NCW visits riot-hit Murshidabad; TMC calls panel BJP's political wing

A delegation of the National Commission for Women (NCW), led by its chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, on Saturday met riot-hit people in West Bengal's Murshidabad district and assured them that the Centre would take necessary steps to ensure their safety.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), however, questioned the NCW's neutrality, accusing it of functioning as a "political wing of the BJP."  During the visit, affected women shared their harrowing experiences from the recent communal violence, which claimed three lives.

They demanded the establishment of permanent BSF camps in select areas and called for an NIA probe into the clashes.

Rahatkar said, "I am dumbfounded by the agony these women are having to suffer. What they went through during the violence is beyond imagination."  The NCW chief assured the victims that there was "no cause for worry" as the Centre is with you.

"We have come here to see your plight. Please don't worry. The country and the commission are with you. Don't think that you are alone," Rahatkar told the victims at Betbona village.

Many of the riot-affected women broke down in tears during their interactions with the NCW team.

The villagers were seen holding placards that displayed messages such as 'We don't want Lakshmir Bhandar, we want BSF camp. We want security'.

'We are under attack,' read another placard. 'We demand resignation of chief minister for her failure to protect us,' said another placard.

NCW member Archana Majumdar told reporters that the Commission would report the women's demands to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, especially regarding the deployment of BSF camps in the area.

BJP MLA Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, who was accompanying the NCW team, told PTI Videos, "This is my constituency, Dakshin Malda. I have been contesting from here for the last 12 years, and what I have seen this time is unprecedented. I had never seen violence on such a scale here in the last 12 years."  The NCW team also visited the Dhulian area of Murshidabad district, which witnessed violence on a massive scale during protests against amendments to the Waqf Act on April 11 and 12.

They also visited a relief camp in Malda district on Friday and met those displaced by the Murshidabad riots.

"From what we've seen so far, the situation is extremely distressing. We can feel their pain and sufferings," the NCW chief said.

Slamming the NCW's visit, the TMC raised serious questions about the commission's neutrality and political motivations behind its narrative against Bengal.

Party's Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said NCW member Archana Majumdar, who has been prominently featured in media reports talking about the visit, is a "card-carrying BJP worker" who contested the 2021 Bengal elections on a BJP ticket before losing the race.

"What Modi's PR agency won't tell you is that this 'NCW member' Archana Majumdar contested the 2021 Bengal elections on a BJP ticket and lost. She's an active card-carrying BJP worker," Gokhale said, adding, "NCW has long been a political wing of the BJP. And they aren't even good at hiding it."  TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh drew parallels to previous NCW visits to the state, particularly to Sandeshkhali, claiming they followed a familiar pattern of spreading misinformation.

"When NCW visited Sandeshkhali the last time, that is when propaganda and misinformation began. The then-NCW chief Rekha Sharma and her team had designed anti-Bengal narratives to defame the state in multiple ways. They are now repeating the same playbook in Murshidabad."  Last year, residents of Sandeshkhali had raised concerns over how the commission and the local BJP unit collected signatures on blank papers that were later used to file fabricated rape complaints, he said.

"Why aren't they going to states other than Bengal? Where are they when there are atrocities against women in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh? They have come on a political assignment here and are roaming around with BJP 'daladash' (sympathisers). They have their own interests at stake," Ghosh said.

"BJP has an annual quota of sending a certain number of central teams to Bengal like they did in Bogtui case, post-poll violence and Sandeshkhali, among others. No one knows about the outcome of these Central teams and the CBI-NIA investigation," TMC leader Debangshu Bhattacharya said.

Three people were killed and hundreds rendered homeless during the clashes, which occurred in Muslim-majority areas, amidst protests against amendments to the central Waqf Act.