"Justice will be delivered." Here's what journalist-turned-politician Sagarika Ghose told Brut about the political unrest in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali village and the arrest of the suspended TMC leader and prime accused, Sheikh Shahjahan. This is a brief excerpt from her full interview with Brut.
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00:00All of us are monitoring the situation and justice is going to be given.
00:04The state government has gone on record saying we have filed an FIR and he will be arrested.
00:09If it's a BJP ruled state, then such rapes and such attacks go unnoticed.
00:13Then there is no Jungle Raj, breakdown of law and order,
00:16send in the NCW, send in fact-finding commissions, those are completely ignored.
00:21But when it's a non-BJP state, when it's an opposition ruled state, then we have Jungle Raj.
01:00political career. To be a citizen parliamentarian and to try and be a model parliamentarian,
01:06raise citizens' issues, raise citizens' concerns. I'm there because of the citizen.
01:10I consider myself a citizen. I want to be a politician who is known as citizen first.
01:18Okay. Speaking of citizen first, what I wanted to check with you was on Sandesh Khali village,
01:25and you have tweeted about it very recently as well. It's at the center of a political storm.
01:31You have the local TMC leader, Shah Jahan Sheikh, who is facing allegations of sexual abuse.
01:37The women in the villages have protested. They've cleared out the police station.
01:41Given these allegations against the TMC leader,
01:44how do you plan to address or respond to the concerns of the women citizens in Sandesh Khali?
01:50So the Bengal government is responding very strongly.
01:53The Bengal government is right there in Sandesh Khali. Camps have been set up.
01:57Grievances are being recorded. There's a 10-member police team headed by a woman
02:02police officer listening to complaints. Ministers are there recording complaints.
02:0720 people, over 20 people have been arrested. The key henchmen of Shah Jahan Sheikh have
02:13been arrested. They're behind bars. The government is acting, has promised to act,
02:18will act. Mamata Banerjee is right there monitoring the situation. All of us are
02:23monitoring the situation. And justice is going to be given. It's going to be delivered,
02:28and it will be seen to be delivered. The prime minister has not visited Manipur even once.
02:36When it came to women protesters, the women wrestlers who were protesting,
02:41the BJP kept absolutely mum. You saw the sight of Meenakshi Lekhi literally running
02:47from a question on the women's protest. She would not answer a question. So the BJP keeps mum when
02:53it wants to. But when it is Bengal, when it is a situation in Bengal, they will rush there. They
03:01will interfere. They will try to drum up politicization there and weaken the very government
03:07which is delivering law and order. The incidents have taken place. The government is delivering
03:11law and order. This is the time you should strengthen Mamata Banerjee's hand. Strengthen
03:15the government. The government is acting. The government will act. Strengthen the government.
03:19Why are you destabilizing the government which is trying to act against any form of crime against
03:26women? We've recently had a horrifying case in Rajasthan where a woman was raped and then
03:32shot and then attacked with a blunt object. Now, what about that? I mean, if it's a non-BJP,
03:39if it's a BJP-ruled state, then such rapes and such attacks go unnoticed. Then there is
03:44no Jungle Raj, breakdown of law and order, send in the NCW, send in fact-finding commissions.
03:50Those are completely ignored. But when it's a non-BJP state, when it's an opposition-ruled
03:53state, then we have Jungle Raj. It's a sitting TMC leader. It's a sitting TMC leader against
04:00whom there was, as I said, there was this court stay, which is why now that that stay has been
04:05removed, the state government has gone on record saying we have filed an FIR and he will be
04:09arrested within seven days.