Narendra Modi on Wednesday brought up in the Rajya Sabha the flogging of a youth and a woman at Chopra in Bengal and accused the national Opposition of keeping mum when crimes against women occurred in the Trinamool Congress-run state.

“I am not speaking against any state, nor am I speaking for a political score. But some time ago, I saw some pictures emerging from Bengal, on social media… a video. A woman is being publicly beaten up on the road,” the Prime Minister said in the Rajya Sabha, as members on the treasury benches yelled “Shame! Shame!”

“That sister is (seen) screaming out, but not one person standing there comes forward to help… recording videos instead. And the incident that took place at Sandeshkhali… the pictures give you goosebumps. But the big, big diggaj (people of standing/behemoths) – I have been listening to them since yesterday (pointing at the Opposition benches), the pain for this is not even perceptible in their words,” added Modi.

Again, the treasury benches responded with “Shame! Shame!”

A video clip showing the flogging circulated on social media, after which the main accused, Tajemul Islam aka JCB, was arrested. The video showed someone resembling JCB using several sticks to beat up the youth and the woman for their alleged extramarital affair.

The incident occurred at Chopra in North Dinajpur district last week. Tajemul who is closely associated with Chopra MLA Hamidul Rahaman was arrested and remanded in police custody.

The Trinamool leadership wrote to Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar, asking him to expunge Modi’s remarks on Chopra and Sandeshkhali — the two Bengal pockets that the saffron ecosystem has been seen trying to politically utilise, primarily on account of the religious identity of the principal perpetrators in both places.

Modi bringing up Sandeshkhali — which he and others in the BJP had used as a major campaign tool for Bengal — again, despite its monumental failure to reap electoral dividends indicated his unwillingness to abandon the issue just yet.

“It is a misfortune of this country, that even in such sensitive cases, when politics gets involved… then the people of this nation, especially its women, feel unimaginable pain,” he said.

“This selective ravaiya (attitude) of the Opposition on the atrocities against women, this selective ravaiya is very worrisome,” he added, in the face of the second consecutive day of his speech being fiercely contested and disrupted by INDIA — of which Trinamool is the third largest constituent in the Lok Sabha, with 29 MPs. In the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool is the second-largest INDIA constituent, with 13 representatives.

“What can be a bigger, saddening, picture of shame than this? And those who consider themselves very big, progressive women leaders… even them? Sealed their lips and sat down!” he said, in the wake of a barrage of caustic attacks from women MPs, such as Trinamool’s Mahua Moitra, during the week.

“Because there is a relation of some party that is part of their political lives, or that state. And because of that, you will go quiet on atrocities being committed against women?” asked the Prime Minister.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee — who has been sternly handling Chopra on both the administrative and political fronts, from behind the scenes — is yet to comment in public on the issue. Senior leaders of and spokespersons for Trinamool have condemned the Chopra incident. Sources in the party said Mamata was likely to end her public silence at a Thursday event.

“I feel the way even the diggaj disregard such things… the (whole) nation gets hurt, but our mothers and sisters feel greater pain,” said Modi.

Trinamool responded with scorn.

“His (Modi’s) bombast in Parliament is a cover for the hard reality that his credibility is gone, his brand of hate-filled politics has been rejected and he is now an electoral liability,” read a post on X by Rajya Sabha member Sagarika Ghose, who wrote the letter of complaint to Dhankhar.

Quoting excerpts from Modi’s speech, she wrote that the perpetrators of Chopra were promptly arrested, and that the Bengal government has “zero tolerance” for crimes against women.

On Sandeshkhali, Ghose wrote: “The entire incident was nothing but a disgraceful conspiracy by the BJP to defame the people of Bengal.”

“… when the Honourable Prime Minister is speaking on the floor of the House he must give the complete and not a selective picture of the incidents. The Prime Minister should not misuse his constitutional position by misleading the public,” she added. “I therefore request you to kindly expunge the remarks.”

Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, the CPM’s only Bengal MP, and Soumya Aich Roy, the Congress state unit’s chief spokesperson, both virtually echoed each other to assert that there was no dearth of belligerence in their criticism of Mamata on either Chopra or Sandeshkhali.