Bengal Minister Manas Ranjan Bhunia has clarified his stance over his “small incident” remark, against the backdrop of the Kolkata gang rape incident. The senior Trinamool Congress leader stated that his statement was taken out of context by the opposition parties and it wasn’t related to the Kasba incident.
“So many days have passed but the terrorist at Pahalgam has not been arrested. ‘Even if a small incident happens in Bengal, it creates a stir,” said Manas Bhunia at an event on Tuesday.
Bhunia’s statement stoked a massive political controversy, with the Opposition BJP accusing Trinamool Congress of “normalisation of sexual assault”, in the wake of the Kolkata gang rape case.
“State Minister Manas Bhunia, echoing Mamata Banerjee’s stance, claims that rape is a “small incident” and that people create unnecessary noise every time such a case occurs! This is the culture of TMC,” posted West Bengal BJP on “X”, taking a swipe at Manas Bhunia.
Referring to the statement made by TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee and MLA Madan Mitra, BJP added, “Sometimes they question the character of the rape survivor, and sometimes, like Madan Mitra or Kalyan Banerjee, they target the victim instead of standing by her, even when the rape is committed inside a State Government college campus by a TMC leader. As long as TMC remains in power, no woman in West Bengal will ever be safe.”
Trinamool Congress has however, issued a statement and distanced itself from the statements issued by both, Kalyan Banerjee and Madan Mitra. The party has also issued a show cause notice to Madan Mitra.
Soon after, Bhunia, who serves as Minister Department of Water Resources Investigation and Development and Irrigation and Waterways clarified that his statement wasn’t related to the Kasba incident. “I have never spoken about small incidents in the Kasba context. I have spoken about incidents in the health sector. I have spoken about how much good work Mamata Banerjee has done,” said the Bengal Minister.
Trinamool Congress came out in support of their party leader, accusing BJP of propagating a “deceitful narrative.” “Shri Manas Bhunia has issued a strong clarification, unequivocally condemning the Kasba incident and exposing BJP’s desperate, deceitful narrative. BJP should know that defamation has consequences. No matter how loud the lies, truth will prevail,” Trinamool Congress posted on social media platform “X”.
A first year law student of the South Calcutta Law College was allegedly gang-raped inside the premises of the institution on June 25. The Kolkata Police has arrested four people, including an alumnus and prime accused Manojit Mishra, current students Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee and the guard who was present on spot when the incident took place.
