Mamata Banerjee on Thursday blamed the midnight vandalism at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on “outsiders” loyal to “Bam ebong Ram”, specifically accusing the CPM and the BJP of politicising the rape and murder of a junior doctor.

Emerging from a high tea hosted by governor C.V. Ananda Bose — whose morning visit to RG Kar displeased Trinamool — Mamata told journalists at the Raj Bhavan gates that she was not blaming the agitators at RG Kar at all.

Mamata said: “You are asking me, I am telling you. From whatever information
I have received, I am not blaming the students at all.”

She said, “Some bohiragawto (outsiders), political people with the intention of disrupting peace in Bengal, Bam ebong Ram… they got together to do this gondogol (commotion).”

Mamata had spent around 45 minutes at the Raj Bhavan with almost no interaction with Bose. She was unhappy with the Raj Bhavan for failing to invite mayor Firhad Hakim and police commissioner Vineet Goyal — both accompanied her — and she expressed her displeasure in conversations with officials at Bose’s office.

“The damage done at RG Kar yesterday, the losses suffered… those who conducted the tandob (frenzied destruction), they are not attached to this RG Kar students’ movement,” Mamata told reporters.

“They are outsiders, as far as I feel… from what I saw in the three videos I got. Those carrying the national flag were from the BJP, those carrying the red-and-white flag were from the DYFI (the youth wing of the CPM).”

Past midnight, a group of men had broken through the police barricades outside RG Kar and gone on the rampage inside, smashing the emergency room and several other places on the campus. They were armed with sticks, bricks and fish-cutting blades, and the police allegedly did not do enough to stop them when they made their way inside.

The attack — which coincided with the “reclaim the night” vigil across the city and elsewhere in Bengal that saw the spontaneous participation of thousands — started around 12.20am.

The attackers allegedly had a free run for more than 40 minutes. The canopied area where junior doctors were protesting was vandalised, with chairs and fans smashed.

“The way the police were attacked… one of our DCs, stationed there for security, couldn’t be found for an hour. He was found in an unconscious state. His head was badly injured and bleeding. At 3am, I told the police to rush him (to a private hospital)… It was feared that he was in a coma,” the chief minister, who also handles the home and health portfolios, said.

(The officer is said to be recovering.)

“Many cops got badly beaten up. But I laud them, they never lost patience despite all that tandob. They did not hit back, this is good…. What did the police do to deserve this?” Mamata said.

At 1.42am on Thursday, not long after the hooliganism at RG Kar, Mamata’s nephew and heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee had issued a stern statement on X.

“The hooliganism and vandalism at RG Kar tonight have exceeded all acceptable limits. As a public representative, I just spoke with @CPKolkata, 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,” the Diamond Harbour MP’s statement read.

“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 prioritised.”

Outside the Raj Bhavan, Mamata rued the damage to the hospital’s infrastructure.

“Two floors totally destroyed, medicines made to disappear, all infrastructure, equipment… everything totally destroyed. (Stuff) worth a lot of money (was destroyed). It takes a lot of public investment,” she said.

“Those who are still agitating, I say to them, everything has been accepted, nothing remains. It is not even in our hands any more. Go tell the CBI, go tell the court, if there is something to say…. It is a sub judice matter now. We can only help now.”

Mamata said that sexual crimes against women were the most heinous of all, and their perpetrators deserved nothing less than the death sentence. She once again brought up instances of such crimes in BJP-ruled states.

“The tragedy is the most saddening; we have been demanding nothing less than capital punishment. I will personally take out a rally tomorrow with that demand,” she said.

“This is a social disease; the perpetrators are all enemies of society, not friends. We cannot ever support it. Yesterday, the same thing took place in Uttar Pradesh, on a Dalit girl. Two days ago, Madhya Pradesh. Hathras, Bilkis (Bano)... Unnao,” Mamata added.

“It’s a big, big, extraordinary criminal…. it’s a crime, big crime. There is no point in any other punishment, just the one – hang them. So that, seeing one of them getting hanged, the others fear the consequences.”

She urged public awareness against fake news and AI-generated content on social media.

“I tell everyone, so much content on social media is fake, AI-generated. Do not trust everything that you see or hear. Lies and cyber crime have reached unimaginable levels… misinformation and disinformation,” Mamata said.

Reiterating her demand for prompt death sentences for those responsible for the alleged rape and murder of the junior doctor last week, the Bengal chief minister swatted away the likelihood of disruptions on Friday by the various bandhs or bandh-like programmes called by the Opposition.

“They (strikes) do not take place in Bengal any more,” she said, underscoring the movement for justice that she plans to launch with her protest march on Friday.