26 august 2024 : Amid the massive uproar over the rape and murder of a postgraduate doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Trinamool Congress defended West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee amid calls for her resignation, terming the opposition’s demands as “patriarchal”.
The TMC further questioned why the male chief ministers don’t face similar scrutiny when heinous crimes take place in their states.
There have been so many incidents in so many places. Why the demand for the resignation of the only woman Chief Minister of the country, who won three successive elections? No demands for the resignation of any male Chief Minister for incidents in others places. That is how patriarchy is.” NDTV quoted Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya as saying.
The party further slammed the Nabanna Abhijan, a protest march announced by students’ organisation, saying that it is an attempt to create chaos in the state. Students and doctors have been participating in marches against the state government to demand justice for the junior doctor who got killed on August 9.
“There is a BJP-ABVP plot to create disturbance. There is a plot to open fire by criminals in police uniform. Tomorrow there are exams. Can students do this? They are doing vulture politics,” Bhattacharya told NDTV.
“No permission has been sought from police for such a protest. Protests can take place but they have to take permission and they must be held peacefully at designated places,” the TMC leader added.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh questioned the motives behind the rally to the state secretariat, and questioned by students are not marching to the CBI office, as the agency took over the investigation.
Ghosh further presented videos purportedly showing two persons advocating for violence to ensure the rally’s success, which he linked to right-wing groups and some leftists, including the CPI(M).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in response to the allegations, denied any involvement in the rally, saying that if members of their party attend any protests, it is in their individual capacity.
A postgraduate doctor was raped and murdered inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and her body was found in the seminar hall of the institute on August 9. BJP and other opposition parties in Bengal accused the TMC of covering up the crime and protecting the accused, demanding CM Mamata Banerjee’s resignation.