On a day when a high-powered all-women fact-finding team branded Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a “mischievous person who is providing shelter to the rapists of Hindu women,” the National Commission for Scheduled Castes recommended on Thursday the imposition of Article 356 in Bengal.

Days after visiting the disturbed areas of Sandeshkhali, the empowered NCSC team submitted a report to President Droupadi Murmu recommending the imposition of President’s Rule, said panel’s president Arun Haldar.

“The NCSC has found large-scale atrocities on the Dalit and downtrodden people of Sandeshkhali… in the context of the grave situation prevailing there, it makes a perfect case for the imposition of President’s Rule,” Haldar said, adding, “there are provisions in Article 338 of the Constitution… according to which President’s Rule can safely be imposed here… as there has been a blatant violation of the rights of the SCs and the downtrodden people, we have submitted our recommendation to the President.”

The NCSC recommendation came on a day when the Bengal Police prevented a high-powered delegation of the BJP led by two Union Ministers Pratima Bhoumik and Annapurna Devi at Rampur village a few kilometre ahead of Sandeshkhali. The all-women team, sent by BJP president JP Nadda and including four other MPs, staged a sit-in for two hours before returning to Kolkata, where they submitted a report to Governor CV Ananda Bose.

Referring to how the poor people’s land was grabbed and their women raped by the henchmen of local Trinamool Congress toughies Sheikh Shahjahan, Shibu Hajra, and Uttam Sardar Bhowmik, she wondered as to why “the representatives of other political parties were being stopped from entering Sandeshkhali… what does Mamata have to hide… by her action, it is clear that she is a mischievous person who, despite being a woman, is giving shelter to people like Shahjahan and allowing the Hindu women to be tortured selectively… it is clear that she is unleashing a reign of terror by organising the selective rape of Hindu women… and sending the protesters to jail for no fault of theirs… we were going to the village to stand by these hapless women, but their police have stopped us.”

Her ministerial colleague Annapurna Devi alleged that “the torture on women is taking place with the help of police,” wondering, “why Shahjahan is not being arrested… Mamata claims to be running a Maa Maati Manush Government but in reality, she is tormenting the Mothers, and the Manush or the people of the place… had she arrested Shahjahan before, then this situation had not arisen.”

A Congress team led by its Lok Sabha Leader Adhir Chowdhury was also stopped from entering Sandeshkhali. He demanded the area to be declared a “disturbed area.” Referring to the NCSC reports, he said, “the BJP Government will never impose President’s Rule in Bengal as they want to remain politically correct… they have no concern for the people’s woes… like in 2019 and 2021, they threatened imposition of NRC and CAA in order to polarise the votes so that only the BJP and the TMC can benefit. This time they are giving false cries of President’s Rule which they will never impose… I will appeal to the Centre to at least declare Sandeshkhali as a ‘disturbed area.”

Chowdhury also called Mamata the “queen of cruelty,” warning her against “playing with fire.”

The Trinamool Congress promptly reacted to the alleged “drama being scripted in Delhi at the behest of the Bengal BJP leaders,” saying “it is the habit of the BJP to bring in tourists from outside the State during the elections and return empty-handed after it.”

Reacting to the statements issued by Haldar and the BJP delegation, TMC MP Shantanu Sen said, “These are all dramas being scripted in Delhi at the instance of their Bengal leaders and enacted by the visitors they are sending now and then from outside… this is their regular habit during the elections,” adding why “if the BJP and the NCSC are so concerned about the scheduled castes they would not go to Manipur where every day members of SC communities are being killed… why don’t they send fact-finding teams there and impose President’s Rule in that State.”

Meanwhile, Bengal Opposition Leader --- who was on Wednesday stopped from entering Sandeshkhali --- moved the Calcutta High Court, drawing its attention to how despite a previous court order quashing the police action imposing prohibited areas in the area the administration was stopping the politicians from entering the region.

Sandeshkhali burst into national media headlines firstly after the men of Sahjahan on January 5 attacked and injured an Enforcement Directorate team that had gone to raid his house in connection to a ration scam and money-smuggling, and secondly when hundreds of women came out on the streets and gheraoed the local police station in protest against land-grab, forced labor, extortion, and not least sexual exploitation of women.