'Small incident': Mamata Banerjee battles two-front war as TMC motormouths deepen crisis

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed her displeasure at remarks by senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress. (File: PTI)

On the backfoot over the following the brutal rape and assault of a 24-year-old student at the South Kolkata Law College, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal finds itself in familiar territory. The incident comes a month ahead of the first anniversary of the RG Kar rape and murder case that has generated similar outrage as the one last year.

While the Trinamool Congress hopes that unlike the RG Kar incident, swift and appropriate action by the police will help control the damage, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been engrossed in fire-fighting an avoidable crisis.

Back-to-back remarks by senior leaders of the ruling party have left Mamata battling a two-front war. While ensuring no slip-ups in the investigation into the law college rape case is her immediate task at hand, the crisis exacerbated by the party's motormouths has forced her attention towards matters closer home.

A look at the series of events that transpired after the law college case came to light reveals how the Trinamool Congress has waded into a political crisis that is entirely of its own making.

The TMC first found itself on the backfoot following the arrest of four men in the law college rape case, including Manojit Misra, former leader of the TMC’s student wing Trinamool Chhatra Parishad. He has at least five previous cases pending against him, including for attempt to murder, sexual assault and extortion, prompting questions from the Opposition on why no police action was taken against him earlier.

However, the Trinamool acted with haste and distanced itself from the main accused as it faced attacks from the Opposition. "We are not denying he was with the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad in the past. For the last few years, the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad does not have any unit in the college (where the rape occurred). He was one of the organisational secretaries. There are 80-100 people in that post across all the districts. In 2022, a new committee was formed and he was not included in the committee," Trinamool Chhatra Parishad state president Trinankur Bhattacharya told The Indian Express.

While the party readied ground to contain the damage that the past association of the main accused was inflicting upon it, it drew more flak for remarks made by some its own ministers following the incident.

Sample the following remarks by Trinamool Congress leaders:

Kalyan Banerjee, Lok Sabha MP

"If a friend rapes a friend, how can you ensure security? Will the police be there in schools? This was done by students to another student. Who will protect (the victim)?"

Madan Mitra, MLA

"This incident has sent a message to girls that if someone calls you when the college is closed, don’t go, nothing good will come of it. If that girl had not gone there, this incident wouldn’t have happened."

Manas Bhuiyan, TMC minister

"No culprit of the Pahalgam incident has been arrested. Whenever a small incident happens in Bengal, controversy starts."

While Mitra was issued a show-cause notice, to which he has responded with an apology, the party has distanced itself from the remarks by other party leaders, saying it was made in "personal capacities".

The remarks by the party leaders were, however, met with severe criticism from its Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra who castigated both Kalyan and Mitra, accusing them of "misogyny". Kalyan shot back saying Moitra is "anti-women" and had "broken up a family of 40 years and married a 65-year-old guy".

The internal rift within the party and the uncalled for remarks by its party leaders at a time of crisis has left Mamata peeved, party insiders reveal.

"Madan and other leaders are being warned against causing the (college rape case) crisis to deepen by making such loose comments, that too a month before the first anniversary of the R G Kar rape-murder," a senior Bengal minister said, adding that Mamata is extremely "displeased" by such statements by senior leaders at a time of crisis.

The remarks by TMC leaders have given fresh ammunition to the Opposition which has been gunning for Mamata's head following the RG Kar and law college incidents.

The BJP has constituted a four-member fact-finding team on the law college rape case. The team, formed on the directive of BJP national president JP Nadda, arrived in Kolkata Monday. It includes Rajya Sabha MP and former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb, former Union Minister Satyapal Singh, ex-Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, and Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra.

"The CM (Mamata) sends delegations to Hathras and Pahalgham, but when the Opposition comes to Bengal, they are stopped. Women are not safe here, not even law students," Deb alleged.

"One after another, TMC leaders are making such statements. It speaks volumes about their character," said state BJP president and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar.