 "'If Bengal burns, Delhi will too': Mamata sparks row; INDIA bloc silent")
Amid the outrage over the RG Kar Hospital rape-murder incident in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sparked controversy on Wednesday by saying that if violence spreads across Bengal, other states including Northeast and Delhi will be impacted too.
“If Bengal is set on fire, Assam, northeast, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Delhi will also be affected,” Banerjee had said, addressing her party’s - Trinamool Congress students’ wing rally in Kolkata on Wednesday.
As the controversy boiled, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has condemned Mamata for her provocative and “hateful” comment. However, the INDIA bloc opposition parties allied with the TMC are yet to officially react to the development.
Mamata’s remarks came a day after the massive rally – Nabanna Abhijaan – was organised by students groups on Tuesday, seeking CM’s resignation over the incident. The protest had turned violent after clashes between the agitators and the police at some places.
BJP-INDIA bloc leaders react to Mamata’s statement
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also the chairperson of the opposition alliance, shared a detailed post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning, condemning the rising cases of violence against women in India. In his post, Kharge called for creating a fear-free environment for women and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has “indulged in victim blaming” in many such instances.
However, he did not mention anything about Mamata’s controversial remark.
Another INDIA bloc leader, Communist Party of India (CPI)’s Annie Raja said that one should be careful about making such statements. “If someone makes such a statement, they should be very careful. Because everyone is very much angry about the repeated crime, sexual violence and increasing brutality against the women….,” she said.
When asked to react to Mamata’s statement, Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Thursday did not comment on her remarks but said that there is a need to focus on the real issue. “...We should not be getting diverted with cheap politics. We all know that BJP will try to divert this into cheap politics. We should be careful that we do not get dragged into diversion politics..,” he said.
'How dare you', asks Himanta; BJP says Mamata wants revenge
Meanwhile, Assam and Odisha CMs, both belonging to the BJP, slammed Mamata for trying to “burn India with her politics of failure”. “Didi, how dare you threaten Assam? Don't show us red eyes…,” Assam CM Himanta Sarma said in a post on X.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh also condemned Mamata’s remarks and compared her to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
On the controversy, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that while 1.4 billion Indians are seeking justice for the Kolkata victim, Mamata Banerjee’s priority is not “justice but revenge”.