3 women crawling in video: Husband of one admits pressure from local TMC ‘higher-ups’

Videograb of the ‘Dandavat Parikrama’ by the women

On April 6, the local BJP unit held a programme at nearby Badsankair — about 18 km from Balurghat — where, it said, over 100 people, mostly women, had joined the party.

A day later, on Good Friday, the three women reportedly crawled from close to the BJP’s local office to the TMC’s Dakshin Dinajpur district headquarters – under which Balurghat falls.

Pradipta Chakraborty, president of the Trinamool Mahila Congress in Dakshin Dinajpur district, claimed that the three women had been “misled” into joining the BJP, and that as “penance” they performed the “parikrama” before rejoining TMC.

The act was caught on camera, triggering widespread outrage and prompting the state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar to write to President Droupadi Murmu and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

“Martina Kisku, Shiuli Mardi, Thakran Soren and Malati Murmu…joined the BJP…They belong to the ST community. Today, TMC goons forced them to return to the ruling party and punished them by asking to do a Dandavat Parikrama,” he tweeted Saturday.

As the video of the three women crawling drew heat, Pradipta was removed from her post.

The three tribal women live in Missionpara, 16 km from Balurghat. On Wednesday, standing at the entrance of her home, 31-year-old Shiuli Mardi along with the two other tribal women, Thakran Soren (42) and Martina Kisku (30), said they didn’t want to talk about the “incident.”

Said Shiuli, a mother of one: “What happened has happened. Today our party leaders came and talked with us, consoled us. They said they are with us and will help us. We are okay now. We were, we are and we will be with Trinamool Congress. We never joined the BJP.”

Asked why they performed the “parikrama,” all three declined to comment.

Shiuli’s husband Rajen is TMC’s local vice-president and a former gram panchayat pradhan. Barely 20 metres from their home is a temporary police post.

When asked about his wife and the other women being made to crawl, Rajen said: “I have been with the TMC since 2013. The party has taken action against the person who was responsible. I was under tremendous pressure from local higher-ups, I have nothing more to tell you. But I can tell you that neither my wife nor the other two women have ever been with any other party. We are Christians, how will we join the BJP?”

Thakran, whose husband is a daily wager and son a mason, reiterated that she never joined the BJP, and that she “took shelter at Rajen’s home after the media started hounding us”.

Kisku, a mother of one, said: “After the video went viral, I was living in fear, but now I am fine. I have told TMC leaders who met me that the address on my voter card has to be changed. I do not get benefits. They said they will do the needful.”

On Wednesday, Debu Tudu, the sabhapati of TMC’s state Adivasi cell and Snehalata Hembram, the new Trinamool Mahila Congress district chief who has replaced Pradipta, were among leaders who visited the village and met the three women for over an hour.

Tudu, when asked about the incident, said: “Why are you asking us who made them do it? What happened was wrong. The person who is guilty of the wrongdoing has been immediately removed from all her posts. A tribal lady has been made the district Mahila Trinamool Congress president. Police have also registered a case.”

Echoing this, Hembram said: “What happened was wrong and the party took prompt action…Now I am here to look after the well-being of these three women and all women in the district.”

Pradipta did not respond to calls and messages seeking a comment. The Indian Express visited her home in Balurghat and was told to wait in a room and was later told that she was not home.

Barely a kilometre away from Missionpara, at Badsankair, Swapan Sil, BJP’s local booth president, pointed to a small veranda near his salon where the party’s recruitment programme was held Thursday.

“I was there and I helped organise the programme. It was a Mahila Morcha event where over 100 people joined. I have seen the video. Those three women were not present here,” said Sil.

Speaking to The Indian Express at her home, about 8 km from Missionpara village, Sumati Karmakar, the district vice-president of BJP’s Mahila Morcha, also denied knowing the three women.

“I was there when the joining took place. Mostly women and a few men were there. But I did not see these women. Trinamool Congress made their own supporters enact this drama. Since many are joining us, they aim to create such nonsense and mislead tribal people,” said Sumati.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Trinamool Congress organised a counter-programme at Daralhat area near Balurghat where Krishna Kujur, who was the BJP’s candidate from Tapan in the 2016 Assembly polls, joined TMC. When contacted, Kujur said: “I was the BJP’s Adivasi leader in the district. However, I saw BJP indulging in politics of division in the name of religion. I believe in the development model of Mamata Banerjee and that’s why I have joined TMC with over 100 families.”