The Opposition in Bengal has hit the streets to pin down the Mamata Banerjee government over the alleged rape and murder of a doctor inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta early on Friday.

While the BJP drew a parallel between the murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor and the alleged atrocities on women at Sandeshkhali in a bid to put pressure on the Trinamool Congress-led state government, CPM state secretary Md Salim led a protest outside the hospital and demanded a judicial inquiry into the “heinous crime”.

“Everytime a woman is raped and murdered in bengal, mamata Banerjee pretends as if nothing has happened. Pushed to the wall, she either character assassinates the victim or worse defends the rapist, like in the case of # Sandeshkhali,” Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT head co-in-charge of Bengal, wrote on his X-handle on Saturday

A BJP insider in Bengal said the doctor’s murder could be a weapon to activate the party as a majority of workers become dormant after the poor show in the Lok Sabha polls.

“The Sandeshkhali incident had left the ruling TMC in a spot as the people of Bengal were shocked to know how goons of the ruling party were carrying out atrocities on women of the area over the past few years. The incident at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital is also very shocking. As the government cannot shrug off its responsibilities in both the incidents, we find it logical to link both the incidents,” said a BJP leader in Bengal.

The BJP, which had staged a demonstration in front of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday, blocked roads at the five-point crossing of Shyambazar on Saturday demanding a CBI probe into the incident. The party has planned a series of agitations, including a rally led by state BJP president and junior Union minister Sukanta Majumdar and the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, in the next few days.

The Bengal BJP has raised a series of questions regarding the murder.

The questions include why the police told the family of the victim that it was a case of suicide and the woman’s parents were not allowed to take the body.

“If we have to launch a strong agitation, we should have strong questions against the administration. The way the police tried to hide the details, we have found a strong reason to launch a movement against the state government,” said the BJP leader.

The CPM has also taken to the streets raising questions over the complicity of the police in the incident and demanded a judicial inquiry.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Salim said: “This is a clear case of police involvement. A civic volunteer, who is none but a Trinamool goon, has been arrested. The police are guilty. As the CBI is a special kind of police agency, it cannot be trusted to handle the case. The chief minister wants to hide behind the CBI as it has become clear that the central agency has failed to solve any case it has taken up. We want a judicial probe and nothing less. We will be on the streets to ensure justice for the murdered girl and her family.”

Asked for his response to Mamata’s statement, Salim said: “She has a habit of saying things that she does not carry out. How can we forget her statements after the Park Street incident (rape) or the Kamduni incident? After the murder of student leader Anis Khan, she had promised to take action within a month. Has that happened? What she says has no value.”

Throughout Saturday, the CPM and its mass organisations took the issue to the streets across the state.

“All our frontal organisations and the party will be out on the streets in great numbers to protest against the lawlessness that has gripped the state,” Salim said and
added that several programmes had been adopted by the CPM to protest the heinous crime.

The CPM questioned the discrepancies in police action after the incident came
to light.

The CPM wanted to know why the police tried to take the body away keeping the woman’s parents in the dark. It also wanted to know why the post-mortem was conducted at the hospital where the crime was committed.

The TMC brushed aside the allegations saying the chief minister was the first person to reach out to the victim’s family.

“The chief minister is personally looking into the incident. She has asked the police to take stringent action against the culprits. The BJP is doing petty politics over an unfortunate incident,” said Santanu Sen, a spokesperson for the TMC.