What About Women Wrestlers? Asks Trinamool On PM's Sandeshkhali Remark

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "double standards", the Trinamool today said he has no right to lecture on women's security as BJP leaders were charged with sexually harassing female wrestlers.

Senior TMC leader and party's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien also claimed that 51 cases of crimes are being registered against women in the country every hour and asked the Prime Minister what he has done to improve the situation.

While addressing a rally at Barasat today, PM Modi on Wednesday said the "storm of Sandeshkhali" will reach every part of West Bengal, asserting that 'Nari Shakti' (woman power) will play a pivotal role in decimating the ruling TMC in the state.

The riverine island of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district has been on the boil over allegations of sexual atrocities on women and land grabbing by suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his cohorts.

"Today, PM Narendra Modi lectured on Nari Shakti. Three questions to you, Sir - Why are there 51 cases of crimes against women every hour? Why does BJP have 13 per cent women in Lok Sabha, why only 14 per cent women in 195 candidate list?" Mr O'Brien said in a post on his X handle.

Mr O'Brien's third question was: "Why no action against BJP MP charged with sexually harassing wrestlers?" The question alluded to BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, who is accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers. Singh, however, rejected the accusations.

Wondering if PM Modi has the moral right to speak on the steps taken by his government against rapists, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev said, "BJP leaders and workers had felicitated rapists of Bilkis Bano."

The 11 convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case of Gujarat were released following a Supreme Court order, and they were welcomed by BJP leaders with garlands following their release from jail in 2023. The top court on January 8 this year, however, quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to those convicts.

Ms Dev said, "You (PM Modi) are talking about women's safety when female wrestlers of Haryana had been beaten black and blue by Delhi Police for protesting outside Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Where was your helpline for women then?"

Accusing PM Modi of "double standards", she claimed, "Your rhetorical speeches are nothing but a joke. Your real face is anti-woman and whole India knows that."

West Bengal minister and senior TMC leader Shashi Panja said, "PM Modi has no right to invoke the name of Maa Sarada and Nari Shakti in his speech, going by the track record of his party leaders who had ridiculed a revered personality like Maa Sarada in a meme." He should hold the mirror to himself first, she added.
 

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