Kolkata rape-murder: BJP to begin series of protests across West Bengal from Wednesday

BJP leaders Locket Chatterjee and Phalguni Patra take part in a protest against the Kolkata rape-murder, in the West Bengal capital, on Sunday. Pic/PTI

Stepping up the attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Sukanta Majumdar announced a series of protests over the Kolkata rape-murder case. A 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was brutally assaulted and murdered at a state-run hospital in the capital city on August 9, triggering protests across the country.

The protests against the Kolkata rape-murder incident will be held across the state between August 28 and September 4, said Majumdar, who is also a Union minister, news agency PTI reported.

Majumdar said the party will begin a sit-in in the Esplanade area of Kolkata from Wednesday while the party's women's wing will lock the gates of the state women's commission office, said Majumdar, demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her "failure" to address the issue of women's safety.

"The state women's commission seems to have gone into a stupor," Majumdar told reporters on the sidelines of a demonstration by BJP in Shyambazar area of the city.

He added that on Thursday, party activists will gherao the district magistrate's office in every district at noon while protests will be held outside the administrative offices in every block on September 2.

On September 4, a 'chakka jam' will be observed across the state, stalling the traffic movement for an hour to protest against the Kolkata rape-murder, he said.

Majumdar also claimed that the ongoing probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged financial irregularities in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the institute where the doctor was practicing, revealed the nexus between the state and the corrupt hospital lobby.

"CM is shielding the big fish involved in the shady deals, amounting to crores of rupees.We demand the phone conversation between the CM and a powerful official of the hospital be brought under the ambit of investigation by CBI," the Union Minister of State for Education said.

Responding to BJP's plan of statewide protests, TMC's West Bengal spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar said, "BJP is trying to foment trouble in the state and disrupt normal life to divert the focus from the delay by CBI in tracking the perpetrators of the crime. While the entire state is asking CBI to ensure that the victim gets justice, the BJP's only demand is resignation of the CM, who has expressed solidarity with the doctor's family and stood by them. She also reiterated her government and party's stance on zero tolerance to incidents such as rape."

Another TMC leader, Kunal Ghosh, said that the main demand of every citizen in the state centres around the punishment of all those involved in the crime, "but BJP is talking about so-called financial irregularities in the hospital". "This shows BJP is not serious about the main issue of women's safety, the issue flagged by lakhs of women of West Bengal. TMC shares the concern of the women of the state and demands justice for the victim. CBI should speed up its probe," Ghosh said.

(With PTI inputs)