BJP Fields Sandeshkhali Woman from Basirhat LS Seat, Faces Stiff Resistance from Locals

Posters appeared in a few places in Sandeshkhali area denouncing the candidature of BJP Lok Sabha poll nominee Rekha Patra who the saffron party has fielded from Basirhat seat.

Basirhat(WB): It has been barely a day since the BJP announced the name of Rekha Patra as their candidate for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat that a large section of residents in the once restive area of Sandeshkhali has protested against the choice.

Several women lined up along the roads of the island that acts as a gateway to the Sundarbans along with posters, protesting the BJP's choice. The women, with posters reading, "Rekha Patra is not our candidate" or "We don't want Rekha Patra as our candidate," also raised slogans demanding that the BJP immediately change their candidate from Basirhat seat.

Though the local BJP leadership of North 24 Parganas district have squarely blamed the Trinamool Congress for orchestrating the protests in an effort to counter the candidature of Rekha, the Trinamool has blamed infighting within the saffron party behind the rejection of Rekha by a section of residents in Sandeshkhali.

Incidentally, Rekha Patra was one of the first persons to raise voice against alleged physical intimidation, abuse and torture by Trinamool Congress strongmen in Sandeshkhali and it was based on her complaint that the police had arrested Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar, two close accomplices of Sandeskhali mastermind Sheikh Shahjahan. Rekha was among the handful of women who had travelled to Barasat earlier this month to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a BJP Mahila Morcha rally.

The BJP had on Sunday announced the names of 19 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as part of its second instalment of candidates for West Bengal and one of the surprises was that of Rekha Patra. The Trinamool Congress has already fielded Haji Nurul Islam by replacing sitting Trinamool MP Nusrat Jahan, who won the seat in 2019 by around 3,50,000 votes against BJP candidate Sayantan Basu.

The protesters today said Rekha lacked adequate educational qualifications and was not a proper choice as a candidate. They demanded that BJP immediately change the candidate. Some protesters also alleged that Rekha was yet to formally join the BJP. The state leadership of the BJP is yet to respond to the rumblings in Sandeshkhali over the party's Basirhat candidate.

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