Kolkata: Police cases were lodged on Saturday against BJP Rajya Sabha member, Roopa Ganguly and party’s West Bengal unit chief, Dilip Ghosh for making controversial remarks about women safety in the state and targeting Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee respectively.
On Friday, actor-turned-politician Ganguly had said that if people from outside send their wives and daughters to the state, they won’t “survive” even 15 days without getting raped.
“I will tell people of India and politicians, everyone who supports Trinamool Congress including some Congress leaders… send their wives and daughters to Bengal without taking hospitality of Mamata Banerjee, if they are able to survive there for 15 days without getting raped, then tell me,” she had said at a programme.
No question of withdrawing comment
Reacting angrily, State Power Minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader, Sovandeb Chatterjee said: “She calls herself a cultural personality and makes such comments. Whatever she has said has damaged Bengal’s image.”. He also asked her that how many times she has been raped in Bengal?
According to The Quint, replying to Mr. Chatterjee, Ms. Roopa said that the person who wants to know how many times she has been raped in Bengal is only trying to please his high command. She also asked Mamata Banerjee to stop protecting her political position and look into the problem as a woman. “There is no question of withdrawing my comments. In fact, I displayed leniency when I talked of ’15 days’,” she added.
Appealing not to make rape a political issue, she said that rape and the safety of women should concern every person irrespective of his/her political backgrounds.
According to The Quint report, Ms. Roopa claims that as men are jobless and women do not want to marry jobless men, they become predators.
Talking about the risk she is facing, she said, “I don’t fear for my life”. She also said that many FIR has been registered against her and she is threatened all the time. She further added that her husband and her family fully support her political career.
Meanwhile, addressing a public meeting in his constituency Kharagpur, Ghosh virtually challenged the Chief Minister to take action against him.
“If you have the guts, then try and touch Dilip Ghosh. I will bring Bengal to standstill… What have you seen in Darjeeling? Your house will be torched,” he said.
On Saturday, a local Trinamool leader handed out a letter to the Kolkata police complaining against Ghosh.
With inputs from IANS