NCW in Murshidabad to repeat Sandeshkhali script, says Trinamool

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Saturday, alleged the National Commission for Women’s (NCW) has been acting as a political wing of BJP and raised questions on its neutrality. The ruling party in Bengal also termed the Commission’s visit to troubled areas of Murshidabad as its political agenda. Trinamool Congress spokesperson, 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 the Bangla Birodhi plans to defame Bengal in multiple ways,” Ghosh said, adding that the commission is now repeating the same playbook in Murshidabad. Residents of Sandeshkhali last year 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. Trinamool Congress leaders questioned the NCW’s selective approach to addressing women’s issues, pointing out their absence in states governed by the BJP. Speaking on the issue, Ghosh 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.” Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale revealed that 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: This ‘NCW member’ Archana Majumdar contested the 2021 Bengal elections on a BJP ticket & lost. She’s an active card-carrying BJP worker,” Gokhale stated, adding: “NCW has long been a political wing of the BJP. And they aren’t even good at hiding it.” Youth Trinamool Congress leader Debangshu Bhattacharya said: “BJP has an annual quota of sending a certain number of central teams to Bengal like they did in the Bogtui case, post-poll violence, and Sandeshkhali, among others. No one knows about the outcome of these Central teams and the CBI-NIA investigation.” Later in the day, on a post on X, TMC stated: “A Bangla-Birodhi CONSPIRACY is underway to vilify Bengal with MALICE. @NCWIndia, conspicuously absent when women are stripped of their dignity in Double Engine states, have descended upon Bengal to serve a POLITICAL AGENDA. It’s a SMEAR CAMPAIGN, engineered at the behest of their political masters.”