The state correctional department minister Chandranath Sinha on Saturday described those protesting the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as “drunks carrying the CPM and BJP flags”.
“In the name of ‘Reclaim the night’ the drunks of CPM and BJP carrying the party flags are creating a ruckus. Women are being harassed in the name of protest,” said Sinha.
Though he did not elaborate Sinha was possibly referring to actor Rituparna Sengupta who was told to go back on the night of September 4, during a candle-light vigil held across the city and different parts of Bengal. In some places like Barasat, North 24-Parganas and Mathabhanga, Cooch Behar, alleged Trinamul workers attacked the protesters. The police arrested these alleged TMC workers.
“They have hit the streets and are indulging in drunken disorder. The people of Bengal will not forgive this kind of behaviour and goondaism in the name of movement,” Sinha said.
Sinha made the comments at a public event in Birbhum’s Murarai a day ahead of Sunday’s “reclaim the night" which will continue till the wee hours of Monday when the Supreme Court’s three-member bench led by the Chief Justice of India will continue its hearing in the case.
The central probe agency CBI is expected to submit a report detailing the progress made in the rape and murder case and the corruption charges against the former principal Sandip Ghosh on Monday.
Other ministers and lawmakers from the ruling Trinamul like the North Bengal Development minister Udayan Guha, MLAs Lovely Maitra, Kanchan Mullick and Paresh Das have also warned the protestors, as the Trinamul has struggled to contain the movement which has spiralled into a mass movement without any single political party leading the pack.
Guha had threatened to breaks the hands of those who raised fingers at the chief minister.
Canning MLA Paresh Das had warned of “action” against any family whose members participated in the September 4 event, while the Sonarpur South MLA and actor Lovely Maitra had openly called for “badla” (revenge).
A former Trinamul councillor from North 24-Parganas’ Ashoknagar who had threatened locals of putting up obscene posters of the women members in the family of protestors was suspended from the party for a year. Except for a mild rebuke to Mullick and Maitra, the Trinamul has remained silent on the threats issued by the ministers.
State education minister Bratya Basu had taunted theatre personalities who had returned state awards conferred to them, asking whether they would do the same if a similar incident occurred in the national level, possibly implying BJP-ruled states.
