TMC's Nurul Islam enters troubled zone, vows 'new Sandeshkhali'

SANDESHKHALI: Trinamool Congress Basirhat candidate Haji Nurul Islam on Sunday stepped into Sandeshkhali's volatile zone, canvassing support for the party, attacking opposition and promising to make a "new Sandeshkhali".

The campaign rally started at the Abhijan Sangha ground in Sandeshkhali block-II and crossed areas like Trimohini Bazar, Jeliakhali, Bermajur, Kaharpara and Patrapara, where massive protests and subsequent violence had erupted earlier.

After the rally, Nurul held a street-corner meeting at Trimohini Bazar, which had become the epicentre of the unrest. "Some BJP and CPM leaders deliberately tried to instigate you to spread violence. But we will build a new Sandeshkhali with a lot of developments here. We believe that all of you are always with us," Nurul said.

"All the allegations against Trinamool are false and baseless. No woman in Sandeshkhali was sexually harassed or tortured. Some Trinamool leaders here were falsely implicated by BJP-sponsored central agencies. We, the Trinamool Congress soldiers, fight to protect the modesty of women across Bengal," he claimed.

Nurul was accompanied by hundreds of Trinamool supporters, led by Sandeshkhali MLA Sukumar Mahata.

"Thousands of local people joined our rally. The Sandeshkhali issues were deliberately created by opposition parties, but they could not harm our party even a little to malign its image. Instead, we have consolidated and united more over these false issues. We confidently believe that even Sandeshkhali's people are always with Trinamool to engage themselves in Mamata Banerjee's tireless efforts for the development of Bengal," he said, adding that he would definitely win the polls by huge margin.

Sandeshkhali, which had given TMC a 39,685-vote lead in the 2021 assembly polls, has been left polarised by TMC-dominated Sandeshkhali block I and a strong opposition base in pockets of Sandeshkhali block II, where its leaders are behind bars. BJP candidate Rekha Patra, among the women who lodged FIRs against the local TMC leaders, is also from Sandeshkhali block II.