Trinamool Congress Minister Akhil Giri is under the spotlight for his misogynist remarks against President Droupadi Murmu, who is the first member of the tribal community to hold the post of the Indian President.
Giri, who serves as the Minister for Correctional Administration, was recently heard as saying, “He (Suvendu Adhikari) claimed that I don’t look good. How beautiful is Suvendu? We don’t judge people by their appearance. We respect the office of the President (Draupadi Murmu). But have you looked at her face?”
#WATCH | “We don’t judge anyone by their appearance, we respect the office of the President (of India). But how does our President look?,” says West Bengal Minister and TMC leader Akhil Giri in Nandigram (11.11.2022) pic.twitter.com/UcGKbGqc7p
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2022
His derogatory remarks have drawn the ire of social media users and politicians alike, who are now questioning the party for harbouring such a Minister.
Trinamool Congress has a history of misogynist behaviour, even though some of the party leaders are known to mouth platitudes about women’s empowerment. A big part of the problem is the TMC supremo herself, who has a history of victim blaming and has been accused of trivialising heinous crimes such as rape.
In April this year, TMC supremo Banerjee downplayed the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Nadia’s Hanskhali village. She claimed that ‘everyone was aware of the girl’s love affair, so one was left to wonder here whether it was an actual rape or pregnancy that went wrong’.
Shocking statement by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who trivialises the brutal rape and murder of a 14 year old girl in Nadia’s Hanskhali. She questions the victim and asks if it was a love affair or a case of unplanned pregnancy gone awry!
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 11, 2022
Because the accused is TMC leader’s son. pic.twitter.com/ZaMFL73T03
“As a layman, I am saying where would someone get the evidence of whether the girl was actually raped or pregnant. Or was there any other reason, like someone beat her up or she died of some illness?” Banerjee remarked.
“There was a love affair for sure, her family knew about it, and their neighbours also knew about it. Now if a girl and a boy love each other, I cannot punish them”, she cast aspersions on the case.
The West Bengal Chief Minister blatantly attempted to trivialise statutory rape, only because the prime accused in the case was the son of Trinamool Congress (TMC) Gajna Gram Panchayat member Samar Gowla.
The Infamous Park Street Case
From time to time, Mamata Banerjee had tried to insinuate that rape cases in West Bengal were motivated by political vendetta. She has often accused victims of lying and staging a ‘rape’ to defame her government.
The most glaring example of such problematic behaviour has been her remarks in the aftermath of the 2012 Park Street rape case. An Anglo-Indian woman, by the name Suzette Jordan, was raped in a moving car by five men on February 6, 2012, when she was returning home from Park Street in Kolkata.
Soon after the news surfaced, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee absolved the accused of all charges. She had dubbed the incident as ‘shajano ghotona‘ (concocted incident) that was allegedly ‘designed to malign the government.’
Three years later in 2015, a Kolkata Court upheld the rape charges in the Park Street case and found accused Nasir Khan, Ruman Khan and Sumit Bajaj guilty.
When Mamata Banerjee blamed malls and multiplexes for rise in rape cases
After another rape case in Burdwan’s Katwa in the same year, Mamata Banerjee again dismissed the rape allegations, even before the investigation was concluded.
“A political party is doing all this, shouting rape. They are playing this drama. Harmader diye natok shajachhe jatey Banglar nam kharap hochhe (They are staging an act to give a bad name to West Bengal)”, she was heard as saying.
In 2013, during a debate in the West Bengal legislative assembly about the rising cases of rapes in the State, the CM insinuated that it was due to an increase in the population of the State. She had also blamed modernisation, an increase in shopping malls and multiplexes for rising rape cases.
Akhil Giri gets away with mere lip service
When Mamata Banerjee herself has made disparaging comments about rape victims, it, therefore, comes as no surprise why Akhil Giri was able to get away after mocking the physical appearance of President Droupadi Murmu.
TMC brushed off its responsibility by putting out a tweet of ‘condemnation’ and not taking any concrete action against its motormouth leader. And this bolstered the politician to use his apology to further rationalise his statements.
I respect President. I mentioned the post&made a comparison to respond to Suvendu Adhikari,I didn’t take any name. He had said Akhil Giri looks bad in his appearance. I’m a min,took oath to office. If something is said against me, it’s an insult to Constitution: WB Min Akhil Giri pic.twitter.com/9w1oY2BuZA
— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2022
“I respect President. I mentioned the post & made a comparison to respond to Suvendu Adhikari, I didn’t take any name. He had said Akhil Giri looks bad in his appearance. I’m a Minister, took oath to office. If something is said against me, it’s an insult to Constitution. I said ‘President’, I didn’t take anyone’s name,” he had justified.
For all those who are outraged by the remarks of Akhil Giri, there is little hope of grievance redressal within the Mamata Banerjee-led-Trinamool Congress since the culture pretty much stems from the top.
