Shadow of Sandeshkhali row casts shadow on Basirhat

Basirhat is a hot seat this time as the incidents in Sandeshkhali, which is part of this LS constituency, had turned into a perfect poll plank for the BJP to hit the ruling TMC with, and the state's ruling party in turn rebutting it. It has been the epicentre of the slanging match between the BJP and the TMC over the last three months with the BJP raising allegations of torture and assault of women and targeting former Trinamool strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.

Sandeshkhali has remained the central theme of the BJP's campaign all through in Bengal from March with Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising the issue at an all-women's rally in Barasat on March 7. Following this, everyone -- right from the prime minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and all other central BJP leadership who visited Bengal -- made it a point to highlight the issue. BJP has fielded Rekha Patra, a young woman from Sandeshkhali, who was subject to the assault.

The Trinamool has also turned the narrative on this issue in its favour after a number of viral videos (veracity of which was not authenticated by ET) surfaced. These videos showed some women who claimed that they were pressurised and falsely implicated to sign blank papers, where complaints about assault on them were written by the BJP leaders.


After the purported videos surfaced, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee started attacking the BJP for making fake videos and called the whole Sandeshkhali episode a "conspiracy" hatched by the BJP. But this didn't stop the BJP from continuing its attack on Trinamool on Sandeshkhali.

The Sandeshkhali assembly seat has witnessed vehement protests by women since February.

"We will give a befitting reply to the people who are maligning the women of Sandeshkhali. The chief minister's pet miscreants have raised their heads in Sandeshkhali. What happened in Sandeshkhali...mothers and sisters will continue to speak out. We will give the Basirhat seat to Modiji as a gift," Rekha Patra said. "I will fight the oppression and violence against women in the area. The people of Basirhat are with me," she said.

"Sandeshkhali women want justice. I have full faith in Rekha Patra. She is fighting for 'nari shakti ki samman' (respect for women power). Patra is fighting Trinamool and she is Ma Durga's true disciple. That Shahjahan Sheikh's courage must not increase anymore. So, we must make her (Patra) win. There are so many Sheikh Shahjahans in the state and they must all be punished," Modi had said at a public rally in Barasat two days back. Modi had handpicked Rekha Patra for the seat.

Trinamool has fielded its old hand Haji Nurul in this constituency dominated by the minority community. CPI(M) has fielded former Sandeshkhali MLA Nirapada Sardar, who was arrested by the police during the recent Sandeshkhali protests.

Sandeshkhali has many vote banks -- women, minorities and Adivasis.

Mamata Banerjee has made it clear in her campaigns that people should not relate Sandeshkhali with the assault on women and that Bengal is a safe state. The prime minister has also been trying to woo the women votebank here.

Basirhat, located along the Ichhamati river, has a rich political history marked by migrations.