The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
TMC may meet President with Sandeshkhali women: Minister
Panja: BJP took women to Rashtrapati Bhavan and misguided the President
THE TRINAMOOL Congress (TMC) on Saturday said it is planning to meet President Droupadi Murmu, along with a section of women of Sandeshkhali, and apprise her of what happened in the North 24 Parganas district. State Women and Child Development minister and TMC leader Shashi Panja, while addressing a news conference said, “We feel there is a need to take a team from Sandeshkhali on our behalf and apprise the President of what had actually happened in Sandeshkhali. We will seek the go-ahead from our top leadership for this.”
The announcement from the TMC came after a woman from Sandeshkhali said she was forced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to lodge a false rape complaint against TMC leaders.
Alleging that the BJP had taken a team from Sandeshkhali and had given a “false portrayal” to President Murmu, Panja said, “The BJP had taken a group of women to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and had misguided the President. They have shown disrespect to the high chair of the President. Therefore, there is a need to show the other side of the story as well.”
While the BJP had levelled allegations against local Trinamool Congress leaders of Sandeshkhali that they had sexually harassed women in the region, the charge has been refuted by the TMC, saying it was a false narrative of the BJP and that the BJP leaders had allegedly paid money to women of Sandeshkhali to make “the false allegations”.
A purported sting operation video, the authenticity of which has not been verified by The Indian Express, surfaced recently which showed local BJP leader Gangadhar Kayal admitting that the BJP had paid money to the women of Sandeshkhali to make false allegations of sexual harassment.
The senior TMC leader lashed out at the BJP for “spreading lies”. “The BJP is spreading lies every day. They are maligning the image of West Bengal by resorting to falsehood. Now we have to follow the right protocol to meet the President if our top leadership gives its approval,” Panja said, adding, “The BJP has stooped so low that the party has demeaned the prestige of women. They will get a befitting reply in the elections.”
In addition to this, Panja also alleged that the chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) was also involved in the conspiracy of the BJP in Sandeshkhali and that the TMC will lodge a complaint against her with the Election Commission.
“The BJP should either apologise for this or keep quiet. They want to portray that women are not safe in West Bengal in the Trinamool Congress regime. But in reality, that is not true. They are indulging in false narratives to win the Lok Sabha polls,” she said.