North 24 Parganas (West Bengal) [India], May 6 : The Trinamool Congress (TMC) held a protest march in Sandeshkhali's Trimohini area against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) alleged conspiracy against women in the riverine island after a sting operation revealed that the BJP was involved in scripting the entire incident.
Scores of TMC workers participated in the protest march and also screened the video of the sting operation under the initiative of Sandeshkhali MLA Sukumar Mahato.
"Women in Sandeshkhali were insulted. The BJP conspired and insulted women in West Bengal through women in Sandeshkhali. We are protesting against that," a TMC leader said.
A woman protester said that key accused in the Sandeshkhali, Shibu Hazra and Uttar Sardar were "helpful" and not the way it was portrayed in the media earlier.
"Shibu and Uttam are good people, not the way it was portrayed in the media. They help others. The BJP has wronged them. What is true is coming to light now," Ashtami Mondol, a woman protester said.
On Saturday, a video of a sting operation surfaced that has stirred up controversy in Sandeshkhali which was broadcast by a local television channel. In the alleged video, a person, purportedly a BJP Mandal (booth) president named Gangadhar Koyal is heard saying that Sandeshkhali women, who weren't sexually assaulted, were projected as 'rape' victims at the behest of the LoP.
Claiming that Suvendu 'helped' him get this done, the person in the video said that the former told him that the TMC's strongmen in the area wouldn't be arrested unless he is falsely implicated in a "rape case".
However, the news channel that broke the alleged sting operation did not check the veracity of the clip.
Shahjahan, the key Sandeshkhali accused, is currently behind bars in connection with the attack on a team of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) while it was in the process of raiding his residence in connection with the alleged ration scam.
The women of Sandeshkhali in the North 24 Parganas district came out on the streets earlier against the ruling TMC and Shahjahan, accusing the strongman and his aides of perpetrating gross excesses and atrocities on them while also gobbling up their land. Multiple women on the island accused Shajahan and his aides of "land-grab and sexual assault" under coercion.