Sravasti Dasgupta 
New Delhi: Facing fire amid widespread protests against the gruesome rape and murder of a second-year PG medical student at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Hospital, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), CPI(M) and the Congress of politicising the incident for “a few likes on social media and media footage”.
In her statement which came hours before women across the state were expected to come out in large numbers under “The Night is Ours” protest, Banerjee also announced her own protest on August 17 demanding that the culprit be punished.
Taking aim at opposition parties, Banerjee said that a “systematic effort” is being made by the BJP and the CPI(M) to “defame Bengal.”
“I want to tell these political parties-don’t try to politicise the incident just for a few likes on social media and media footage. Politics is meant for services to people. Follow that,” she said.
“A systematic approach has been executed by the coordination of BJP and CPI(M) with the support of centre to defame Bengal and trying to take advantage of the situation.
“In many states including Delhi, UP, Hathras we all saw what happened. In Hathras the family was brutally assaulted,” she said.
Just hours before her statement, Congress MP and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in a statement broke his silence on the issue and accused the TMC government of “attempting” to save the accused.
“The entire country is shocked by the gruesome incident of rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata. The way the layers of the cruel and inhuman act against her are being revealed, there is an atmosphere of insecurity among the doctors’ community and women.
“The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration,” he said.
Without naming Gandhi, Banerjee also lashed out at the Congress, the TMC’s partner in the INDIA alliance.
“I want to ask the Congress (how) many incidents take place in your state-what action do you take?” she said.
While the Congress and the TMC are part of the INDIA alliance, differences between the two also emerged during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the two parties fought the polls separately in West Bengal.
“Under CPI(M) rule there have been (a) plethora of heinous crimes committed with the then government remaining silent. Since there was no social media back then so people are not aware. Insult me as much as you want, but I won’t tolerate someone insulting Bengal for political mileage.”
While the Calcutta high court had on Tuesday transferred the probe in the case to the CBI, Banerjee called for capital punishment by Sunday. Earlier after visiting the victim’s family she had said that if the police cannot make headway in the probe, she would handover the case to the CBI on Sunday.
“We demand capital punishment of the culprit by Sunday. CBI which is investigating the case should ensure this,” she said.
Meanwhile, TMC MPs expressed their support for the protest planned on Wednesday night. In Bengal alone, protests are planned in at least 45 locations, beginning at midnight on Wednesday. Similar demonstrations of solidarity are expected in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
While TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray announced late on Tuesday night that he would join the protest, “come what may.”
After maintaining a studied silence for four and a half days, TMC MPs only started speaking up on Tuesday evening when in what appeared like a synchronised effort women MPs from the party started tweeting statements condemning the incident.
Moitra who faced criticism for blocking accounts including those of journalists, later started unblocking them.