Amit Shah has called off his planned visit to Bengal next week amid murmurs in the BJP that the Union home minister does not want the state leadership to be distracted at a time they are building a movement against the Mamata Banerjee government over the Sandeshkhali “atrocities”.

“Amit Shah had plans to come to the state in end-February, but now that has been put off indefinitely,” state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar told this newspaper.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to come to Bengal on March 6 and could meet some of the Sandeshkhali victims in Barasat.

Although Majumdar did not explain what had prompted Shah to call off his visit, a BJP source said the Union minister wanted the state unit to focus all its energy on Sandeshkhali.

“Amitji decided to cancel his visit as he felt the state leadership would get busy with him and the focus would shift temporarily from Sandeshkhali. Amitji doesn’t want the distraction and has asked the party leadership to launch a massive campaign against the atrocities on women in the state,” a senior BJP leader said.

The cancellation of Shah’s visit indicates the BJP’s larger strategy to leverage the Sandeshkhali issue ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, where he has set a target of 35 seats from the state.

Political observers say Sandeshkhali has provided an unprecedented opportunity to the BJP ahead of the elections, and the party is desperate to capitalise on it.

“Sandeshkhali is not being seen as an isolated incident; the BJP is trying to project it as a microcosmic representation of law and order in the state. The BJP wants the allegations of sexual harassment, land-grab and minority appeasement to resonate throughout the state and create an anti-Trinamul mood,” a political observer said.

“We need to keep this pressure on till Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to the state in the first week of March,” a senior BJP leader said.

When Modi visits the state on March 6 for a rally at the Kachari Maidan in Barasat, the BJP plans to present the “oppressed” women of Sandeshkhali on stage.

“We have plans but it all depends on the women of Sandeshkhali. If they want to speak to the Prime Minister, we will bring them to the rally and ensure that their identities are not disclosed,” Majumdar said.

Till the time Modi launches the party’s poll campaign from Barasat, which is around 80km from Sandeshkhali, the BJP will keep undertaking activities to keep the national focus riveted on the troubled zone, a senior BJP leader said.

What the BJP leader said was borne out by Majumdar’s activities in Sandeshkhali on Thursday.

The state BJP president, who visited the island on Thursday, went to meet the family members of local BJP leader Bikas Sinha, who is in police custody for allegedly inciting unrest in the area.

Later, Majumdar sat on dharna outside Sandeshkhali police station demanding the arrest of Trinamul strongman Sheikh Shahjahan. As he refused to lift the dharna till Shahjahan was arrested, the police bundled him onto a boat and took him away from the island.

“Our leaders will keep visiting the area over the next few days as we want this momentum to remain,” said a source.

BJP sources said the Centre had ensured that governor C.V. Ananda Bose would use his office to “make the government take affirmative actions against the Trinamul goons”. While Bose has visited Sandeshkhali once, he is expected to go there again and submit a report to the President.