Sandeshkhali storm will rise in entire Bengal: PM Modi lashes out at TMC govt

Modi was in Barasat, a neighbourhood of Kolkata, to address a rally organised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mohila Morcha or women's wing on Wednesday afternoon.

Slamming the TMC government ahead of Women's Day, the Prime Minister said, "TMC leaders are torturing poor, Dalit, deprived and Adivasi women but the party bestows trust in those leaders and not women of the state.

"Women of Bengal as well as India are angry. The anger of women will not be restricted to Sandeshkhali but will raise a storm in entire Bengal."

Modi, who skipped taking the name of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, also slammed the TMC government over its plea challenging the Calcutta High Court's order to transfer Sandeshkhali prime accused Sheikh Shahjahan to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He said, "The Sandeshkhali incident hanged our heads in shame. But the TMC govt is indifferent to the suffering of women. They are using full power to safeguard the accused. First High Court and now in the Supreme Court, the state government faced a setback."

Countering Modi's claims, TMC Rajya Sabha MP-elect Sagarika Ghose said, "Mr. Modi, let me remind you that it was your party who so mockingly caricatured our revered Maa Sarada. It was your party who fielded first as a candidate from Asansol, a singer, who openly denigrates Bengali women in his videos.

"It's your party whose star MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused by Olympic medal winning wrestlers of sexual harassment and has been charged under the POCSO Act. He is roaming free and all the accused of Sandeshkhali are being arrested... Mr. Narendra Modi, instead of denigrating Bengal, learn from the Bengal model of female empowerment."

Modi inaugurates India's first underwater metro

Prior to his mega rally in Barasat, Modi on his third visit to Kolkata in six days this month inaugurated three new routes including India's first underwater metro service in Kolkata on Wednesday.

In a dig at his predecessors- primarily Congress- who were in power at the Centre, Modi highlighted his government made 31 kilometers of metro line in Kolkata in just 10 years since its assumption of power.

Photo courtesy: West Bengal BJP Media Cell

"Kolkata Metro is an evidence of how fast the BJP government works. In 40 years till 2014, only 28 kilometers were made. But in just 10 years of BJP govt, 31 kms have been made.

"BJP has worked with full dedication for India and Bengal in the last 10 years," the Prime Minister said.

The routes are Esplanade-Howrah Maidan, Taratala-Majherhat and New Garia-Ruby with the first being an underwater one.