Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said the rape of a woman by two Border Security Force personnel in front of her little daughter was unprecedented in the 75 years of independent India before training guns on Union home minister Amit Shah for cattle and coal smuggling.

“You had seen that BSF jawans had raped a mother in front of her little daughter…. Such an incident never happened in the country in the 75 years since Independence. The incident is a calamitous example of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s New India,” said the Diamond Harbour MP while addressing a rally of the Trinamul Chhatra Parishad on the occasion of its 24th foundation day in Calcutta.

Two BSF jawans had allegedly raped a woman at Bagda in North 24-Parganas on Thursday night while she was trying to illegally cross the border to enter Bangladesh. The woman had been married off to a man in the neighbouring country a few years ago. The alleged rape took place in front of her five-year-old daughter.BSF assistant sub-inspector P. Chero and constable Altab Hossain had been first detained by the intelligence wing of the central force and were later handed over to police after the woman had lodged a complaint on Friday.

Trinamul had taken up the issue to mount an attack on the BJP, blaming the Centre not only for the rape but also for torture the people living along the India-Bangladesh border were allegedly subjected to frequently. Sources in Trinamul said Abhishek, who is looking after the party’s organisation closely, thinks the rape will go against the BJP in the border areas, where people are upset with the BSF’s alleged highhandedness.

He directed Trinamul leaders to continue to protest against the “barbaric acts” by the central forces in the border areas. A four member Trinamul delegation headed by the party’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh had on Sunday visited the spot of the incident and conducted a protest rally in the area. In his address, Abhishek held Amit Shah responsible for coal and cattle smuggling as collieries and the Bangladesh borders are guarded by the CISF and the BSF, respectively.

“Why doesn’t Amit Shah ask the BSF how the cattle are smuggled? Is the money going to Delhi directly? This is not a cattle or coal scam; it is a home minister’s scam,” said the Diamond Harbour MP.

“The coal or cattle are smuggled under the nose of the BSF and the CISF, while you (BJP) are raising your fingers at Trinamul...,” he added.Early on Monday, Abhishek had shared a video from his official twitter handle where BCCI secretary Jay Shah was found refusing to hold the national flag during an India Pakistan cricket match in Dubai on Sunday.

“The prodigal prince knows not of national pride. Jay Shah not wanting to hold the national flag is symptomatic of the larger hypocrisy of the ruling dispensation…,” Abhishek tweeted.