Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met five women, allegedly victims of atrocities perpetrated by local Trinamul leaders in Sandeshkhali, on the sidelines of his Barasat rally.

Many more Sandeshkhali women who arrived in Barasat late broke down in tears for having missed the interaction with Modi and accused police of delaying their trip.

During their 15-minute-long interaction in the "green room" of the stage at Barasat's Kachhari Maidan, the five women narrated their ordeals on the island controlled by now-arrested Trinamul strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides Shib Prasad Hazra, Uttam Sardar and Ajit Maiti, among others.

"We described how those Trinamul leaders Shahjahan and his cronies tortured us for years. He (Modi) listened to us as we described the degree of atrocities starting from landgrab to physical harassment. He assured us justice and pledged us his support. We requested central forces for our security," said one of the five women.

A BJP leader said the Prime Minister heard the women attentively and asked party leaders to take care of all women of Sandeshkhali protesting against Trinamul "atrocities".

One of the women said Modi called them Goddess Durga. "He called us Ma Durga as we are fighting against the torture of Trinamul goons. He spoke to each of us and asked us our names and the names of our villages," she said.

However, not all from Sandeshkhali could meet the Prime Minister.

A BJP leader accompanying women who reached Barasat late said eight buses carrying around 400 women from at least 10 villages of Sandeshkhali I and II block areas started from Dhamakhali and Bermajur around 8am on Wednesday.

"We could have reached the venue on time if the buses had not been stopped at three points leading to a delay of around two hours. Police stopped us near Biswa Bangla gate for the first time. We were also stopped at another point in New Town and finally near the airport. If the police had not stopped us, we could have reached the Prime Minister's meeting venue in time," said Anup Das, a BJP leader from Sandeshkhali.

Barasat is located around 90km away from Sandeshkhali and its adjoining areas. It usually takes a maximum of three-and-a-half hours by road to reach Barasat in regular traffic.

A leader said the buses were stopped at Biswa Bangla gate for around 20 minutes, again for another 30 minutes in New Town. Finally, they were stopped for over 40 minutes near the airport.

Many village women and a few BJP activists, who were on board to escort the villagers, blamed bus drivers for joining hands with the ruling party. Chanchal Das, a BJP activist, who was in charge of one such bus, said: “The drivers behaved mysteriously and misled us by taking a longer route. We also noticed that cleaners of the bus took our videos and pictures which we fear will be sent to local Trinamul leadership.”

Replying to the allegation, Abir Mondal, one of the drivers of eight buses, said: “I took the shortest route through New Town. However, the security check by the police followed by heavy rush of vehicles during office hours on NH12 coupled and traffic regulations caused the delay. I am not a political worker and there was no pressure on me to share details about the movement of Sandeshkhali villagers."

However, the BJP Bengal leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, had to face embarrassment as around 200 women from different villages of Sandeshkhali broke down in tears and demonstrated in front of them, demanding a meeting with Modi who had by then left the Barasat venue.

"We woke up early and travelled such a long distance to meet our Prime Minister. We could not meet him because of harassment on the road by the police. No one from the party (BJP) took care to bring us here at the right time," said a woman who had complained of sexual harassment by Trinamul leaders earlier.

Bikash Sinha, a Sandeshkhali BJP leader, blamed the police for the delay.
“Police did not want the villagers to reach Barasat on time,” he said.

Officials of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate and Bidhannagar Commissionerate said buses were stopped because of traffic curbs in the wake of the Prime Minister’s visit. Cops said buses had been stopped at traffic signals just like other vehicles.