BJP fields RG Kar victim’s mother from Panihati, sparks political storm in Bengal
Telegraph | 26 March 2026
The BJP on Wednesday evening announced that the mother of the junior doctor, who was raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024, would be its candidate from Panihati, North 24-Parganas.
The announcement came as the party released its third list, which comprises 19 names.
“I will raise my voice for women’s rights, education and health in the Assembly,” Abhaya’s mother said after the announcement was made, as she appealed to the people to vote for her.
The BJP now has 19 more candidates to announce to complete its full list of 294 nominees for the 2026 Bengal elections.
“Although it was almost finalised earlier, the party went through a rigorous analysis before fielding the mother of the RG Kar victim as a candidate from Panihati. She will now contest the election and begin her campaign soon,” said a senior BJP leader.
The plan to field the victim’s mother from her home constituency of Panihati had been in the works for a long time.
The rape and murder of the doctor on the premises of a state government hospital had triggered unprecedented public outrage cutting across political lines.
People had taken to the streets in massive numbers to protest against the lack of women’s safety and the poor law and order in a state with a woman chief minister.
The BJP believes that fielding the young doctor’s mother is a masterstroke — not just for a single Assembly seat, but as a broader strategy to highlight the plight of women across Bengal.
On March 19, the victim’s parents appeared in public and the mother said she had agreed to contest the election on a BJP ticket.
On the same day, the BJP released its second list of 111 candidates but left the Panihati seat vacant.
Although the party did not officially confirm her candidature at that time, there were indications that a large section within the BJP supported her candidature from Panihati.
The Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, had recently confirmed that the victim’s parents had become BJP members.
The parents also accused the Left Front, particularly the CPM, of politicising the brutal rape and murder of their daughter. The CPM had been at the forefront of the protests against the brutal crime.
CPM nominee from Panihati, Kalatan Dasgupta, who will contest against Abhaya’s mother, is a face of the RG Kar movement. He refrained from directly commenting on her candidature, but said that he and his comrades would continue their protests if any case of brutality against a woman occurs in the future.
“When we bodily stopped the hearse carrying Abhaya's body, we never for once thought about the family's political identity. Lakhs of people across the globe participated in the Raat Dakhal (Reclaiming the Night) movement without knowing about the victim or her parents' political affiliations. Anyone can contest the elections on behalf of any political party, but we will not deviate from our line of protest if such an incident takes place in the future,” said Dasgupta.
The Trinamool Congress claimed the mother had used her daughter’s death for political gain. “It is now clear that the mother has used her daughter’s brutal death as a tool for political gain. She should remember that people across party lines had taken to the streets to protest against the crime,” said Barrackpore Trinamool president and MP Partha Bhowmick. "Now the people of Bengal will understand her actual goal."
Apart from Abhaya's mother, the BJP third list of nominees included former NSG commando Dipanjan Chakraborty. He has been fielded from Hooghly's Uttarpara.