NEW DELHI: Mamata Banerjee is said to have expressed displeasure over Rahul Gandhi’s ‘criticism’ of her government.
After Congress figurehead Rahul Gandhi posted a message on a social media site against the mishandling of Kolkata rape case, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is said to have dialled up a few senior Congress leaders conveying her displeasure with Gandhi’s post.
In fact, BJP was questioning Gandhi’s silence on the issue, after which he tweeted against the state administration, following which the Bengal chief minister made a clear stand against the Congress leadership. A part of Rahul’s tweet read, “The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration.”
Banerjee had, according to party insiders, called up two senior leaders who have been playing bridge between the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) during the political friction between the two parties. A person privy to the developments said, “Mamata had angrily doubled down on the Congress leaders and told them to restrain Rahul Gandhi from making comments targeting her government. This is one of the rare occasions that Mamata has directly called up Congress leaders.”
Moreover, even after the two Congress leaders, according to sources, had clarified to Banerjee that the Gandhi scion did not make any political attack on her, she was not ready to listen and rebutted the Congress leaders’ claims.
A senior Congress leader said, “Rahul Gandhi was asked about it in Uttar Pradesh, what would you like to say about West Bengal and he replied we are not going to talk about West Bengal in UP. It was a clear-cut statement that he was not targeting her politically. His statement was a concern for the woman who didn’t get justice on time. Now she is trying to get into pressure game. The point is, she is not with us in any electoral alliance. Nor are we contesting any upcoming election with her. Even after that, we are not going for any agitation. So why is she being angry with Congress?”
Moreover, the battle between Congress and TMC in the state had almost died down after the Lok Sabha election results of West Bengal concluded with the defeat of Congress figurehead in the state unit and arch rival of Banerjee, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. It was agreed that instead of fighting a political battle with each other, the two parties should put up a strong front against the BJP in the state. This would also strengthen the bond between the two parties at the national level. However, there has been a rift not only between the two parties but also between the chieftains of both the parties.
An expert said, “Mamata is someone who always tries to have a strong grip on narrative, on people, on the politics of the state through whatever means. She knows West Bengal is the only fort she is holding and therefore, she will take a damage to her image very seriously.”
After the horrid rape case in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College, the city was soon taken over by a wave of protests subsequently spreading out in the whole country. However, it is presumed that the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had prioritised cracking down on protesters rather than serving justice to the victim. Experts say that such a reaction from her also shows how serious she is about protecting her image rather than protecting the interests of the people in her state.