West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday led a massive rally in Kolkata to protest against the gangrape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and warned that the country was heading towards “super autocracy”.
“My heart lies in the village of Uttar Pradesh where our Dalit sister was tortured and killed, and her body was burnt in the night,” Ms. Banerjee said in a speech after the rally from Birla Planetarium to Gandhi Statue on Mayo Road. The Trinamool Congress chairperson pointed out that members of a party delegation, who tried to visit Hathras were not only stopped but female MPs were assaulted, adding that even media persons were not allowed to speak to the family of the victim.
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Ms. Banerjee drew a parallel between the Hathras incident and the rape and murder Tapashi Malik in Singur. “The Dalit daughter was a daughter from our family,” she said, adding that party will visit areas with Scheduled Caste population in the State and inform them about “the atrocities on Dalits by the BJP”.
GST dues
Raising a host of issues including the denial of GST compensation to States, the recently passed Farm Bills and Delhi riots Ms Banerjee said the country is heading towards “super autocracy”.
“We are heading towards one nation, one leader and party system. This is a presidential form of government. This is super autocracy,” she said.
Ms Banerjee launched a scathing attack on the BJP and told the gathering that the party’s rule “is only temporary”. Raising slogans like “BJP shame shame”, she said, “BJP is the biggest pandemic; it has destroyed the country”.
Democracy threatened
Alleging that there was no democracy in the country and central agencies were ruling the country, the Chief Minister described the situation as “government of the dictatorship, by the dictatorship for the dictatorship”.
Thousands of people joined the rally along the three km where Ms. Banerjee and other senior leaders carried black flags and torches.
The Chief Minister’s rally comes after several months. The last time she led a rally in Kolkata was to protest the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) almost a year ago. The Left parties and Congress also held a rally in the city against the Hathras incident, clashing with police and breaking through barricades.
