West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit back at ally Congress after Rahul Gandhi’s acerbic comment about the handling of the case by the “local administration”.
“I want to ask Congress… how many incidents have taken place in your states… what action do you take? And under CPIM rule there were a plethora of heinous crimes (and) the then government was silent. Since there was no social media then… people were not so aware,” she said.
Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress is part of the Congress-led INDIA alliance, also took swipes at fierce rivals CPI (Marxist), declaring “heinous crimes” had been committed in Bengal while the Left party was in power and “many incidents” had been reported from Congress-ruled states.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi said on X that “the attempt to save the accused, instead of providing justice to the victim, raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration”.
Hitting back at the Congress leader, the ruling Trinamool Congress said his allegations are baseless.
Banerjee also slammed the BJP – which has launched protests demanding her resignation.
“Abuse me as much as you want… there are people running a smear campaign on social media. But do not abuse ‘Bangla Maa…'” she continued, invoking the party’s ‘Maa, Mati, Manush’ war-cry.
The victim’s parents also approached the high court alleging negligence by the police.
The chief minister appealed to the protesting doctors to lift the cease work and join duties as healthcare services are badly impacted. She also welcomed the Calcutta High Court order granting a CBI probe into the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor.
So far, only one person, Sanjoy Roy, has been arrested in the case. Roy is now in CBI custody.