The BJP has drawn the attention of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to the incident where four tribal women were allegedly made to do ‘dandi’ – a religious ritual – as an apology for leaving the Trinamool Congress.
BJP MLA Ashok Kumar Lahiri, in a letter to the chief minister, stated that the incident took place in Balurghat, his constituency, on April 7.
He claimed that “in the early evening, in full public view, four ladies belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) were made to traverse about three kilometres from Moktarpara (near Dipaliagar) to the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) district office doing ‘dandi’”.
Old religious ritual
‘Dandi kata’ – prostrating, getting up and prostrating again, Lahiri mentioned “is an old religious ritual for seeking divine blessings or atoning for one’s sins”.
“It was an extremely humiliating act of reportedly tendering a public apology to a senior Trinamool leader for having shifted their political loyalties away from the Trinamool Congress,” Lahiri told Deccan Herald.
Lahiri said that the Trinamool had removed a senior leader of the party “presumably for being complicit in the inhuman act”.
Referring to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and clauses under the said legislation, Lahiri pointed out that after the lapse of seventy-two hours (as on April 10), no “substantive administrative action” has been taken.
Lahiri added that the law should be applied with full force in “establishing beyond any doubt that you as our Chief Minister is committed (sic) to stop such atrocities in the future”.
To Prez notice
Lahiri also brought the incident to the notice of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
The state Bharatiya Janata Party president has also written about the issue to the President of India and the Commission.