New Delhi, March 26 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Thursday defended the party's decision to field the mother of the junior doctor of West Bengal's R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, who was raped and murdered within the hospital premises in August 2024, from the Panihati Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district.
The victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, featured in the party's third list of 19 candidates, announced on Wednesday, for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly elections in the state next month.
BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh told IANS, "The BJP has ensured that the victim’s voice is heard in Bengal’s largest panchayat, enabling her to receive justice. (BJP) has shown the victim's mother the way to the Bengal Assembly."
Chugh accused the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government of sheltering the culprits in the case.
He said, "The cruel Trinamool government of Mamata Banerjee in Bengal had committed injustice against the victim of the R.G. Kar Medical College (case). Mamata Banerjee’s government made every possible effort to protect the culprits and employed every tactic to suppress the case."
Bihar BJP President Sanjay Saraogi also praised the decision.
He said, "She should definitely be given (the ticket). This is a matter of women's respect and empowerment. She (the victim) had to go through such brutal things; if the BJP had given her (the victim's mother) a ticket (to contest the Assembly polls), this would be a mark of respect to women's rights. She will win in Bengal and raise her voice in the Assembly. The BJP has done a great job."
Notably, Ratna Debnath is also a voter from the Panihati constituency.
It may be recalled that on March 23, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had informed media persons that the parents of the R.G. Kar victim had taken primary membership of the BJP.
However, Adhikari had then said that whether any of them would be fielded as a candidate from Panihati would be decided by the party’s central leadership. On Wednesday, the party announced the name of the victim’s mother as its candidate from the constituency.
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