Although it is raining in Calcutta, the Trinamul is feeling the heat.
The shockwaves over the rape and murder of a 31-year old postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar medical College and Hospital in Calcutta have forced Bengal’s ruling party into a corner as the issue involves one of Mamata Banerjee’s party’s biggest vote banks – women, who number about 3 crore and 73 lakh per latest data.
The medical fraternity has started raising uncomfortable questions on the party that has established a near control over all aspects of life in Bengal.
The high court on Friday came down heavily on the state machinery after goons vandalised RG Kar and attacked policemen when thousands of common people took to the streets to demand justice for the brutalised doctor. There is national and international spotlight on the protests that have followed. A host of Bollywood stars have posted on their social media accounts demanding justice for the victim.
Twice on Thursday evening, chief minister Mamata Banerjee absolved the protesting junior doctors and students, who are protesting across the state.
“You are asking me, I am telling you. From whatever information I have received, I am not blaming the students at all,” Mamata told waiting reporters outside the Raj Bhawan where she was invited for tea by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on the occasion of Independence Day.
The comments were a marked departure from what the Bengal chief minister had said barely 24 hours ago at a meeting in Behala, expressing apprehension that attempts were on to create a “Bangladesh-like situation” in the state.
A countrywide movement led by students in India’s eastern neighbour forced the incumbent prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, to resign and flee the country.
The change of heart of the Bengal chief minister, who is not known for shying away from street fights, came after a strong tweet from the party’s general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP, Abhishek Banerjee, a section of Trinamul insiders pointed out.
“The hooliganism and vandalism at RG Kar tonight have exceeded all acceptable limits,” Abhishek wrote in a longish post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle at 1.42 am on Thursday while the vandalism at RG Kar medical college was on.
“As a public representative, I just spoke with CP, Calcutta, urging him to ensure that every individual responsible for today’s violence is identified, held accountable, and made to face the law within the next 24 hours, regardless of their political affiliations,” he wrote.
“The demands of the protesting doctors are fair and justified. This is the minimum they should expect from the government. Their safety and security must be prioritized.” Banerjee said.
Abhishek’s tweet did not make any political reference.
Mamata said she was sympathetic towards the students but she has constantly targeted the opposition parties, the BJP, the CPM and even the Trinamul’s national alliance partner Congress. On Friday evening, Mamata will be leading a protest rally from Moulali at 4 pm. The demand of the rally is harshest punishment for the culprits.
It is common knowledge in the Trinamul that Abhishek, Mamata’s heir-apparent and nephew, has his eye on the saddle.
Trinamul spokesperson and former Rajya Sabha MP Shantanu Sen is perceived to be close to Abhishek and has gone on record saying studies at RG Kar had hit the pits, pointing to the now former principal Sandip Ghosh, whom Calcutta high court sent on leave after expressing shock at him not even filing a police case when a student was raped and murdered in his hospital.
Sen is the former chairman of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti (patient welfare committee formed under the National Health Mission) of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Though Ghosh had offered his resignation from the health service, Mamata, who also holds the health portfolio, had transferred him to another teaching hospital. The high court ordered him to go on indefinite leave.
“If Abhishek had his way he would have brought immediate changes in the police administration including the commissioner of police, Vineet Goyal. His message was clear that the RG Kar episode is an administrative failure,” said a Trinamul leader close to Abhishek.
Amid the uproar reverberating across the country, what was jarring was the near silence from leaders of the Trinamul, which boasts of having sent the highest number of women MPs to the Parliament.
Across X, photographs of the Trinamul’s women Lok Sabha MPs were shared with the caption ‘Laapataa Ladies’.
After that, Mahua Moitra, the Krishnanagar MP and a parliamentarian who has made a name for herself as one of the most powerful orators in politics at present, posted a tweet.
“The horrific crime at RG Kar has shocked us to the core. No one to be spared, investigation must be quick & transparent. Thoughts, prayers & solidarity,” wrote the usually indomitable Moitra.
That post was on August 13, four days after news of the rape and murder stunned Calcutta.
Many X users claimed Moitra blocked their handles when they questioned what took her so long to respond as an elected representative on an incident that happened in her state.
In a way Moitra was following a tradition established by the CPM. The Left Front chairman Biman Bose had probably issued more statements targeting purported American imperialism than on the doings and undoings of the Congress government in Delhi.
In the age of social media Moitra had much more to say about the Adani-Hindenburg saga these days than the horrific rape and murder at home.
Hours after Mamata said she did not blame the students, Mahua shared a four-minute long video, denying that the Trinamul’s women representatives were “laapata ladies” or “gungi gudiyas.”
“To somehow put a political leaning to this and all of us are laapata ladies and all of us are somehow gungi gudiyas is completely some kind of political narrative that we have had to face before and that we are going to fight back again,” Moitra said in her video, claiming again and again there was no attempt at any cover-up in the RG Kar case.
The same morning, her Rajya Sabha colleague Sushmita Dev had blamed the Opposition..
“These are not the common people demanding justice for the victim. This is the extreme right & left in Bengal (decimated in elections) now resorting to violence & propaganda for their own political survival. Opposition leaders beware - inadvertently don’t be a part of this mayhem. Condemn violence ! And Listen carefully Calcutta Police acted on evidence not rumours,” wrote Dev on her X handle.
The Trinamul was mulling over some organisational changes from the district level upwards. Party insiders say the rejig is on hold now.