The fight against the ruling party of Bengal must not give an opportunity to the BJP to make political inroads in the state, said an organisation that has been at the forefront of the night vigils that have erupted across the state and beyond since the postgraduate trainee was found raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
At a news conference on Saturday, members of the organisation accused the BJP of “legitimising” the oppression of women.
“We are vocal about our anger at the role of the Trinamul Congress in incidents like Kamduni, Bogtui, Park Street and RG Kar. At the same time, we criticise the BJP for its role in Hathras, Unnao, Kathua, the release of Bilkis Bano’s rapists, for shielding their MLA who has been responsible for sexual assault of the wrestlers, and for garlanding rapists. We believe the BJP has no moral right to protest against the RG Kar incident because the party politically legitimises rape and gender oppression,” said a note from the Reclaim the Night, Reclaim the Rights Movement.
September 14 marks a month of the unprecedented night-long vigil led by women after the RG Kar brutality.
On the eve of Independence Day, the city was brought to a standstill by hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, demanding justice for the RG Kar victim.
The vigils happened across the state and soon found resonance in several parts of the country and abroad. Many such vigils have since happened, including a global human chain on September 8.
Satabdi Das, a gender- rights activist and one of the conveners of the movement, told Metro on Saturday: “The BJP is trying to hijack the movement. We are fighting against the ruling party. But it will be extremely unfortunate if the BJP cashes in on this. Feminists and gender activists have an ideological fight with the BJP and Hindutva forces.”
At the news conference on Saturday, the members of the movement laid out their future plans and a charter of demands.
“Starting from September 15, we have planned night meetings in Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly, Bishnupur, Jhargram, Murshidabad, South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas. We have planned night meetings with women workers from sectors like IT, gig economy, domestic work and factories,” they said.
Their demands include: