Tuesday, 31 December 2024
Tuesday, 31 December 2024
The rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 led to an immediate outburst of public anger that spread across the state and the country.
Amid the calls for justice, the silence of the Trinamul’s women MPs was deafening.
Leaders like Mahua Moitra and Sagarika Ghose had more to say about the Adani-Hindenburg controversy and the Paris Olympics than the horrific rape and murder in Calcutta.
Many X users shared photographs of the Trinamul’s women Lok Sabha MPs with the caption ‘Laapataa Ladies’.
The TMC has 11 women MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha, the highest among all other parties. About 38 per cent of the party’s MPs are women.
It was on August 12 when Trinamul’s women MPs broke their silence; the time when the call for ‘Reclaim the night’ gained momentum across the city.
Midnapore MP June Maliah wrote on X “to rise above politics and bring justice to the victim”, journalist turned Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said that “the Mamata Banerjee government stands for zero tolerance on crime against women.”
After Maliah and Ghose, Mahua Moitra, the Krishnanagar MP and a feisty parliamentarian, 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 Moitra.
Many X users claimed Moitra blocked their handles when they questioned what took her so long to respond as an elected representative for an incident that happened in her state.
In the following days, the Krishnanagar MP urged people not to believe in misinformation and to focus on facts.
While netizens on X termed these tweets as nothing more than a cover up, she kept on defending the government.
Soon Mahua’s tweet took a political turn.
After the Badlapur sexual assault incident, she drew comparisons on Maharashtra government’s lack of action and how the government in Bengal acted to put the accused behind the bars.
Sagarika Ghose, in her tweet wrote how the Bengal police arrested the key accused and demanded, “ The CBI which is now investigating the case must make arrangements for execution by hanging of the culprit by Sunday 25th as an exemplary punishment to those who brutally attack women.”
Her tweets also took a political turn.
“Another horrible crime against a woman, this time in Bihar. A dalit girl raped and her body savagely mutilated in Muzaffarpur. We must raise our voice for every such HEINOUS crime. No politics, no whataboutery, a demand for JUSTICE in every case be it in Kolkata or Muzaffarpur. ZERO TOLERANCE for crimes against women.”
She also demanded actions against rape crimes across the nation.
On August 17, she posted a list of National Crime Record Bereau’s latest report on the rate of recognizable crimes across the nation, to point out how other states have high crime rates while West Bengal has the lowest. She also remarked that Kolkata is among the top 3 safest cities in the country.
Saayoni Ghosh, the MP from Jadavpur slammed BJP for conspiring and deviating from people’s plea for justice. How the BJP leaders want to incite violence among people protesting against the RG Kar rape and murder case.
She took a jibe on India’s justice system, writing how more than 70 per cent of the rapists walk free and only around 25 percent get convicted. She demanded for an anti-rape law to give quick punishment to the rapists.
Amidst the protest around the state, the Midnapore MP June Maliah demanded justice for Badlapur.
She was seen demanding for justices for rape incidents from Uttar Pradesh to Coimbatore, while her own state erupted in anger and disappointment.
Actor and MP from Hooghly, Rachana Banerjee posted a video around the same time when all TMC women MPs started to speak out. on social media condemning the incident. She revealed the identity of the victim at the end of the video. A complaint was filed. Banerjee apologised and deleted the video.
