On Thursday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee took a jibe at the Uttar Pradesh government and said that the state of West Bengal is much better as compared to the state of Uttar Pradesh. She stated that, unlike CM Yogi Adityanath, her government takes strict action against all the illegal activities operative in the state regardless of political color.
Banerjee while speaking at a state government program specifically raised the issue of women’s safety and said that her government is always prepared and well equipped to provide justice to the women victims. “Bengal is better than other states. Today in UP if girls go to get justice, victims are made the accused. But here we don’t do that. I don’t even spare my boys and girls (party workers) if they are guilty. But some keep circulating fake videos”, CM Mamata Banerjee said on May 5.
Bengal is better than other states. Today in UP if girls go to get justice, victims are made the accused. But here we don’t do that. I don’t even leave my own boys & girls(party workers) if they’re guilty. But there are some who keep circulating fake videos: WB CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/SsaIzDm9Dy
— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2022
Pertinently, she tend to forgot several cases in the past in which she herself had blamed the victim for the alleged rape cases. On April 11, 2022, Banerjee downplayed the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Nadia’s Hanskhali village. She stated that ‘everyone was aware of the girl’s love affair, so one is left to wonder here whether it was an actual rape or pregnancy that went wrong’.
“As a layman, I am saying where would someone get the evidence whether she was actually raped or was she pregnant or was there any other reason, like someone beat her up or she died of some illness. There was a love affair for sure, her family knew about it, and their neighbors also knew about it. Now if a girl and a boy love each other, I cannot punish them”, she had said adding that West Bengal was not Uttar Pradesh where the action could be taken against the accused in the name of Love Jihad.
Reportedly, the accused in the case was named as Brajgopal who is the son of Gajna Gram Panchayat member Samar Gowla (TMC leader). The police however arrested the accused and slapped him with the charges of rape, murder, and suppressing the evidence.
Also, in the year 2012 when an Anglo-Indian woman was raped by five men in a moving car, the CM had dubbed the incident as ‘shajano ghotona‘ (concocted incident) that was allegedly ‘designed to malign the government.’ The victim in the case was returning home from Park Street in Kolkata. During another rape case in Burdwan’s Katwa in the same year, Mamata Banerjee had 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.
Banerjee on Thursday meanwhile also attacked the BJP-led central government for hiking the prices of petrol and diesel. “The Centre is defrauding common people by fuel prices,” she said taking an oath to always work for the state of Bengal. “You have to do social work to do politics. Today I once again take oath before my mothers and sisters that until I leave, I will work for Bengal,” Banerjee added.
You have to do social work to do politics. Today I once again take oath before my mothers and sisters that until I leave, I will work for Bengal. Bengal will show the path to India: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata pic.twitter.com/U9Z9qQrsym
— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2022
The Trinamool Congress government continues to face criticism over a series of alleged rape cases. Amid this, the West Bengal CM comparing its government to the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government has raised the eyebrows of many. “Bengal will show the path to India and the states like Uttar Pradesh,” she affirmed in a state government program on May 5.
