Kolkata:
She came, she saw but she did not conquer. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suddenly went to Kamduni village on Monday and met the family of the 20-year-old college girl who was brutally raped and murdered on June 7. But, as she left their house, she ran into protests by village women who were demanding that she speak to them as well. Ms Banerjee refused, the women shouted and, finally, the chief minister lost her cool, calling the angry women CPM supporters and even claiming the rapists were CPM workers.
Initially, the entire village was impressed. Because the chief minister hitched a ride on a motorcycle to reach Kamduni. The road leading to the village from the main road was cut up at one point where a culvert was under construction. Four wheelers could not pass. So, suddenly the villagers saw the chief minister hop on to a motorcycle and head for the victim's home.
Ms Banerjee had come to Kamduni 11 days after the incident but the villagers let that pass. However, the good impression was short lived.
Ms Banerjee was at the victim's house for barely 10 minutes. After asking after the parents' health and telling the sons to get them medical attention, she left. As she walked out, village women surrounded her and demanded that she talk to them.
At first it seemed Ms Banerjee would accede to their request and stop at the grounds of a local school, but she did not.
As she strode off, the village women followed shouting for her attention. The moment Ms Banerjee reached her car, she exploded.
She charged at Tumpa Koyal, one of the most insistent women demanding to talk to her, and shouted at her. The woman shouted back. Ms Banerjee retreated to her car and said, "You are doing CPM politics. Isn't the CPM ashamed of doing politics with such things? I am sorry to say, the way the CPM is doing politics. The 'goondas' arrested are all CPM people. They were all CPM supporters."
The village women were stunned at her fury and at the CPM label she stuck on all of them.
"I went to talk to her. Didi said she had heard what she had to. I told her this is a woman's issue. Listen to women. You have only spoken to the men. Then she glared angrily at me and said, oh, so you know everything? I said, then if you know everything, why did you come? Didn't she come to speak with us? Didi also said, we all are CPM people. Where did the party come into all this? Do the women do politics? Are the school going children CPM?," said Tumpa Koyal, who had confronted Ms Banerjee.
China Ghosh, another woman in the crowd, said, "Mamata said nothing to us but she has set fire to this village. There was no political divide among the people in this village. But now she has ruined that."
Even the victim's family was embarrassed. The victim's brother said, "It was nice of the chief minister to come to Kamduni. But it would have been better if she had stopped to talk to the villagers who were all waiting for her."
Ms Banerjee's comments have also drawn criticism from the opposition parties, CPM and Congress, as well as civil society. "People have the right to protest. Even assuming the women were all CPM supporters, they too have the right to voice their grievance. The chief minister should not have reacted the way she did," said theatre personality Kaushik Sen.
In the melee, what was lost was the chief minister's promise: a charge sheet against the accused within 15 days and the guarantee that the government would seek life sentence or death for the rapists. Ms Banerjee may have hoped to score brownie points by visiting Kamduni, but it turned into a PR disaster.