WB: Mamata blames Left for rapes, crib deaths

Kolkata: Less than a fortnight after drawing flak for her disparaging comments on the Park Street rape victim, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday squarely blamed the Left for the deteriorating law and order condition in West Bengal. She claimed that the 30-year-old woman allegedly raped by a gang of armed robbers on Sunday too was a set-up. Mamata also hit out at the Left over the recent spate of crib deaths in the state, saying it was an attempt to discredit her government.

"Fake rape charges are being levelled to malign Bengal's good name. Baby deaths too are a planned conspiracy by the Left," said Mamata. She added, "Six rapes were reported in Delhi yesterday. In Bengal, there shouldn't be any such instance. After all, we are all decent people here."

With the district collector of Burdwan in tow, the first woman chief minister of the state seemed to rubbish the 30-year-old rape victim's claims, saying that she was the wife of a CPM worker and a part of an elaborate Left conspiracy against her government.

"Medical evidence has proved that she was not raped. The girl said that her husband is a local CPM worker," Mamata claimed.

The woman, whose husband has been dead for 11 years, said she was hurt by the chief minister's claims. "She (Mamata Banerjee) is a woman. She should know a woman will never go on her own and say that she was raped. I am very hurt."

Mamata's conspiracy theories have drawn sharp criticism from her opponents.

Brinda Karat, CPM leader said, "If the CM is going to be giving this kind of message to the police, that first check out the political credentials and then decide whether or not this victim is a victim of rape, I mean it's going to be so unfair and unjust."

However, her estranged ally, the Congress, has fallen short of blaming her directly.

In this ugly politics over rape, it is the rape victims who are suffering. As politicians slug it out, victims are being victimised further. It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to come forward and claim the very same justice Mamata once promised to deliver for Bengal.

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