KOLKATA: The BJP on Monday alleged that women are unsafe in West Bengal under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, citing the alleged gang rape at South Calcutta Law College and questioning the rising crimes against women in a woman-led state.
The party criticised the Trinamool Congress government for failing to ensure women's safety and demanded immediate action against the perpetrators.
A four-member BJP fact-finding team arrived at Kolkata on Monday morning. The team, which consisted of former Union Ministers Satpal Singh, Meenakshi Lekhi and party MPs Biplab Kumar Deb and Manan Kumar Mishra, alleged that criminals were appointed as teachers and staff without verification in the law college.
Lekhi said, “Criminals are appointed in colleges as ad-hoc teachers or staff without any proper verification. There is no history sheet of the prime accused, who was booked earlier, and had been appointed through backdoors in violation of the rules set by the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the education ministry.”
According to her this is nothing but criminalisation of academics.
“The basic question is, why are crimes against women happening in a state which has a woman as a Chief Minister? In a predominantly matriarchal society, where Goddess Durga is worshipped, is the current government planning on addressing and taking action against the growing cases of crimes against women or not?” she added.
Slamming Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Deb said, “No woman is safe in West Bengal. Many incidents of crime against women happen, where no FIR is lodged. And in those cases, FIRs have been lodged, no further action is taken.”
Singh said that they were shocked by the heinous incident in the law college in Kolkata, which was turning into a pattern after the RG Kar incident last year where a young doctor was raped and murdered. “It has exposed the utter failure of the West Bengal government, led by a woman Chief Minister,” he added.
Referring to the prime accused in the alleged gang rape incident in the South Calcutta Law College, he said, “We met the vice principal of the college. How can a person, who was arrested four times since 2011 and who is still a member of the student wing of the ruling party get appointed to the law college?”
Earlier, in the afternoon, the team met with Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters. Verma informed them about the progress of the case and the number of accused. The Commissioner also assured them that the accused would be punished.
The BJP delegation left Lalbazar at around 3:50 pm and headed towards South Calcutta Law College at Kasba.
However, before entering the college, they first had to face police obstruction. Meanwhile, there was a gathering of BJP youth wing workers in front of the college. Workers of several left-wing organisations were also present there. The police officials let the BJP team enter the college after an argument, which continued for around 15 minutes.
Immediately, left supporters started slogans opposing their entry. BJP workers and supporters retaliated with counter slogans, which turned into a scuffle. Later, the situation was brought under control with the intervention of the police.