PM’s remarks on Sandeshkhali and Chopra couple flogging incidents must be expunged: Trinamool to Rajya Sabha Chairman 

The Trinamool Congress, in a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments regarding flogging of a couple at Chopra in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district and the alleged incidents in Sandeshkhali be expunged from the record. The party accused him of giving a “selective picture” of the two incidents. 

Mr. Modi made the comments during his reply to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Upper House. “A woman was being flogged in public. The woman was screaming but nobody stepped forward to help her and were instead making videos,” the PM said, referring to an incident in Chopra, where the perpetrator was reportedly a Trinamool worker. 

In a letter to Mr. Dhankhar, Trinamool MP Sagarika Ghose said that the accused in the case have been “promptly arrested and are behind bars”. “The West Bengal Police is determinedly pursuing the investigation and all the guilty will be brought to justice. As far as the Bengal government is concerned there is zero tolerance for crimes against women and law is taking its course without fear or favour. The party leadership has also shown zero tolerance for such conduct,” she wrote. 

The Prime Minister while flagging the Sandeshkhali events accused Trinamool of being silent on the issue. He said, “People were not able to bear what happened in Sandeshkhali as well. But veteran politicians who usually make tall speeches are silent on these matters. They do not express pain for these sisters. Why? Because it is connected to their political future and is tied up to a party and that State.”  

Ms. Ghose termed Sandeshkhali as a “disgraceful conspiracy by the BJP to defame the people of Bengal”. She said, “Blatant lies were told and fake rape complaints were organised by payments to helpless women. The captive legacy media was made part of this atrocious and shocking conspiracy, the truth of which was established by several digital journalists. Due to this expose the entire conspiracy backfired on the BJP. The people of Sandeshkhali and Bengal gave a befitting reply and BJP lost the elections.”