While condemning the rape of a student at Kolkaka law college, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday accused West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government of “patronising” the perpetrators of the crime and making the college authorities helpless.
“This is not a matter for a CBI inquiry. The culprits will be tried in the people’s court of Bengal. They must be thrown out—only then will peace return to Bengal,” Pradhan said at an event in North 24 Parganas.
“What surprises me is that Mamata Banerjee was a student leader. What happened to Didi? She was a student leader and a youth leader herself. How has she left today’s student generation in such a condition. Rape, murder… How can all that be given patronage? Does it not pain her? They just remain indifferent to people’s suffering to protect their own,” the BJP leader said.
“Bengal is the place of Ma Saraswati and the place for women’s development. Bengal used to be an example for the entire country regarding women’s progress in education,” he added.
Pradhan said the rape at the law college and the rape-murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata exposed “the mindset of the ruling party, which is headed by a woman”.
“This is very dangerous for a democratic society. When saviours become demons. When those in power make criminals members of their party, give these criminals power and post them, such anarchy and crime increase. I condemn this in the strongest way possible,” he added.
Regarding the college administration’s role in ensuring students’ safety, Pradhan said, “When the chief minister’s office and the ruling party’s leadership patronise such people what will college authorities do?”
In Bengal and many other states, many student leaders have joined politics but now antisocial elements and criminals are taking over colleges, the Union minister said.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar released
Meanwhile, after spending 14 hours in the Kolkata police’s custody with other BJP leaders and workers, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar was released. The BJP leaders were detained while protesting at Gariahat over the law college incident.
Majumdar told reporters that he had refused bail on a personal bond. “West Bengal has become a killing field of democracy,” he said. “Two incidents of rape inside educational institutions have taken place in the city within eight months. Where is the administration?”
Majumdar further said that BJP workers and leaders detained during protests would not avail of bail on personal bonds from police stations but would insist on being produced in court.
Suvendu Adhikari on ‘bhaipo gang’
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari held a Kanya Suraksha Rally from Golpark to Gariahat. Speaking to reporters, Adhikari said, “The Kolkata police are the protectors of the rapist. In Hanshkhali, a child was raped by a TMC leader’s son and the CBI investigation is going on. The RG Kar doctor was raped and murdered and the then commissioner of police Vineet Goyal helped to destroy evidence. Today women doctors are not safe in medical college hospitals and girls are not safe in law colleges. Where will they go? The culprits are of the bhaipo (nephew) gang. The bhaipo gang has captured colleges. They are not only selling jobs.. TMC leaders in top posts are also allowing such incidents.”
Hitting out at the Kolkata police, Adhikari said, “Manoj Verma, where have you hidden the victim and family? Today the National Commission for Women could not meet them. Why are you hiding them? Until we remove Mamata Banerjee from her chair, the Kanya Surakhsha Yatra will go on because kanyas are not safe under her rule.”
While announcing that the BJP’s youth wing would hold a Kasba Abhijan on July 2, Adhikari urged the RG Kar victim’s parents to call a Nabanna Abhijan on August 9, the first anniversary of the trainee doctor’s rape and murder at the Kolkata medical college.
On Saturday, the BJP constituted a four-member fact-finding committee to look into the law college rape. Its members are former Union minister Satpal Singh; former Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi; MP Biplab Kumar Deb; and MP Manan Kumar Mishra.