Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit West Bengal on 6 March to address a women’s programme in Barasat, about 82 kilometres from Sandeshkhali, which has been at the centre of a political row over allegations of rape and molestation of women allegedly by those associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Sandeshkhali is an island and Barasat is the closest the prime minister can hold a big programme. Both are in North 24 Parganas district.
A senior BJP leader told ThePrint that Modi would address women in Barasat at the conclusion of the Shakti Vandan Abhiyan outreach programme. “Modi will also virtually address women across the country from there,” the leader said.
Sources in the BJP said more than two lakh women are likely to participate in the event.
West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha chief Phalguni Patra told ThePrint that women from across West Bengal would attend the programme, including those from Sandeshkhali.
The Sandeshkhali incident has given the ruling party at the Centre an opportunity to corner Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has a huge support base among women in the state. Her party had won 22 seats in the last Lok Sabha polls while the BJP got 18 out of the state’s 42 constituencies.
Modi is also likely to inaugurate metro projects in the state, a party source said.
The BJP has been holding the Shakti Vandan Abhiyan programme – an initiative to connect with women self-help groups across the country — for the past month .
Giving details, a senior party functionary said a local yatra would be taken out by the Mahila Morcha from 4 March, which would conclude two days later with Modi’s address.
Patra said the party had gone door to door to create awareness for the prime minister’s programme. “Barasat is near Sandeshkhali so women from there will also participate. At the same time, those who were illegally put in jail and those protesting in Sandeshkhali will also participate.” The final details of the event are still being worked out, she added.
Sandeshkhali has been on the boil since an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team was beaten up in the area early January while on their way to interrogate Trinamool strongman Shahjahan Sheikh in connection with an alleged ration scam.
Wanted by the central agency, Sheikh has gone underground for nearly a month after the ED issued a summons to him. Soon afterwards, a group of women raised allegations of molestation and rape by Trinamool leaders.
The Bengal BJP is hopeful that the prime minister will raise the Sandeshkhali issue. Women in Sandeshkhali, however, are still covering their faces in order to conceal their identity as the matter remains sub-judice in the Calcutta High Court. The BJP may, therefore, find it tricky to get the programme watched nationally.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Fresh protests rock Sandeshkhali