West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar Supports Students’ Rally for Justice

Kolkata (West Bengal), August 26: Union Minister and West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar questioned the West Bengal police’s decision to call the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally illegal. He stated that the students had announced the rally through a press conference, indicating police awareness of the event.

Majumdar said, “Tomorrow West Bengal students are going to protest in a peaceful democratic way, what is the point of obstructing that? Students have announced it through a press conference, which means you (police) know about it… BJP’s stand is clear, this is not BJP’s movement but we support it…This is a students’ movement, it is a non-political movement, we are with the students.”

The West Bengal ‘Chhatra Samaj’ has planned the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally to demand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation over the Kolkata rape and murder incident.

West Bengal ADG Police (Law & Order) Manoj Kumar Verma called the rally illegal and an attempt to incite unrest in Kolkata. He added that no organization had applied to hold a protest near Nabanna, a restricted area. Verma said, “Nabanna is a restricted area. If any programme is organised here then the organisers should put a request to the police officials and the police will decide after considering the case. So far, no organisation has applied to hold a protest near Nabanna. This is a restricted zone and if anyone needs to organise a protest then they first need to apply for permission from the police…We have very specific inputs that some miscreants might try to create a situation of unrest there (near Nabanna).”

He mentioned that other areas in Kolkata have been designated for peaceful protests, but Nabanna remains restricted under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

The brutal rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sparked nationwide outrage. Several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. CBI officials conducted a polygraph test on the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the incident.

On August 25, Parimal Dey, a teacher from Alipurduar who was honored with the Banga Ratna award by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, decided to return the award in protest against the state government’s handling of the incident. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.