At a public rally on Wednesday at Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) foundation day, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, the chief minister of the state, came under fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party for reportedly threatening protesting physicians and northeastern states.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state head of the West Bengal BJP and a union minister of state, sent a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah denouncing Mamata Banerjee’s comments as “unprecedented” and “threatening,” adding that she “no longer deserves to hold such an important position.”
“It is unthinkable and unprecedented for a chief minister, who is constitutionally bound to rise above partisan attitudes, to make such intimidating statements that pose a threat to democracy,” Sukanta Majumdar told reporters.
In response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Mamata Banerjee said at a public rally that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using the BJP to start a fire in Bengal. She also threatened to topple your chair and burn Assam, northeast, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Delhi if you burn Bengal.
“Some people think this is Bangladesh. I love Bangladesh; they speak like us and share our culture. But remember, Bangladesh is a separate country, and India is a separate country. Modi Babu is using his party to cause fire here. If you burn Bengal, Assam, northeast, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Delhi too shall burn! We will topple your chair,” Mamata Banerjee said.
Outrage has spread across the nation in response to the August 9 rape and murder of the trainee doctor from Kolkata. Since the tragedy, which rocked the country, other protests calling for justice for the victim have been held.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi on Wednesday alleged that Mamata Banerjee “straight away threatened doctors” with her statement of not regsitering FIRs against protesting doctors.
The Trinamool Congress chief’s remarks were referred to by the BJP MP as a “new strategy to threaten” doctors, and he also questioned the police response to the demonstrators.
The chief minister of Bengal was criticised by the BJP leader during a news conference in New Delhi, who stated that the victim’s right to justice is not an election issue.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, recently criticised his counterpart from West Bengal for supposedly threatening to incite violence in the northeastern state. Mamata Banerjee, he said, was attempting to incite the populace to cover up her own shortcomings. “Didi, how dare you threaten Assam? Don’t show your anger to us,” Himanta Sarma wrote on X, sharing a 46-second video clip of a speech by the West Bengal CM. “Don’t even try to incite India with your politics of failure. It does not suit you to speak divisive language,” Sarma added.
Pijush Hazarika, a minister from Assam, harshly criticised the chief minister of Bengal for her remarks. “She can’t bully, she can’t threaten us. She can’t control law and order in her state and is threatening us. It will not happen in Assam, I am assuring you,” Hazarika said.
Hazarika further expressed his disapproval of Banerjee’s approach, urging her to adhere to decorum befitting her long tenure as a chief minister. “I would like to request Mamata Banerjee, she is a very senior leader and a long-time CM, she should know how to speak in public. I seriously condemn it,” news agency quoted Hazarika as saying.
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh also lashed out at the Bengal CM. “How dare Didi threaten the Northeast? I condemn such irresponsible remarks in the strongest terms. She must publicly apologize to the Northeast and the rest of the nation,” Biren Singh wrote on X. “@MamataOfficial Ji must immediately stop inciting violence and hatred with divisive politics. It is highly unbecoming of a political leader to issue threats of violence on a public platform,” he added.
The BJP has called for a 12-hour Bangla Bandh in West Bengal on Wednesday, August 28, coinciding with Banerjee’s rally. The purpose of the bandh is to draw attention to the mounting dissatisfaction among the medical community on the necessity of enhanced safety protocols and prompt justice.
Amid mounting protests over the rape-murder incident, chaos broke out in Kolkata on August 27 when security personnel lobbing tear gas shells, used water cannons and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse protestors on the Howrah Bridge marching towards the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna.
