Shadows of goons

A village in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, Sandeshkhali has been witness to huge protests for over a week by women residents who are alleging atrocities and sexual harassment committed against them by local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders. The main “villain” of these condemnable acts is TMC leader and zilla parishad member Sheikh Shahjahan. Women from poor background, or tribals, have come out with complaints that the ruling Trinamool Congress leaders of the area are harassing them, raping them, and grabbing their land. The police, they say, were of no help and were rather helping the Trinamool gangs perpetrate such cruel acts on them. Shockingly, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had remained silent for days and when she did speak out, her focus was to accuse the opposition BJP of orchestrating the protests. It all started on January 5, when a mob thrashed and chased away Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials who had gone to Sandeshkhali to interrogate Shahjahan Sheikh in an alleged ration distribution scam. Sheikh has been absconding since then. After that incident, local women came out in large numbers alleging that Shahjahan and his men had usurped their lands to set up prawn farms and had been sexually harassing local women for years. These accusations sparked protests and a blame game between political parties. Tensions escalated further on February 8 when protesters set fire to three poultry farms owned by one of Sheikh’s men. On that day, the women in Sandeshkhali took to the streets with brooms and sticks, demanding the immediate arrest of Shahjahan and his two aides Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar. The Sandeshkhali atrocities highlights the situation in Bengal where goon squads who have been the storm troopers of the Left Front, switched to TMC to oust the Left Front government in 2011. The joy of the people of West Bengal in voting out the Marxists soon gave way to despair as the same goons who held people to ransom under the Left Front government continued to do what they used to do. The Sandeshkhali atrocities also reveal how the people of West Bengal today are suffering. The BJP is itself no better as it also has its own brand of elements who are ready to light the spark especially if it means having Hindus projected as victims under Mamata Banerjee’s government. The TMC government has been following a blatant appeasement policy in favour of Muslims. The people of the state and mostly non-Muslim majority community are more than fed up of the perpetration of this policy and may not likely vote enthusiastically again for Mamata in 2026. The current high pitch battle between the TMC and the BJP is a warm up for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls this year. The voters in Bengal could just send Mamata a strong message that they are no longer going to vote on the basis of local and non-local party. In the meanwhile, politically related crimes and murders in West Bengal need to be curbed and this can only happen under a court-monitored probe.