Posters against Sandeshkhali 'victim' after BJP picks her for LS poll

Handwritten posters appeared in a few places in Sandeshkhali area denouncing the candidature of BJP Lok Sabha poll nominee Rekha Patra, an alleged victim of torture at the hands of arrested and now-suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his aides.

The BJP has pointed fingers at the TMC for this, while the ruling party of West Bengal rejected the charge.

Patra, who is yet to join the BJP officially, was fielded from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. Sandeshkhali is part of that constituency.

Posters bearing slogans such as "We don't want Rekha as a candidate" and "We don't want Rekha Patra as BJP candidate" were found on Monday, a day after the BJP announced her nomination from the seat.

A local BJP leader said, "Those posters were not ours. The Trinamool Congress has done this to indulge in cheap politics."

The TMC, however, denied the accusation.

However, some women of the locality are happy that Patra got the nomination to contest the election.

"We could not see an MP in the past. Now we may have an MP from our village," one of the local women said.

Patra was among the most vocal protestors of Sandeshkhali. The police arrested Shibu Hazra, a local muscleman and Shajahan Sheikh's associate, based on her complaint.

Patra is also believed to have been part of the group that met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of his public meeting in Barasat on March 6 and narrated the plight of Sandeshkhali women to the PM.

"Let (Bengal CM) Mamata Banerjee wipe the tears of women like her, who are suffering in silence, and are subject to her apathy, before she asks for their vote," Amit Malviya, the BJP's West Bengal co-incharge, said in a post on X.

The riverine island of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district was on the boil for several days over allegations of sexual atrocities on women and land grabbing by Sheikh and his cohorts.

Sheikh was arrested by the state police last month in connection with an assault on Enforcement Directorate officers on January 5. The CBI is now investigating the case and Sheikh is now in the custody of the central agency.