State ministers visit Sandeshkhali, listen to villagers’ grievances

All the issues will be resolved. All the complaints will be addressed. No wrongdoers will be spared. The police are taking stern action,” Bose told reporters

PTI, Sandeshkhali, Feb 24, 2024 :  A TMC delegation, which visited trouble-torn Sandeshkhali on Saturday, assured people that they will get justice and no wrongdoers will be spared.

The delegation comprising Sujit Bose and Partha Bhowmick, ministers of the West Bengal government, visited the area and spoke to the locals.

“All the issues will be resolved. All the complaints will be addressed. No wrongdoers will be spared. The police are taking stern action,” Bose told reporters after visiting the area.

This is the third visit by senior TMC leaders to the trouble-torn area.

Villagers in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district vented their grievances to the ministers.

“We have assured villagers of solving the problems and asked those who claimed that their land plots were taken away to lodge complaints,” Bose, the minister for fire and emergency services, said.

The ministers went to Sandeshkhali, which has been witnessing protests over allegations of sexual atrocities and land grabs by some local Trinamool Congress leaders, to take stock of the situation.

“Those who are found guilty of the allegations will be brought to book,” Bose said.

Bhowmick, the irrigation minister, said they came to Sandeshkhali as the state ministers and not as TMC leaders.

Sandeshkhali’s TMC MLA Sukumar Mahato, who accompanied the delegation, asserted a proactive stance in resolving land disputes.

“All measures are being taken to swiftly redress the grievances of the people,” he said.

The unrest in Sandeshkhali stems from accusations against TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his supporters of land grabbing and sexual assault, with Shahjahan evading authorities since a mob attack on Enforcement Directorate officials on January 5.

Tension, however, erupted in Halder Para area of Sandeshkhali in the morning when some villagers tried to attack a TMC supporter but the police brought the situation under control, an officer said.

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, on the other hand, likened the situation in Sandeshkhali to Nandigram, where a movement against “forcible” land acquisition by the then Left Front government in 2007-08 catapulted the TMC to power in 2011.

“The situation in Sandeshkhali is like Nandigram… people have brought serious allegations of land-grabbing, vote-looting, sexual harassment and murder of democracy in the area,” he told reporters in Kolkata.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC are still in force in certain parts of Sandeshkhali.

The region has been rocked by protests over allegations of land grabbing and sexual atrocities on women by some local TMC leaders, including Sheikh Shajahan.

Two TMC leaders – Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar- have been arrested by the police on complaints by the villagers.

Some villagers, a CPI(M) leader and a BJP activist were also arrested by the police over violent protests in the area.