The three tribal women who were seen crawling from the Bharatiya Janata Party to the Trinamool Congress office in Balurghat, West Bengal, as ‘penance’ for joining the BJP have claimed they were never with the party. However, The Indian Express has reported that their ‘Dandavat Parikrama’ was ordered by the local TMC leadership as a ‘demonstration of strength.’
In fact, the TMC leader who is married to one of the victim women acknowledged that the party had been under ‘pressure’ from ‘local higher-ups’ to oppose the BJP’s action. He made no mention of who these ‘higher-ups’ were. Shiuli Mardi, Thakran Soren, and Martina Kisku were the three women who were seen in the viral video doing the ‘Dandavat Parikrama’, crawling to the TMC office as ‘penance’ for joining BJP a day ago.
Rajen, the husband of Shiuli Mardi, said when asked about his wife and the other women being made to crawl, “I have been with the TMC since 2013. The party has taken action against the person who was responsible. I was under tremendous pressure from local higher-ups, I have nothing more to tell you. But I can tell you that neither my wife nor the other two women have ever been with any other party. We are Christians, how will we join the BJP.”
Rajen is a former gram panchayat pradhan and the TMC’s regional vice-president. A temporary police station is only around 20 yards away from their home.
Around 18 miles from Balurghat, the local BJP unit hosted a function on April 6 and stated that over 100 persons, largely women had joined the party.
The three females crawled from the TMC’s Dakshin Dinajpur district headquarters, which Balurghat falls under, to the local BJP office a day later, on Good Friday, rubbing their noses on the ground. According to Pradipta Chakraborty, president of the Trinamool Mahila Congress in the Dakshin Dinajpur district, the women were ‘misled’ into joining the BJP and as ‘penance’ they did the ‘parikrama’ before returning to the TMC.
The incident was recorded on camera, which caused an uproar among the public and prompted Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP chief, to write to President Droupadi Murmu and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
“Martina Kisku, Shiuli Mardi, Thakran Soren and Malati Murmu joined the BJP. They belong to the ST community. Today, TMC goons forced them to return to the ruling party and punished them by asking them to do a Dandavat Parikrama,” he proclaimed.
TMC has time and again insulted tribal people. This takes it even higher. This is highly condemnable. We firmly stand with our karyakartas and will do everything to protect them.
— Dr. Sukanta Majumdar (@DrSukantaBJP) April 7, 2023
Pradipta Chakraborty was fired from her position when the video of the three ladies crawling generated controversy. The three tribal women live in Missionpara, 16 km from Balurghat. On Wednesday, Shiuli Mardi (31), Thakran Soren (42), and Martina Kisku (30) noted that they didn’t want to discuss the ‘incident’ anymore. All three of them refused to comment when asked why they performed the ‘parikrama.’
Shiuli Mardi, a mother of one, mentioned, “What happened has happened. Today our party leaders came and talked with us, and consoled us. They said they are with us and will help us. We are okay now. We were, we are and we will be with Trinamool Congress. We never joined the BJP.”
Thakran Soren emphasised that she never joined the BJP and that she ‘took shelter at Rajen’s home after the media started hounding us.’ Her husband is a daily wager, and her son is a mason.
Martina Kisku, who is also a single mother, observed, “I was living in dread after the video went viral, but now I’m OK. I have informed TMC leaders that I have met that my voter card’s address needs to be altered. I receive no perks. They promised to take the necessary action.”
Snehalata Hembram, the new Trinamool Mahila Congress district chairman who has succeeded Pradipta Chakraborty, and Debu Tudu, the sabhapati of the state Adivasi cell of the TMC, were among the politicians who visited the village on Wednesday and spoke with the three women for more than an hour.
“Why are you asking us who made them do it? What happened was wrong. The person who is guilty of the wrongdoing has been immediately removed from all her posts. A tribal lady has been made the district Mahila Trinamool Congress president. Police have also registered a case,” responded Debu Tudu when asked about the instance.
Snehalata Hembram remarked, “What happened was terrible, and the party acted swiftly. I’m now here to watch out for the welfare of these three women as well as all the women in the area.”
Pradipta Chakraborty didn’t respond to any calls or messages seeking her side of the story. When The Indian Express went to her Balurghat residence. They were instructed to wait in a room and subsequently informed that she was not there.
The BJP’s local booth president in Badsankair, which is only a short distance from Missionpara, Swapan Sil, pointed to a little veranda next to his salon where the party’s recruiting session was conducted on Thursday.
“I was there and I helped organise the programme. It was a Mahila Morcha event where over 100 people joined. I have seen the video. Those three women were not present here,” he asserted. Sumati Karmakar, the district vice-president of BJP’s Mahila Morcha, whose house is about 8 km from Missionpara village, also denied knowing the three women.
She affirmed, “I was there when the joining took place. Mostly women and a few men were there. But I did not see these women. Trinamool Congress made their own supporters enact this drama. Since many are joining us, they aim to create such nonsense and mislead tribal people.”
In the meantime, TMC had a counter-program on Wednesday at the Daralhat neighbourhood near Balurghat, where Krishna Kujur, the BJP’s candidate for Tapan in the 2016 Assembly elections, joined the TMC.
“I was the BJP’s Adivasi leader in the district. However, I saw BJP indulging in politics of division in the name of religion. I believe in the development model o Mamata Banerjee and that’s why I have joined TMC with over 100 families,” he voiced.
