"A Party That Preaches 'Maa, Mati, Manush..": PM's RG Kar Jab At Trinamool

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress of shielding the guilty in the RG Kar rape-murder case.

In Bengal's Durgapur to launch Rs 5,000 crore in oil, gas, electricity, road, and rail projects, the Prime Minister used the occasion to attack his arch-rival in next year's election and said incidents of violent crime against women in Bengal - including the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital in August last year - is a source of "pain and anger".

In a no-holds barred attack on the Trinamool, Mr Modi warned Bengal voters the state could only develop if his Bharatiya Janata Party wins next year's election, and pointed to Bengalis migrating to other states in search of jobs and the overall lack of investment to make his point.

He then pivoted to the issue of women's safety, which has underpinned Ms Banerjee's recent electoral campaigns. Women voters are seen as a Trinamool stronghold.

In fact, the party's slogan for the 2009 federal and 2011 state elections was 'maa, mati, manush', which translates as 'mother, motherland, people', and has carried over since. But the Prime Minister used recent horrific attacks on women to criticise Ms Banerjee's track record.

'The mistreatment of women by a party that preaches 'maa, mati, manush' deeply pains and angers me. It is disheartening to witness such actions in the land of Kadambini Ganguly," he droned, referring to the first Indian woman trained in contemporary medical practice.

"Today even hospitals are not safe for young women... the Trinamool has spared no effort in protecting the perpetrators (of the RG Kar rape-murder case)," the Prime Minister declared.

The RG Kar case broke in August last year. The body of a young woman, a junior doctor, was found inside a seminar room on the hospital campus. She had been raped and mutilated.

The horrific discovery prompted a firestorm of protests, accusations, and counteraccusations, with Ms Banerjee and the Trinamool accused of shielding the accused, Sanjay Roy, and the police accused of mishandling the inquiry and evidence, allegedly under political pressure.

The Trinamool was also attacked over an incident of vandalism of the crime scene during a protest march; the BJP claimed Trinamool 'goons' had been told to destroy evidence.

The Trinamool firmly denied any such charge.

The BJP and Congress - nominally an ally of the Trinamool - both attacked the ruling party, and doctors launched protests nationwide, demanding better protection from goons and criminals.

Eventually the case was transferred to the CBI, and Roy was tried and convicted of the rape and murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment, not death as sought by the doctor's family and Mamata Banerjee. No other arrests were made in connection with that crime.