16-Aug-2024 09:39 PM
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Kolkata, Aug 16 (Reporter) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused the BJP and CPI(M) of "masterminding" the midnight violence at R G Kar Hospital here, even as students of premier institutions hit the streets seeking justice for the medic who was allegedly raped and murdered.
Addressing a rally in central Kolkata's Dorina crossing, Banerjee alleged the CPI(M) and BJP orchestrated the vandalism at the state-run hospital to "tamper with the evidence" on the eve of Independence Day.
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"From the video of the vandalism one can see that the CPI-M took the flag of (its youth arm) DYFI while the BJP displayed the National Flag. They have misused the National Flag, they should be punished," the Trinamool Congress chief said, flanked by the party's women leaders including MPs.
On the BJP sending a central team to look into the chain of events, Banerjee asked how many teams were sent after the incidents in Manipur or in Hathras and Unnao of Uttar Pradesh. ..
She warned the CPI-M and BJP that they should not threaten her. "We have come to power after winning elections".
Meanwhile, the current and former students of the St Xavier College here took out a candlelight procession from the campus seeking justice for the woman post-graduate trainee doctor brutalised and killed within the R G Kar Hospital premises on August 9.
The institution's distinguished alumni like actors Prasenjit Chatterjee and Tota Roy Chowdhury, tabla maestro Bikram Ghosh and film director Arindam Sil, and the present students, in black dresses, moved around the heart of the city before returning to the campus. They said their one-point demand was "Justice and Justice".
The students and faculty of the Presidency University took out a ]protest march with placards reading the "city of joy" has turned into "city of bhoy" (fear).
They also painted their faces protesting the heinous crime that has shocked the nation and sparked outrage among all sections of people.
On the other hand, the Kolkata Police foiled a protest march of the BJP's women's wing from Exide Crossing to the residence of the chief minister at Kalighat.
Barricading what was intended to be the starting point of the march, the cops whisked away the women activists in prison vans.
City Police Commissioner Vinit Goyal told a press conference that 25 suspects have been arrested for the vandalism in R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday-Thursday midnight.
CPI-M state secretary Md Salim demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Kolkata Police Commissioner for the midnight mayhem at RG Kar while the junior doctors there were holding a peaceful protest.
The CPI-M-spearheaded Left Front condemned the vandalism and demanded swift CBI action and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.
Salim claimed Banerjee was "spreading lies" about the vandalism and the police have been registering "false cases" against many innocent people to "shield" the perpetrators.
He accused the Trinamool Congress government of attempts to derail the investigation once the court has handed over the murder case to the CBI.
He claimed the police and the administration showed unusual hurry in cremating the victim doctor's body, which had several injury marks.
He said the Left parties would organise a state-wide movement in support of the protesting medics and against "atrocities" of the Mamata Banerjee government in collusion with the police...////...