At a time when sensitivity and accountability should have been the topmost priority, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has instead chosen a path of victim-blaming, deflection, and internal bickering—deepening public dismay over the alleged gangrape of a 24-year-old law student in Kolkata. What’s worse, instead of rallying around the survivor, senior leaders within the party are spewing misogynistic narratives that reflect a disturbing rot in Bengal’s political culture.
TMC MLA Madan Mitra’s shocking statement—“If the girl had not gone there, this incident would not have happened”—is not only insensitive but dangerous. It echoes the regressive logic that continues to blame women for the crimes committed against them. In essence, Mitra didn’t just fail to empathize; he attempted to justify the crime by questioning the victim’s presence. This is a direct assault on the idea of women’s safety and autonomy.
Adding to the embarrassment was TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who reduced the horrific act to a private affair between “friends.” His rhetorical dismissal—“What can be done if a friend rapes a friend?”—betrays a complete lack of understanding of the gravity of sexual violence and suggests a deeply embedded cultural misogyny within his political ranks.
TMC’s eventual distancing from these comments was far too little and far too late. Its bland clarification—that the statements were made in “personal capacities”—does little to undo the damage. The party’s claim of “zero tolerance for crimes against women” rings hollow when its own elected representatives make such abhorrent remarks in public, while no disciplinary action is announced.
The ruling party’s response is not only tone-deaf but appears to be a calculated attempt to protect its own. The prime accused, Monojit Mishra, reportedly has links to TMC’s student wing and has been seen with senior party leaders including Abhishek Banerjee and Health Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. The BJP has rightly pointed out that instead of asking why the survivor was there, the TMC should explain why its student leaders had unregulated access to college premises after hours.
This case has now become a litmus test—not only for law enforcement but for political ethics. A young woman was allegedly raped inside an educational institution, yet the ruling party’s focus seems to be shielding its image rather than delivering justice. And while TMC MP Mahua Moitra tried to salvage some ground by acknowledging that “misogyny cuts across party lines,” her party’s reluctance to take decisive action against its own leaders shows that virtue-signaling remains the preferred route over genuine reform.
The larger question remains: how many more such incidents will it take before political parties understand that crimes against women are not just law-and-order issues but deeply moral failures of society? The rot begins when leaders normalize violence with careless remarks and ends with political cover-ups that kill accountability.
It is time for TMC to look inward. Expel leaders who trivialize rape. Punish those who protect criminals in party ranks. And stop treating women’s safety as an expendable political narrative. Anything less will be a betrayal—not just of the survivor—but of every citizen who still believes justice is possible in Bengal.
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