'Return To Festivities': Mamata's Appeal Amid Kolkata Protests Draws Ire From BJP, Victim's Family

Amid the ongoing protests against a trainee doctor’s horrific rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the public to focus on the upcoming Durga Puja festivities.

Speaking at an administrative review meeting at the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’, Banerjee, who heads the Home Department, revealed that that Kolkata Police Commissioner, Vineet Goyal, had offered to resign multiple times in the past week but was persuaded to continue because of the Durga Puja festival.

Stressing the need for calm and the resumption of normal life amid protests that have rocked the state for the past month, the Chief Minister said, “If you stay on the roads every night, it affects the elderly people’s sleep due to noise pollution. We haven’t acted on state pollution control board norms.”

“I request you to return to festivities and let the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) complete the investigation at the earliest,” she said.

VICTIM’s FAMILY SLAMS MAMATA

The Chief Minister’s remarks drew a sharp reaction from the victim’s family which questioned, “What about our festivities when we have lost our daughter? Let her return our daughter. Would she have said the same had this happened in her family?”

“We used to celebrate Durga Puja with our daughter, but we will never celebrate Durga Puja or any other festival for years to come. Her remarks are insensitive,” the doctor’s family said.

Reacting to Mamata’s remarks, the Kolkata doctor’s mother said, “It seems inhuman to me because I am the mother of a girl. I have lost a child, so I feel inhuman. If people from all over the country want to return for the (Durga Puja) festival, they can,” she said.

“Durga Puja was celebrated in my house too. My daughter used to do it at home. But, now darkness has engulfed our lives. How can I tell people to celebrate the festival during this time,” she added.

BJP HITS AT CHIEF MINISTER

Soon after Mamata urged the people to focus on festivities, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, in an X post, said, “While crores of residents of West Bengal are mourning and have hit the streets, seeking justice and demanding a fair probe in the heinous rape and murder of Bengal’s proud daughter, an insensitive Mamata Banerjee, audaciously asks the people to stop these protests and celebrate instead. Celebrate what?”

“The gruesome rape and murder of an on duty junior doctor in the state-run RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, which the Kolkata Police deliberately mishandled thereafter?”

“It is no surprise that several Puja pandals have refused monetary assistance from Mamata Banerjee Govt and are also refusing to disclose the themes, despite tremendous pressure from the WB Police,” Malviya wrote.

WHAT VICTIM’s FAMILY SAID ON MAMATA’s ‘NOT OFFERED MONEY’ CLAIM

Hours after Mamata refuted claims of offering money to the victim’s family, the doctor’s mother, while speaking to the media on Monday alleged the Chief Minister was trying to strangle the entire movement.

“Mamata is trying to strangle the movement just like how my daughter was strangled, the evidence was destroyed, but we will continue to fight until justice is served,” she said.

“She is lying, we were offered money by her. Why would I lie in the name of my daughter who would never return? But I told her I would go to your office and take that money the day my daughter gets justice,” the victim’s mother said.