Union Home Minister Amit Shah today alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee turned a blind eye to the torture of women of Sandeshkhali “due to their religion”. Shah was in Bengal to address three election rallies for his party’s candidates in Ranaghat, Birbhum and Asansol constituencies.
“Shame on Mamata. She is a woman Chief Minister, yet during her tenure, women have been persecuted on the basis of religious identity in Sandeshkhali. TMC leaders tortured hundreds of our sisters based on religion. Mamata Didi was not ready to arrest the criminals of Sandeshkhali. Even after the High Court’s order, the investigation was not done, so the High Court handed over the probe to the CBI,” Shah said.
Regarding Sandeshkhali, where complaints of sexual abuse have emerged against Trinamool Congress leaders, Amit Shah said the BJP “will not spare single culprit and will hang them upside down to make them straight”.
Shah said it was a matter of shame that “Mamata Banerjee, despite being a woman Chief Minister, tried to protect the culprits”.
Shah also said: “Whoever has committed atrocities in Sandeshkhali, even if he hides in the pataal lok, we will find him and put him in prison. The BJP will punish these culprits.”
His comments come a day after multiple purported videos of Sandeshkhali women, shared by the Trinamool Congress, claimed that a local BJP leader had made those women sign blank papers which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault.
He also charged the Mamata Banerjee Government of perpetrating scams amounting to “Rs 12 lakh crore”. He alleged that the Mamata Banerjee Government had indulged in scams in each and every sphere of public life. “Be it recruitment in schools or in municipal bodies, be it cow smuggling or coal, you have indulged in corruption in every sphere.,” he charged.
He said: “Bengal, under Mamata Banerjee, has reached the number 1 rank as far as corruption is concerned”. “Those involved in corruption won’t be spared and the culprits will be sent to jail, no one will be spared,” he added.
While addressing an election rally at Majdia in Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat in Nadia district, Shah alleged that Banerjee was “misleading” people on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and slammed the TMC dispensation over alleged corruption cases in the state.
Shah, while addressing the considerable Matua population in the Lok Sabha seat, criticised Banerjee for opposing CAA, and “taking out rallies in support of infiltrators”. “But I am telling you clearly, no one can raise a hand on CAA. Mamata has opposed CAA to safeguard her vote bank. Every refugee will be given citizenship,” he said. In one part of the speech, the Home Minister also broached the topic of Ram Mandir.