As the Sandeshkhali issue continues to rock West Bengal, the women of the tiny village in North 24 Parganas district thronged Barasat city to attend the Prime Minister's rally. This is Modi's third rally in the state this month after Arambagh and Krishnanagar.
The BJP had earlier said that the people from Sandeshkhali will attend the rally. State BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the "tortured women" will be present at the rally venue but is unclear whether the victims would meet the prime minister or not. The BJP state unit had vowed to facilitate a meeting of the victims with the Prime Minister if they were willing.
Before leaving for Barasat from Sandeshkhali, the women said they wanted to meet the Prime Minister to pray for justice and peace. "We are going to PM Modi to urge him to ensure that we can cast our vote, justice for atrocities against women and peace," a woman said.
Another woman, who is travelling to Barasat, told ANI that they want to meet the PM so that they can cast their votes in peace. "We want to live in peace. People like Shibu Hazra, Sheikh Shahjahan and Uttam Sardar should not come back. We can cast our votes ourselves".
Modi had attended a public rally in Bengal's Hooghly district last week where the Prime Minister addressed the crowd a day after the arrest of absconding Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh.
Slamming the Mamata Banerjee government, the Prime Minister said the entire nation was watching Bengal’s condition. He said the Chief Minister and the State government applied full strength to save Shajahan after the women of Sandeshkhali raised their voices and sought support from Banerjee. " The BJP leaders fought to save the honour of the women. Eventually, Bengal police had to arrest the accused yesterday, facing huge pressure from the people and the BJP," he said.
