The Bharatiya Janata Party refuses to budge from its position of keeping the issue of Sandeshkhali burning, after all the larger purpose is yet to be served— reap political gains in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
Even in the wake of the arrest of the prime accused of Sheikh Shahjahan, the prime accused in the Sandeshkhali case, the BJP’s leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari announced a ‘mega’ public meeting in the strife-torn Sunderbans on March 10. There is another angle to the development as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also slated to launch Trinamool Congress’s poll campaign on the same day from Brigade Parade Ground.
Adding that nearly 20,000 people will be present, BJP leader Adhikari said, “I will be present on March 10. I have faith that the people of Bengal are with us. By compelling the state government to arrest Shahjahan, we have won half the battle, there is still a lot left for achieving full victory.”
The announcement came when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is about to visit the state. Starting March 1, PM Modi will be on a two-days visit to West Bengal.
In an attempt to hint on further plans, Adhikari said that the entire film is yet to be made. This suggests that the BJP will keep the Sandeshkhali pot boiling, as a counter narrative to whatever TMC’s poll agendas come forth.
Additionally, the BJP wants to keep the Sandeshkhali region in its hands. The larger picture is that there are high chances of polarisation; two blocks in the region have around 35 per cent minority population.
Adhikari added that the locals of Sandeshkhali will be served justice only when central investigative agencies are given to conduct the probe. “We will not put our feet down till central agencies probe the allegations against Shahjahan. Earlier, we have witnessed how state police tamper with evidence to save the face of the government. We will not let this happen this time."
The BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar, reiterated what Adhikari had said: “There are several Shahjahans who live in West Bengal. BJP will expose them all.”
As far as the central probe agencies — Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation — are concerned, the ED counsel, Dhiraj Trivedi, has approached the Calcutta High Court in demand of letting the CBI probe the matter single-handedly, instead of a joint venture by the CBI and state police. A hearing on this is slated to take place today.
Pertaining to ED’s demand, additional director general of police Supratim Sarkar has blamed the ED for nor taking optimum measures to arrest Shahjahan. “If the ED is fearing tampering of evidence by the state police then they should have arrested Shahjahan. We might have had legal hurdles in arresting him. However, that was not the case with the ED,” said Sarkar.
Notably, the case is with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and how far the victims of Sandeshkhali will get justice is yet to be seen.
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