• If fire starts in Bengal, will spread to Assam, Bihar, Odisha: Mamata Banerjee
    Indian Express | 30 August 2024
  • West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s warning — that the fire BJP wants to start in her state will not spare Assam, Bihar, Manipur or Odisha — on Wednesday drew sharp reactions from her counterparts in several states.

    Her comments come at a time when West Bengal is gripped by protests — by doctors as well as the Opposition BJP — against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.

    Addressing a foundation day event of the TMC’s Chhatra Parishad (student wing) in Kolkata, Mamata said: “Some people are thinking this is Bangladesh. I love Bangladesh, their culture and food are the same as ours. But Bangladesh is a separate country and India is a separate country. Modi babu, you want that fire to spread in Bengal. Then you should understand that if a fire starts in Bengal, Assam will not be spared, Bihar will not be spared, it will not stop at Manipur, or Odisha. It will also reach Delhi.”

    In a post on X, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote in Hindi and Bengali: “Didi, how dare you threaten Assam? Don’t incite fire in the country with your politics of failure. Divisive language does not suit you.”

    Manipur CM N Biren Singh posted: “How dare Didi threaten the Northeast? I condemn such irresponsible remarks in the strongest terms. She must publicly apologise to the Northeast and the rest of the nation. Mamata ji must immediately stop inciting violence and hatred with divisive politics. It is highly unbecoming of a political leader to issue threats of violence on a public platform.”

    Odisha’s Mohan Charan Majhi asked Mamata: “Who gave you the right to say such insulting words against Odisha? People of Odisha will never accept your negative and insensitive comments about our state. Instead of ensuring justice, your revengeful comments are harmful to the nation.”

    BJP’s West Bengal president Sukanta Majumder, in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, highlighted Mamata’s comments and said, “This isn’t the voice of someone holding a constitutional position; it’s the voice of an anti-national.”

    Speaking at Wednesday’s event, Mamata also vowed to bring in a law through the Assembly to ensure capital punishment for rape cases, while TMC’s second-in-command, Abhishek Banerjee, promised to move a private member’s Bill in Parliament for a time-bound legislation to curb crimes against women.

    Both also targeted the BJP for the Nabanna Abhiyan (protests at the secretariat) and the Bangla Bandh, and for “conspiring to spread anarchy in Bengal”. The CM also urged protesting doctors to resume work, stating that an FIR would “ruin their careers”.

    Abhishek, meanwhile, asked why the former principal of R G Kar, Sandip Ghosh, had not been arrested so far.

    After July 21, when the party took out a Martyrs’ Day rally, this was the first time that Mamata and Abhishek shared the stage. According to sources, Abhishek had expressed differences over the handling of the R G Kar case by the administration and the police.

    He is learnt to have been against Ghosh’s transfer to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) within hours of his resignation from R G Kar. He was also critical of the Kolkata police’s failure to stop miscreants from ransacking the hospital’s emergency building during a protest on the night of August 14.

    “I will ask the Speaker to call a special session of the Assembly next week and we will bring a Bill which will have capital punishment for rape. The only punishment for rape is hanging. After passing the Bill, if the Governor does not give assent, our workers will sit in protest in front of Raj Bhavan,” Mamata said.

    “If time-bound legislation is not passed by the Centre in the next three-four months on crimes against women, we will take our movement to Delhi, and common citizens will hit the streets… If the Centre does not pass an anti-rape law and time-bound legislation, I will move this via a private member’s Bill,” Abhishek said.

    He also requested the TMC to “reserve 55 per cent positions for women in the upcoming elections in the student union bodies”, and asserted that “out of our 29 MPs, 12 are women”.

    While Abhishek said “the CBI needs to answer why Sandip Ghosh has not been arrested after 14 days”, Mamata did not comment on the former principal.

    Referring to the protests by doctors, she said: “We did not take action when junior doctors were on strike across the country. That’s because I think their movement is justified. They want justice for their friend. But in Delhi, they filed an FIR against the doctors… The Supreme Court, on that day, empowered the state to take action. I don’t want to do it. Because they should study well. If I file an FIR against someone, his or her life will be ruined, they will not get a passport, visa. We don’t want to do that.”

    Backing Mamata, Abhishek said those demanding her resignation should first ask the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra to step down for crimes against women there.

    On the BJP, Mamata said, “Sometimes you have to endure, you have to be patient. But you don’t know what I can do when the limit of tolerance is exceeded.”

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