Kolkata
As criticism mounts against the West Bengal government regarding the Sandeshkhali case, certain Trinamool Congress leaders are casting doubt on the authenticity of the women’s protests, labeling them as orchestrated rather than spontaneous. These leaders have begun characterizing the female protesters as outsiders, and to bolster this claim, they are circulating a supplementary theory regarding the complexion of these women.
This dual theory has emerged just ahead of the planned visit by a field-inspection team from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to Sandeshkhali. It’s noteworthy that a significant portion of the protesting women belong to Scheduled Caste communities.
Narayan Goswami, Trinamool Congress legislator from Ashoknagar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, remarked, People from Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes often have distinct features in terms of body structure and skin complexion. Many of the women protesting in Sandeshkhali appear to have very fair complexions. This raises doubts about their background.
Goswami further alleged that investigations conducted by the party suggest that the protests at Sandeshkhali were primarily instigated by the CPI(M). He emphasized the need to share these findings with law enforcement, hinting at potential links between the protesters and the CPI(M).
In response, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, condemned Goswami’s remarks regarding skin complexion, promising to urge the NCSC to demand Goswami’s immediate arrest. Adhikari dismissed the Trinamool Congress’s attempts to deflect attention from the Sandeshkhali issue as a futile exercise.
