The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (August 17, 2024) reiterated its demand for the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing the Trinamool Congress government of harassing those seeking justice for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, and attempting to protect the perpetrators.
At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the “dictatorial” Trinamool government has engaged in blame game and “dharna drama” and has tried to give a communal angle through its “Ram-Bam” remark (ostensibly referring to the BJP and the Left). “Against whom the dharna is being done by the TMC government? Is it against the State Home Minister, the Health Minister? Both the portfolios are with Ms. Banerjee,” he said.
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Mr. Poonawalla said the State administration had issued orders for the transfer of 42 professors and doctors, several to far-flung areas, who were part of the ongoing protest in Kolkata. The transfers were meant to penalise them as they stood up for the victim, he said, citing the United Doctors Front Association’s statement that condemned the move.
Mr. Poonawalla alleged that the attack on protesters at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the gruesome incident took place, by about 5,000 to 7,000 people in the intervening night of August 14-15 was orchestrated to deter the protesters and destroy evidence. “This is the most sinister systematic institutional cover up orchestrated at the behest of the Trinamool government in order to protect the rapists who perhaps have links with Trinamool Congress,” he said.
The BJP leader said people, including some journalists, who are raising their voice on social media were being harassed by the Kolkata Police with threats of legal action if they did not delete their posts. “A couple of journalists had to delete their posts,” he said, adding that former Trinamool MP Santanu Sen was removed from the party spokesperson’s position soon after he spoke against the medical college’s former principal, who is being questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case. Mr. Poonawalla said on Friday the Kolkata police used force against protesting BJP workers.
The BJP leader said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, apart from one post on X, and other leaders of the INDIA bloc, were silent on the matter and have not once asked Ms. Banerjee to step down. He referred to another incident in West Bengal’s Burdwan, where the body of a 22-year-old woman was found with her throat slit, to assert that the State was becoming unsafe for women.
