During the Bengal panchayat elections, two reported incidences of sexual assault on female candidates were described by Hooghly MP. “Pay attention to the daughters of Bengal too,” she pleaded with the audience. At a news conference on Friday, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee sobbedly recalled reported instances of sexual assault on female candidates and referred to the West Bengal panchayat elections as “nothing but a shameful phase of violence and atrocities against women.”

 

The Hooghly MP claimed that on July 8, the day of the panchayat elections, a BJP candidate for gram sabha in Howrah’s Panchla town was assaulted and undressed in a voting booth. The MP went on to say that when the prime minister addressed the Manipur situation, he also requested that other states strengthen law and order. She was making reference to the Prime Minister’s comments that were made the day after a fictitious video of two women in Manipur being paraded in public while naked went popular on social media.

The comments were given by PM Modi as part of his address prior to the monsoon session of Parliament, and Locket Chatterjee’s news conference was held the next day. The BJP MP questioned the “silence” of Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Congress as well as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.  

“Congress has also joined hands with Mamata Banerjee now. That is why both Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are silent. These people cry in other states, but they are silent in West Bengal,” Chatterjee stated. Furthermore, she added: “We are also women. We are also the daughters of this country. West Bengal is also part of India. We also want to save our daughters. We want you to talk about the daughters of our region too.”