New Delhi: With law-and-order situation in West Bengal under question in the ongoing Assembly election, the rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and the Sandeshkhali exploitation and repression in North 24 Parganas district have re-emerged as major campaign issues ahead of the second phase of polls to be held on Wednesday.
Opposition parties in the state have been raising the episodes to underscore allegations of intimidation, violence, and crime against women in the 15 years of Trinamool Congress reign.
Assembly elections were held in 152 of the state’s 294 constituencies on April 23. The rest will go to polls in the second phase on Wednesday.
All the 11 Assembly constituencies in Kolkata – including Kashipur Belgachhia, where the RG Kar Hospital is situated – go to poll on Wednesday, as does Sandeshkhali.
The Kashipur Belgachhia seat has been a Trinamool Congress bastion since the turn of the century, even under the Left’s rule.
In the 2021 Assembly election, the ruling party nominee defeated the nearest contender from the BJP by over 35,000 votes.
In Sandeshkhali, the Trinamool ended the Left’s long reign in 2016 and retained the seat in 2021 by a margin of close to 39,700 votes.
The last Assembly election took place in the state before the Sandeshkhali episode came to light. In January 2024 an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team was attacked while probing a ration scam link to Trinamool leader Sheikh Shahjahan.
While many officers were injured, their files and phones were damaged, while Shahjahan went underground.
He was subsequently arrested in end-February that year; and later reports alleged wider abuses in Sandeshkhali.
Central agencies had taken over aspects of the probe later; several people were arrested in connection with the attack on ED personnel.
Following the ED raid, many women in Sandeshkhali came forward alleging sexual exploitation and misconduct by local politicians and associates of Shahjahan, which intensified media and political scrutiny.
The episode became highly politicised; Opposition leaders demanded transfer of the probe outside the state and accused the state government of protecting leaders held guilty.
As local protests escalated, so did national media coverage. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, though the Trinamool candidate won the Basirhat seat, he trailed by close to 8,400 votes to the BJP nominee who cornered about 47.64 per cent of the mandate in the Sandeshkhali Assembly segment.
In the rest of the six segments in Basirhat Parliamentary constituency, however, the margin was significantly higher for the winning candidate.
In Kolkata, the brutal rape and murder of a 32-year-old intern at RG Kar Medical College in August 2024 had triggered nationwide protests.
The probe was handed over to the CBI by the High Court amidst sustained demands for institutional accountability and doctor safety. The mother of the RG Kar Medical College victim has herself entered the electoral fray as a BJP candidate from the Panihati Assembly constituency.
Her nomination has attracted significant attention, with the BJP highlighting it as a symbol of its stand on justice and women’s safety.
The campaign has been marked by a vow to defeat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Her nomination has sparked mixed reactions, blending empathy for her loss with concerns over the politicisation of justice.
The final verdict of the people on Panihati, as well as that for Kashipur Belgachhia, and Sandeshkhali will be known on May 4 when all results are counted.
(IANS)
