"Patriarchy": Trinamool On Mamata Banerjee Exit Demands Over Rape-Murder

Under fire over the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Trinamool Congress today questioned demands for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's resignation. The ruling party in West Bengal said no demands for the Chief Minister's exit are made when such incidents take place in other states and claimed that calls for Ms Banerjee's resignation are an expression of patriarchy.

"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," Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya told the media this morning.

The Trinamool also hit out at Nabanna Abhijan, a protest march announced by students' organisation to demand justice for the 31-year-old doctor killed in the chilling August 9 incident. The march to the state secretariat, due tomorrow, is an attempt to create chaos in the name of students' protest, Ms Bhattacharya said.

"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," she said.

"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," she said.

The remarks come at a time when Kolkata and neighbouring areas are witnessing massive protests over the RG Kar incident, with different sections of the society hitting the streets daily. In the aftermath of the incident, the Opposition has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Banerjee, who also holds the portfolios of Home and Health. Ms Banerjee has hit back at the Opposition, accusing the BJP and Left of plotting unrest in the state, and led a rally demanding justice for the rape-murder victim. 

Stressing that everyone in Trinamool wants punishment for the guilty in the doctor's rape and murder case, Ms Bhattacharya questioned why the CBI is yet to make a major breakthrough in the case after taking over the investigation. "The CBI has not been able to throw any light on the case so far. Kolkata Police arrested the accused but the CBI has not filed a chargesheet yet. All rallies demanding justice should culminate at the CGO complex (where CBI office in Kolkata is located) because the state government is not in charge of the probe anymore."

Trinamool Releases "Need Bodies" Videos

At the press meet this morning, Trinamool Congress released two videos. NDTV has not verified their authenticity. In the videos, several men are heard saying, "we need bodies". Trinamool leader Jayprakash Majumdar alleged that the BJP plans to create unrest during the rally to Nabanna tomorrow. "The BJP leadership has been told that unless a Nandigram-type incident happens and there are dead bodies, the tide will not turn in BJP's favour," he said. The Trinamool leader was referring to the 2007 Nandigram violence under the previous Left government in Bengal which claimed 14 lives. Mr Majumdar alleged that there was a conspiracy to fire at protesters at the rally tomorrow.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in Bengal Assembly. BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, said police was spreading rumours to disrupt the protest.

"Mamata Police is deploying a sinister 'toolkit' to redirect protesters away from marching towards Nabanna, where they seek justice for the RG Kar PGT woman doctor. The West Bengal Government is clearly shaken by the viral call for the 'Nabanna Abhijan' on August 27," he said in a post on X.