Time to save West Bengal, throw out Mamata Banerjee govt: BJP on Sandeshkhali violence

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for questioning the version of some of the complainant women in Sandeshkhali, saying she has made "very cheap" remarks and that it was time to throw out her government.

BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said women's protests in Sandeshkhali were spontaneous and there was no politics in it as her party has only tried to protect them and raise their voices.

She also claimed that what happened to women in Sandeshkhali was a reminder of atrocities against women in countries like Iraq and Pakistan.

The local TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh, who is seen as a key accused in the complaints of sexual atrocities and land grab, is being protected by Banerjee, the Lok Sabha member alleged.

That is why police have not been able to arrest him, she said, noting that some of his aides have been nabbed.

"He should be hanged. He deserves nothing less than capital punishment," she said, alleging that Hindu women in the area were targeted and the accused sheltered by the administration as the TMC cares for "30 per cent votes", an apparent reference to Muslim voters.

"What she is saying is very cheap. These are spontaneous protests. It is time to save West Bengal and throw out the Mamata Banerjee government," Chatterjee said when asked about the chief minister's claim questioning the accounts of some of the women.

Banerjee on Sunday said that "an incident was made to happen" in Sandeshkhali and blamed it on the BJP for having it scripted along with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the media.

Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, also said that not a single woman in Sandeshkhali has lodged any FIR and it was she who had directed the police to initiate a suo motu case in this connection.

Chatterjee asserted that no FIR was registered because the local administration was hand in glove with the accused and acted like TMC members.

Women are most unsafe in a state ruled by the country's only woman chief minister, she said.