Atish Sarkar, a leader of the All Indian Trinamool Congress (AITC/TMC), has been suspended for an year by the party after he threatened protesters protesting against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in RG Kas Hospital in Kolkata.
There have been fierce protests ongoing in West Bengal against the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on 9th August.
Former councillor Atish Sarkar, who is the spouse of a TMC councillor from Habra, lashed out at the demonstrators on 1st September.
“Didi has instructed us to hiss,” the leader who comes from Ashoknagar in North 24 Parganas, around 50 kilometres northeast of Kolkata, said.
Atish Sarkar threatened, “Those of you who are abusing Didi, engaging in her character assassination, if we make obscene posters of your mothers and sisters and put them on your walls, you won’t be able to remove them. I will make a distorted picture of your mother and sister and hang it on the door of your house. You will not be able to leave your house. That day is going to come soon.”
He further said, “Be careful, TMC men are on the streets,” and challenged, “If we start hissing at every locality in the mornings and evenings, will you be able to step out of your homes?”
While the entire nation and West Bengal are demanding justice for R.G.'s sexual harassment and condemning government failures, TMC leaders are unleashing vile threats.
— BJP West Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) September 1, 2024
TMC goons, emboldened by Mamata Banerjee's call to 'create chaos,' are now threatening to deface homes with… pic.twitter.com/pjWUWWdvWG
The party then suspended Atish Sarkar for one year soon after his comments went viral on social media. Notably, he was not the only leader who attacked the protesters over the gruesome incident. TMC Lok Sabha MP from Bankura, Arup Chakraborty, earlier on 1st September, stated that those protesting against the rape and killing of a junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital and “misleading people” will “flee like dogs” as soon as party members make a stand and hiss.
“Awaken your conscience,” he claimed in a party meeting in his constituency and added, “Save (West) Bengal. Stand with Mamata Banerjee. We are there in Delhi’s Parliament. Trinamool Congress workers will have to hiss. Friends, you hiss and they will flee like dogs, they will run like foxes.
He also said, “We wanted change, not revenge, after coming to power in 2011. But they have crossed all limits. They are misleading the people and making them say that people will not accept Kanyashree or Durga Puja grants (in protest against the rape and murder case). If they have guts, they should take out a rally and show how many people are with them.” He urged the party’s female members and student workers to oppose demonstrators.
“If doctors, instead of treating patients and in the garb of protests, roam about with their boyfriends or go home and the patients die, there will be public outrage. If hospitals get gheraoed, they should not come to us to save them,” he had expressed in another public meeting on 19th August.
There have been protests for over three weeks in Bengal after the rape and murder of the trainee doctor in Kolkata. The lack of progress in the case, dubious conduct of the administration, and the West Bengal government’s determination to clamp down on the protests with unbridled force have only strengthened the agitation in the state.
