WATCH | On Boat, Suvendu Adhikari Leaves for Sandeshkhali Amid 'Credit War' Between TMC, BJP Over Shahjahan's Arrest

Declaring Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Shajahan Sheikh’s arrest as “victory of democracy”, West Bengal Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, left for trouble-torn Sandeshkhali area on a boat on Thursday amid barricades in North 24 Parganas.

“They (TMC) have no clue on how to stop Suvendu Adhikari. That is why, they are creating some kind of chaos – to stop him, to kill some time. They want to verify his signature and have now gone to their higher official to make further progress. I hope they will allow us to go to our destination,” BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh said.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which had claimed that Sheikh was in “safe custody” of state police since Tuesday night, dubbed the arrest as scripted.

“It was the TMC and the state police which were shielding the culprits. He has been arrested as part of a well-scripted story. The state administration was forced to arrest him because of continuous agitation by the state BJP unit,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

Meanwhile, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh hailed the Bengal police for cracking down on Sheikh, and explained why his arrest took time.

“Due to a legal tangle, he couldn’t be arrested initially. However, after the court clarified that there was no stay on his arrest, the West Bengal Police did its job. The opposition had earlier exploited the embargo on his arrest,” Ghosh was quoted by news agency PTI.

Reactions on Shajahan Sheikh’s Arrest

• TMC lawmaker Santanu Sen said, “His arrest proves that our government follows ‘rajdharma’ in an administrative manner. We had taken action against Partha Chatterjee and Jyotipriya Mallick, and similarly, we have taken action against Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar and now Sheikh Shahjahan has been arrested. Abhishek Banerjee had said that the Police were unable to arrest him due to the court’s stay order. He has been arrested within 3-4 days of the removal of the stay order. On one side, accused leaders openly move in BJP-ruled states and on the other side our administration doesn’t spare accused TMC leaders if there is evidence against them. BJP should learn ‘rajdharma’ from the TMC.”

• Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma said, “Whoever tries to tamper with the country’s security, the interest of the country and people…they have no place in our country now.”

• West Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari said, “This is not arrest, this is a mutual adjustment. Unless the central agencies take him into their custody, the people there won’t get justice…He will get five-star facilities in jail. He will use mobile phone inside and control the area from there.”

• BJP’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “What is the TMC government and police gloating about? Shahjahan has been arrested only as a cosmetic measure, it is nothing but eyewash. It only happened when BJP took up the issue of Sandeshkhali, was on the streets and even Courts were forced and constrained to come down heavily on the TMC govt and on the action of Police. That is when Shahjahan, who was on state protection has now been shown as arrested…TMC knew where he was and gave him protection. In the Assembly Mamata Banerjee defended him, outside Abhishek Banerjee defended him…”