‘Mamata handled Sandeshkhali developments incredibly well’

Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) candidate Saayoni Ghosh contesting from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat, asserted that the Sandeshkhali incident was “well controlled”.

“One Sandeshkhali won’t turn around women’s perception of Mamata Banerjee in this state,” Saayoni told a news agency. “The very fact that she is the country’s only woman CM itself goes to show how Bengal reposes faith in a woman to run a government,” Ghosh remarked.

Even as the 31-year-old youth leader made no attempts to hide her initial euphoria over her party’s call to award her a ticket from the prestigious seat, she maintained that it “felt like a homecoming”. Saayoni’s confidence appeared to stem from her belief that Banerjee “handled Sandeshkhali incredibly”, and could contain the situation well in time before the BJP could “turn a controversy into a conspiracy and convert that into a Nandigram or a Singur by blowing it out of proportions”. “The CM took all necessary and decisive actions. She set up grievance redress camps, sent political delegations to placate people’s anger, started the process of returning land parcels via DMs and block offices and made all arrests,” she listed.

Ghosh also lauded the state police actions in Sandeshkhali without naming suspended TMC leader and Sandeshkhali prime accused Shajahan Sheikh or his cohorts during her campaign trail.

“The Bengal Police delivered where the ED and the CBI failed. Shajahan’s arrest could have happened sooner if there hadn’t been a judgment anomaly in the High Court. The Central agencies never brought that up. So, what stopped them from arresting Sheikh?” she argued. “What happened in Sandeshkhali is very unfortunate. I am not trying to defend it in any way. But it is an isolated development and the impact is well contained,” Saayoni maintained.