Kolkata: Amid the recent Ram Navami violence followed by the tense atmosphere on Hanuman Jayanti, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar courted fresh controversy by alleging that Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders do not respect tribals. Posting a video on social media, Majumdar claimed that tribal women were forced to do 'dandavat parikrama' as a punishment for joining the BJP.
In the 27-second video, three women were seen stretching on the road apparently performing dandavat while vehicles passed by. Taking to Twitter, Majumdar wrote: "Martina Kisku, Shiuli Mardi, Thakran Soren and Malati Murmu, resident of Tapan Gofanagar, Tapan, joined BJP yesterday. They belong to ST community. Today, TMC goons forced them to return to TMC and punished them by asking to do Dandavat Parikrama." Condemning the incident, he alleged TMC of insulting the tribals and assured to protect the party workers. "We firmly stand with our karyakartas and will do everything to protect them," he wrote. According to sources, the incident occurred in South Dinajpur's Balurghat on Friday evening. It was learnt that around 200 people defected to BJP the previous day. BJP has decided to approach the State Women's Commission over the incident. Local TMC leaders, however, said that the tribal women returned to the party after realising their mistake of joining the BJP.
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The controversy has rose soon after the West Bengal government came under scrutiny after clashes rocked several parts of the state during Ram Navami. The BJP had blamed chief minister Mamata Banerjee for not taking adequate measures to handle the situation.
