Trinamool put up a show of strength in Cooch Behar town on Saturday as thousands of party supporters, led by the district leadership, marched across the town demanding justice from the CBI probing the August 9 rape and murder of the junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta.
The rally, party insiders said, was the largest assemblage of TMC supporters in north Bengal after the gruesome incident. TMC claimed that around one lakh people had come for the march. Other sources, however, put the figure at around 60,000.
“We want the CBI to finish the probe as soon as possible... the central agency has the record of conducting probes for months and years. Through our march, we also protested against the nefarious attempt by some political forces, who were rejected by the people a few months back (at the Lok Sabha elections), and are now aspiring to be in power by using this unfortunate incident,” said Avijit De Bhowmik, the TMC president of Cooch Behar.
After Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the doctor’s murder, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had marched in Calcutta for a speedy probe. She had demanded capital punishment for those involved in the crime. Trinamool’s national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee had demanded stronger laws for such crimes.
“The chief minister has written to the Prime Minister on the issue. We want the Centre to act accordingly,” Rabindranath Ghosh, a state vice-president of TMC based in Cooch Behar, said.
After the August 9 incident, the state government faced criticism from various quarters as outrage and protests were witnessed across the state.
Cooch Behar in north Bengal is the only parliamentary seat Mamata’s party won in north Bengal this time.
“Protests over the RG Kar incident were also witnessed in Cooch Behar. In such a situation, TMC planned a display of strength to deter the BJP from trying a revival by using this issue,” said an observer.
Trinamool insiders confirmed that they had made elaborate arrangements for the march.
“Such arrangements are not even made for important public meetings. Vehicles were hired and thousands of workers and supporters were brought across the district. In rural areas, elected representatives and local leaders were assigned responsibility to ensure participation of supporters from their concerned areas,” said a party functionary.
All district leaders, including local MP Jagadish Chandra Burma Basunia and NB development minister Udayan Guha, joined the march that started near Sagardighi, moved through different roads and ended in front of the ABN Seal College. Then, district leaders delivered speeches. “The CBI has been probing the case for the past 11 days and yet we have not come across any information of a breakthrough,” said minister Guha.