, a village in West Bengal, has been witnessing a political storm amid allegations of sexual harassment by numerous women against a local Trinamool Congress workers.

• After the Enforcement Directorate raided TMC’s Shahjahan Sheikh house in Sandeshkhali, local women came out in large numbers and alleged that Shajahan and his men forcibly grabbed their land for prawn cultivation, torturing and sexually harassing them for several years.

• Women in Sandeshkhali have been staging protests for the past several week in response to purported atrocities. This prompted the BJP to send a mission to look into the matter. When a team of BJP leaders went to the area, they were reportedly stopped by the Mamata Banerjee government, triggering further protests and clashes.

• “The condition of Bengal is very bad, the journalists there who are trying to show the reality are also being arrested. The incident that happened in Sandeshkhali, one cannot even imagine about it,” Himanta Biswa Sarma mentioned.

• Leader of opposition in West Bengal meeting Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday described as “horrific” and “emblematic of anarchy” the scenario in Sandeshkhali after visiting the trouble-torn space following the intervention of the Calcutta excessive court docket.

• Fugitive TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan is singularly answerable for unrest in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, and regulation and order there “can’t be restored” so long as he is on the run, Calcutta high court chief justice T S Sivagnanam said on Tuesday, adding that Mamata Banerjee govt “can’t be supporting him”. “One person is holding whole inhabitants to ransom and defying regulation…Let him seem earlier than court docket and submit that allegations (levelled by ED) are baseless,” CJ mentioned.

• Two Trinamool Congress MPs have welcomed West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose’s move to open the doors of the Raj Bhavan for the victimised women of trouble-torn region who feel unsafe in their homes. Contai MP Sisir Adhikari and his younger son Tamluk MP Dibyendu have praised the governor for realising the situation of the tormented women of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district.

• A Sikh IPS officer, who was deputed to stop senior West Bengal BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari from visiting restive Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, on Tuesday slammed saffron occasion activists for allegedly dubbing him as a ‘Khalistani‘.

• BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul, accompanying Adhikari, claimed that the police officer wasn’t fulfilling his duties, however dismissed the allegation that BJP supporters referred to as him a ‘Khalistani’.

• National Commission for Schedule Tribes has issued a notice on Sandeshkhali. The panel will send a team to the area tomorrow, February 22.

• The Bharatiya Janata Party held a press conference on Wednesday morning, where former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that “Mamata Banerjee will have to pay” for the Sandeskhali incident. He additional questioned why different events had been silent on the problem.

• “Sandeskhali difficulty is critical…What is rising concerning the blatant assault, humiliating remedy and sexual assault of ladies is a disgrace on our society and democracy. Mamata Banerjee continues to be defending it. Why? One journalist was additionally arrested. What does Mamata Banerjee wish to conceal, and why? To save her political repute, a lady CM is risking the honour of ladies. Why? Where has her conscience died? Why are the events silent? I heard {that a} girl chief of the CPI(M) visited the world however the CPI(M) has not opposed it (the incident), it has not made a public remark. Rahul Gandhi is silent,” Prasad said.