Kolkata doctor rape-murder case: TMC jittery as West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose visits Delhi amid outrage

Kolkata: As West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose reached New Delhi to submit a report to the Centre in the wake of the rape and the murder of a doctor in a hospital in the city, the ruling Trinamool Congress on Monday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to use him to destabilise its government.

“Democracy is degenerating in West Bengal.. This cannot go on,” Ananda Bose said at the Raksha Bandhan ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata before leaving for New Delhi.

He is likely to meet President Draupadi Murmu and Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.

With the widespread outrage over the August 9 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital continuing, the visit of the governor to New Delhi fuelled speculation in Kolkata about the possibility of the Centre weighing the option of imposing the President’s Rule in West Bengal.

A jittery Trinamool Congress reacted sharply alleging that the BJP high command was putting pressure on the governor to make some specific recommendations to destabilise the elected government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

“The governor should clarify if any attempt is being made to destabilise the elected government of the TMC in West Bengal,” Kunal Ghosh, a senior leader of Mamata Banerjee’s party told journalists.

“Bengal is not a place safe for women. Bengal has failed its women. Not the society, but the present government, has failed its women folk... Women now are scared of goondas (hooligans). This has been created by the government which is insensitive to this issue,” Ananda Bose said.

He declined to reveal what he would report but said that the solution of the problem could be found only in the Constitution of India.

A man was arrested for allegedly raping and murdering the young doctor a day after her body was found. The CBI later took over the probe from the Kolkata Police amid allegations of cover-up attempts by the hospital authorities and the city cops.

The protests by the doctors in response to the heinous crime continued. Thousands of women took to the streets during the night of August 14-15 staging a ‘Reclaim the Night’ protest and demanding justice for the deceased doctor. A gang of hooligans vandalised the RGKMCH during the protest by the women, who were also joined by men.

The supporters of two rival football clubs of Kolkata on Sunday came together to protest against the rape and murder, defying police actions. Film personalities and lawyers also took to the streets.

Banerjee accused the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of trying to take political advantage of the crime to destabilise her government.

Bose had several run-ins with Banerjee and the state government led by the Trinamool Congress. He has also been critical of the State Government in the case of the rape and murder of the young doctor at the RGKMCH in Kolkata. He visited the hospital after it was vandalised by a gang of goons during the August 14-15 night protest. He told the protesting doctors that he was with them.

A woman – a contractual employee of the Raj Bhavan – had on May 2 accused the governor of molesting her.