West Bengal, by all measures, has been a state where democracy and the rule of law go to perish. Mamata Banerjee has “ruled” with an iron fist, mercilessly crushing any voice of dissent and unleashing her goons on the hapless Hindus of Bengal. The post-poll violence in 2021 saw the state erupt with Hindu women being raped, men being murdered and houses being burnt – leading to 80,000 people living in Assam refugee camps.

Despite the violence and carnage, Mamata Banerjee has been hailed as a beacon of liberalism and democracy because she represents the kind of regime the “liberals” today want – one that keeps the pesky Hindus in check, and defeats the BJP no matter what method is used in the process.

On the 11th of February, TMC announced that it had nominated veteran propagandist Sagarika Ghose, wife of another veteran propagandist Rajdeep Sardesai, to the Rajya Sabha.

As soon as the news emerged, old tweets of Sagarika Ghose who used to fancy herself as a journalist, emerged. In these tweets and videos, Ghose was seen virtue signalling about how she would never accept a Rajya Sabha nomination from any political party and how it was simply impossible for journalists and politicians to be friends.

Hilariously, even her husband, Rajdeep Sardesai, had spoken extensively about the sham of journalists who accept Rajya Sabha nominations from political parties. In a blog on his site, titled ‘The Journalist as Neta’, he began asking the question, “Should journalists enter Rajya Sabha on a political party ticket?” In this 2018 blog, Sardesai advises against it and labels various tags and allegations for a berth in the upper house. He wrote, “The Upper House membership is afflicted by cronyism and deal-making: quid pro quos for favours, past and present, are the order of the day. Media owners turned netas are even more culpable in this regard, allowing their news channels and newspapers to be shamelessly used by those in political office. Networking/influence peddling, the scent of power and money are often the name of the game rather than a genuine desire to contribute to raising the bar in public life.” 

After the old tweets and videos of Sagarika Ghose and her husband emerged, the now openly political Sagarika Ghose took to X to explain herself.

Sagarika Ghose makes the following points to defend her decision to join TMC:

1. She stopped being a full-time journalist in 2020 and therefore, her old tweets are not applicable anymore.
2. Her old stand would have been applicable if she had switched to politics overnight while being a journalist.
3. She has joined TMC because of Mamata Banerjee’s commitment to democracy.

Frankly, one must not fault Sagarika Ghose for joining politics even after her stand that journalists must stay away from politicians. That blame stems from the very notion that Sagarika Ghose was a journalist, to begin with. One must remember that she is the same “journalist” who thought Hindus were chucking seamen-filled balloons on Holi and called former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam “bomb daddy”.

Nobody would remember the last journalistic investigation that Sagarika Ghose conducted and therefore, one should not fault her for being a sell-out journalist. One simply must acknowledge the fact that she was never a journalist, to begin with, and that she was always a political mouthpiece.

If her strange moral code of full-time journalists vs part-time journalists wasn’t enough, what is far more troubling is that Sagarika Ghose has justified her decision to join TMC by using punch words like democracy and constitutional democracy. She has always made it appear as if her decision to join TMC is a moral one, given that the “fascist” BJP believes in authoritarianism.

Now, one may like or dislike the BJP – in a democracy, that is a freedom every citizen has. However, to call TMC a party that is fighting for democracy is a bit of a stretch – one that is patently dishonest. Sagarika Ghose, however, could be right when she says that she is helping defeat the BJP because if most BJP workers are murdered in Bengal, there would be no BJP to defeat.

Sagarika’s insidious tribute to the virtues of TMC and Mamata Banerjee comes just as the Hindu women of Sandeshkhali are narrating harrowing tales of rape, sexual exploitation and threats by TMC goons.

Since February 8, several areas in Sandeshkhali of North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal have been on the boil as locals, mainly women, have hit the streets demanding the arrest of absconding TMC leader and Mamata Banerjee’s close aides Sheikh Shahjahan and two other TMC workers Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, believed to be close to Shahjahan. Hundreds of women residents of Sandeshkhali came out on the streets with brooms, sticks and farming tools and blocked the roads. They are demanding the arrest of Sheikh Shahjahan and his two aides Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, whom they have accused of making their lives miserable for quite some time, even from before the attack on the ED’s men. Sheikh Shahjahan is a close aide of Mamata Banerjee herself.

The women of Sandeshkhali have mounted grave allegations against Shahjahan and his men. They have said that married Hindu women from the area are picked up, based on how young and pretty they are, and are violated night after night till the TMC men are “satisfied”. The husbands of these women are also threatened and told that they have no “right” over their wives. If they attempt to stop the exploitation of the women, they are mercilessly beaten.

“You may be the husband but you cannot exercise your right. They would take your wife away for nights at a stretch. They would not release the women from their captivity until they were ‘fully satisfied. They have 20-30 goons with them. They would come in bikes and exercise their writ in the village,” one said.

With several such testimonies pouring in, it is particularly insidious that Sagarika Ghose would tout her political foray as a moral decision to uphold democracy.

Who is Sheikh Shahjahan

It may be recalled that Sheikh Shahjahan is the same TMC leader who went missing after as many as his 200 supporters attacked the Enforcement Directorate officials as well as the armed paramilitary forces accompanying the team when they tried to raid his residence in connection with the ration scam probe. 

The incident happened on January 5 and Shahjahan Sheikh was said to be the mastermind behind the attack. 

The loyalists circled the officials and demonstrated before assaulting them and forcing them to leave the area. They attacked the officers when they tried to break the lock of the gate, which Shahjahan Sheikh did not open despite multiple calls made by the ED officials.

The attackers not only caused grievous injuries to three ED officials, but they also seized personal things such as mobile phones and wallets, according to the investigation agency. The mob also attacked the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers who were accompanying the ED team.

Popularly referred to as ‘Betaj Badshah’, TMC’s Shahjahan Sheikh is an influential person in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, an area that is adjacent to the Bangladesh border. In June 2019, Shahjahan Sheikh was named as an accused in the FIR filed in connection with the murder of two BJP workers Pradip and Sukanta Mandal, but he had escaped any sort of police action.

Locals said that Sheikh has been involved in various illegal activities since 2006 but he has always surrounded himself with powerful people as a defensive tactic in case he gets charged with any wrongdoing. This is purportedly the reason why he got away in the BJP workers Pradip and Sukanta Mandal’s murder case.

On January 6 BJP leader Amit Malviya took to X to share a video of the brother of the deceased BJP worker Pradip Mandal wherein he narrates how his brother was brutally murdered by TMC goons led by Shahjahan Sheikh. The BJP leader revealed how after the murder, Sheikh, who was the prime accused in the case, easily escaped action by fleeing to Bangladesh.