West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Kolkata: The BJP on Sunday demanded Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's resignation asserting that she had failed to ensure the safety and security of women, making West Bengal "the most unsafe" state for women in the country.
Taking to X, BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya highlighted the alleged molestation of a nurse in a Birbhum hospital, a minor girl in a Howrah hospital, and another minor girl in North 24 Parganas over the past 24 hours.
"While West Bengal is in the throes of a spirited civil society movement, demanding justice for the young woman doctor, who was raped and murdered in RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, a nurse is molested in a Swasthya Kendra in Birbhum and now a staffer in a Howrah hospital tries to outrage the modesty of a minor girl in the CT scan room," Malviya posted on X.
He further questioned, "What will it take for Mamata Banerjee, the Health Minister of Bengal, to resign, so that men who are assaulting women with impunity and feeling protected start fearing the law?"
The BJP leader added, "Make no mistake, these men are running wild because Mamata Banerjee has reduced government hospitals to money-making machines, with criminal syndicates trading in everything from medicines to cadavers, hospital beds to doctor appointments. The ‘cut money’ culture gives these TMC men a license to rape and plunder."
Malviya added, "The question is: how much does Mamata Banerjee get? If Mamata Banerjee starts hanging those responsible for rapes, as she is demanding, despite the relevant provisions in the law, soon there will be no one left in the TMC." "Thanks to Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal is the most unsafe state for women. She has done nothing to enforce stringent rules and establish Fast-Track Courts to punish those accused in rape and POCSO cases," he added.
In Birbhum, a nurse at Illambazar block hospital was allegedly molested and verbally abused by a male patient on Saturday night. In Howrah, a laboratory technician was arrested for allegedly molesting a minor girl at District Headquarters Hospital, where the 12-year-old had been admitted last week.
Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI(M), demonstrated at the block hospital on Sunday, demanding the resignation of its superintendent.
In Madhyamgram’s Rajbari area, a mob vandalised the house of a panchayat member accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl. The accused has been arrested.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, "One incident after another is taking place in West Bengal under the regime of Mamata Banerjee, who has squarely failed to ensure the safety of women and minors. She must resign." TMC leader Kunal Ghosh accused the BJP of exploiting public discontent over the rape-murder of the young medic at RG Kar Hospital and attempting to destabilise the democratically elected Mamata Banerjee government.
Ghosh said, "Our Chief Minister has announced zero tolerance for any incident of rape and is calling for the capital punishment of rapists. We are all anguished over the RG Kar incident. But by highlighting every condemnable incident of sexual assault on women and children and shifting the blame to the ruling party, the BJP is seeking political gain. What about sexual abuse, attack, molestation, and rapes of women in BJP-ruled states?"