Violence in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district continues to remain a political hot potato, with Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee accusing the BJP of attempting to incite a riot and the Opposition targeting the state government for not allowing its leaders to visit the area. 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” women from lower castes had been “raped” regularly by TMC workers. The state police ruled out a communal angle in the violence. What happened in Sandeshkhali last month? On January 5, three Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers were injured in an attack when a team of the central agency was on its way to raid the home of local TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan in the alleged ration scam. Shahjahan has been absconding since then. What triggered the latest round of violence? On February 8, over a month since Shahjahan disappeared, a group of local women wielding brooms and sticks took to the streets of Sandeshkhali and demanded the immediate arrest of the TMC strongman and his associates Shibu Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar. The following day, the women protesters set a poultry farm owned by Hazra on fire, with several local people alleging that the poultry farm functioned from a land the TMC leader had grabbed. The farm had become a centre for several illicit operations, they alleged, with women alleging Shahjahan and his supporters had been exploiting them for years. This sparked a political war of words between the TMC and the Opposition, especially the BJP, which attempted to paint this as an example of the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state. Last Friday, Congress and BJP delegations were stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali. What has been the TMC's response? Banerjee has accused the BJP and the RSS of fomenting trouble in the area. On February 15, the CM told the state Assembly, “It has come to light how BJP workers have been brought and how violence has been instigated in the area (Sandeshkhali). The primary target was (TMC leader) Sheikh Shahjahan and ED entered the area targeting him. Following this, they ousted everyone from there and fabricated an Adivasis versus minorities fight.” Alleging a “sinister design” at play,” she added, “It is not new. The RSS has a base there. Riots took place there seven to eight years ago. It is one of the vulnerable riot spots. We handled the situation strongly during Saraswati Puja or else there were other plans.” The BJP has dismissed these allegations. “The TMC now is trying to damage control by saying all these things. The main thing is that in Basirhat, people have been tortured for the last 10 years and now people are revolting and the TMC will have to face that heat in the coming Lok Sabha election,” said a senior leader of the Opposition party. Why is the TMC worried about Sandeshkhali? In short, polarisation along community and religious lines and a shrinking political footprint. A TMC leader said that as per the last Census report, 30% of Sandeshkhali’s population belongs to the minority community while 30% are Dalits and 26% are Adivasis. The TMC’s current Basirhat MP Nusrat Jahan, a Bengali film actress, is not a hands-on representative and according to party insiders, her popularity has taken a hit. This is why the party is feeling the heat as it believes its hold on the constituency is tenuous at the moment. Mamata’s comment about the BJP attempting to manufacture an “Adivasis versus Muslims” narrative is being viewed as an attempt to push back against the Opposition party's onslaught and ensure that the TMC’s hold in the constituency does not fracture. If the BJP manages to consolidate itself among Dalits and Adivasis, the TMC’s footprint in the area is expected to shrink as then it will be able to count only on votes from the minority community. A senior TMC leader who is one of the party’s founder members and helped it grow in Basirhat said, “What the CM said is true but what she did not say is that the current situation in Sandeshkhali is the result of our strategy here. Not only Sandeshkhali, but neighbouring areas such as Haroa and Minakhan also have strongmen from the minority community. This has given space to the RSS to consolidate their presence here. In Sandeshkhali, for the last three to four years, the RSS has regularly organised camps and TMC leaders from the majority community allowed them to grow.” Did a TMC minister’s arrest weaken the party? Both a TMC leader and a local CPI(M) functionary said the ruling party had become vulnerable since the arrest of minister Jyotipriya Mullick in the alleged ration scam. A ruling party leader said, “After Jyotipriya Mallick’s arrest, all strongmen of TMC became weak. Now if the party cannot control the damage, it may lose the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency. That is the main headache for us now.” A CPI(M) district committee leader said Mallick used to control North 24 Parganas for the TMC and appointed strongmen like Sheikh Shahjahan in Sandeshkhali as well as Minakhan and Haroa. “They transformed farmlands into fisheries and were involved in widespread extortion and corruption. Farmlands were captured and turned into fisheries. No farmer got any compensation.” On the defensive over the land-grabbing allegations, local TMC leaders last Friday started a survey in the area to identify all those who have not received compensation for their land.
