Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept his focus on the Trinamul government over alleged atrocities on women in Sandeshkhali on his third visit to Bengal within a week ahead of the Lok Sabha polls at the BJP's Nari Shakti Vandan rally held in North 24-Parganas Barasat on Wednesday.

“Bengal’s women are angry with the Trinamul mafiaraj and this anger will not stay confined to Sandeshkhali,” Modi said. “Jhor uthbe sampurna Bangla te (A storm will rise through Bengal).”

He said the Trinamul leaders had committed atrocities on the poor dalit and deprived tribal women of Sandeshkhali and forced them to hit the streets. “This government based on appeasement and extortion cannot protect the women in the state,” he said.

Modi’s comments came while the Mamata Banerjee government was busy locking horns with the CBI in the Supreme Court over the hand-over of the probe in the Sandeshkhali case, a fact that Modi remind his audience of.

“Whatever happened in Sandeshkhali is enough for anyone to bow their heads in shame. But the Trinamul government is not bothered with people’s sentiments. The government is making all efforts to protect the accused,” said Modi, after rolling out a list of women achievers from pre-Independence days. “After the Calcutta high court they have suffered a blow in the Supreme Court too.”

PM Modi in Barasat Videograb

The rally held in Barasat two days before the International Women’s day was live streamed across the country for women’s self-help groups, which was a concerted effort on the part of the BJP to portray Modi’s role in women’s empowerment. The dais was packed with leaders from the BJP’s women’s wing, the Mahila Morcha from the national and state levels.

A day before, across villages women had participated in marathon’s organized for the event.

When Modi’ reached the venue at Barasat, a little after 12 noon, the BJP’s Lok Sabha MP, Locket Chatterjee, heralded the moment as “the arrival of our god.”

The Prime Minister used the occasion to mount an attack on the Opposition bloc INDI-Alliance by specifically targeting the Trinamul government in Bengal for having defaulted on executing the many Centrally sponsored welfare schemes, even though there is no such alliance on the ground in Bengal.

In his previous public meetings in Hooghly’s Arambagh and Nadia’s Krishnagar last week, Modi had accused the Trinamul government of blocking the execution of certain centrally-sponsored schemes. Today, he added the Congress, Left and other partners of the INDI-Alliance as stumbling blocks to “Vikasit Bharat.”

“Amidst the BJP government’s efforts to improve the condition of women, people should know what the partners of the INDI-alliance is up to. Wherever the alliance partners are in power they apply the brakes on our schemes. In Bengal, the Trinamul did not allow Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, the Ujjwala scheme. Over 14 lakh applications under the Ujjwala scheme are pending with the Trinamul government,” Modi said, as he listed the government schemes and the number of beneficiaries across the country.

“The Trinamul is a graham (eclipse) on development,” Modi said towards the end of his speech.

Modi also referred to the passage of the women’s reservation bill, the Muslim Women (Protection of rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 which banned the practice of instant talaq as evidence of "Modi’s guarantee".

“Even at that time the alliance partners, the Congress, the Left and the Trinamul stood with the hardliners and they are still with them,” he said.

While Modi flaunts the passage of Women’s Reservation Bill as a personal achievement, the first list of candidates, announced by the BJP last Saturday for 195 Lok Sabha seats across the country, included only 28 women.

The Trinamul was quick to hit back on this. The party's leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien posed three questions for Modi on his X handle.

“Why are there 51 cases of crime against women every hour? Why does BJP have 13 per cent women in Lok Sabha, why only 14 per cent in 195 candidate list? Why no action against BJP MP charged with sexually harassing wrestlers,” asked O’Brien.

Modi also hit back at RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav’s jibe on his having no family.

“As a young man when I had left home and lived as monk and I had no money... Not for a single day did I go without food. One family or the other came forward. Today I am repaying their debt,” Modi said.

Following Lalu Prasad’s jibe and Modi’s counter, BJP leaders and supporters have added Modi ka Parivar to their social media handles.