The two women are alleged to have been sexually assaulted before being released by a mob. A 26-second video of the incident surfaced on Wednesday.
The BJP fired on Congress on Saturday a day after Rajasthan Prime Minister Ashok Gehlot sacked Rajendra Gudha as state minister after he criticized his own government over crimes against women in the state.
“The way we have not provided security for women in Rajasthan and the atrocities against women have increased, instead of raising the issue of Manipur, we need to introspect,” Gudha told the assembly.
‘Long list of heinous crimes against women in Rajasthan, Bengal, Bihar, but opposition plays politics in Manipur’
At a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur referred to some cases of crimes against women reported in Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal to target opposition parties.
“Incidents of crimes against women have increased in some states of the country and no action was taken against this in several states. What happened in Begusarai is in front of us but CM Nitish Kumar did not say a single word about it. Rajasthan has become the number one state for crimes against women. A total of 1.09 lakhs of crime incidents against women in the state in the last 4 years and 22% of rape cases in India are from Rajasthan Thakura said.
On the sacking of a Rajasthan minister, Rajendra Gudha, said that on the instructions of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot fired the minister for raising concerns about crimes against women in the state.
Rajasthan CM Gehlot Says PM Modi Visits States Bound For Polls But Not Manipur
Gehlot launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of refraining from visiting violence-plagued Manipur.
“For the first time, I have seen that a Prime Minister is visiting Karnataka, Rajasthan and other places for elections, but not Manipur. It is his government in Manipur, imagine what he would have said if it was a Congress government there,” said CM Gehlot while speaking to the media at his Jaipur residence.
The top Congress leader also criticized PM Modi for allegedly referencing incidents in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while commenting on a video of harassed naked women in Manipur and said Modi’s comment has hurt Rajasthan’s feelings.
“The way in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the CMs of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh should deal with the law and order situation in their state has hurt the feelings of Rajasthan,” Gehlot said.
‘Two women stripped and beaten in Malda of Bengal’
The BJP also took aim at the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee on Saturday and alleged that two tribal women were “stripped, tortured and mercilessly beaten” in Malda a few days ago while police stood by as a “silent bystander”.
The head of BJP’s IT department, Amit Malviya, today took to Twitter to post an alleged video, which surfaced on social media, of the incident, which he claimed took place on July 19 at Pakua Hat, a weekly market, of Bamangola Police Station in Malda.
“The horror continues in West Bengal. Two tribal women were stripped naked, tortured and mercilessly beaten while police stood mute as spectators in the Pakua Hat area of Bamangola Police Station, Malda,” Malviya tweeted.
“The horrible incident took place on the morning of July 19. The women belonged to a socially marginalized community and had a frenzied mob howling for their blood…” said Malviya, who is the BJP party in charge of West Bengal.
Attacking the state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, Malviya posted: “It all seemed like a tragedy that should have ‘broken’ Mamata Banerjee’s heart and she, instead of just being outraged, could have acted as she is also the Home Minister of Bengal…” Malviya said.
TMC says BJP has a ‘politicization’ problem
The ruling Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee in its response said that the BJP was unnecessarily politicizing the issue and that the women were caught stealing, sparking outrage from locals.
West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said, “There is absolutely no need to politicize the Malda incident. It was a robbery case, where the two women tried to steal something from the market. A group of women tried to get law and order enforcement into their hands and started beating them. However, the police arrived at the scene. A case has been registered and the police are investigating the matter.”
“It has nothing to do with politics, although we have taken suo motu from the incident,” Panja said.
Opposition MPs to hold protest at Parliament complex on Monday
Amid deadlock in Parliament over holding a debate on violence in Manipur, MPs from various opposition parties have planned a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament compound on Monday to push for the prime minister’s statement on the issue in both chambers.
Following the meeting at 10 AM on Monday, July 24, the leaders will hold a protest near the Gandhi statue before entering both houses.
The government has accused the opposition of fleeing from a debate on the all-important issue and has questioned its seriousness about it.