TMC asks UP CM about sex assault survivor’s dad’s killing in Hathras

Kolkata: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s poll campaign in Bengal — on a day reports of a sexual assault survivor’s father being gunned down in Hathras surfaced — came in for sharp criticism from Trinamool Congress, who “advised” him to ensure law and order in his state before schooling Bengal.
Celebrities too spoke out against the attempt to “communalise” the pre-poll political discourse.
State women, child development and social welfare minister Sashi Panja said: “The UP CM is campaigning for polls in Bengal while the safety of women is severely compromised in his own state. BJP has time and again failed the women of India, and this Hathras incident is yet another example.”
Senior Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee said: “Before coming to Bengal to campaign, he should focus on UP’s law and order first.”
Lok Sabha MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Mahua Moitra were equally critical. “The people of UP are suffering as law and order is in shackles, yet Yogi Adityanath is in Bengal?” Ghosh Dastidar said. Moitra dubbed UP the “rape capital of India”.
The party’s new entrants, cricketer Manoj Tiwary and actor Saayoni Ghosh, too spoke out. Detailing the Hathras incident in a Twitter post, Saayoni wrote, “Think twice”, alluding to Yogi’s poll campaign. Manoj said: “One who can’t keep his own house in order has come to campaign in Bengal.”
Celebrities spoke out against the rising communal narrative. Actor-director Kaushik Sen said: “The rise of the likes of Abbas Siddiqui and Yogi Adityanath in the electoral narrative of Bengal is alarming.”
He added: “I am aware that every party uses the communal card to fight elections. But no one can match the crudeness of BJP leaders. It’s their philosophy to use the Hindutva card. They might think this will help in winning one election. But they will permanently damage the fabric of rural Bengal and the border areas.”
Actor Sreelekha Mitra said: “The likes of Yogi Adityanath are using the religion card to harm the basic fabric of Bengal. Our state is not about one election. I fear his communal and patriarchal narratives might set afire the dormant feelings of certain refugees who have migrated to Bengal during Partition.”
“Nowhere does he talk about unemployment and price rise,” she continued. “The only drug he offers is that of religion. We must all unite to fight this dangerous narrative that he has been spreading.”
Music composer Debojyoti Mishra said: “Yogi Adityanath’s narrative is dangerous for the whole of India. He is playing with fire. His current target is Bengal. Irrespective of caste, religion, creed, we must unanimously protest. His politics, which is borne out of fanning communal sentiments, needs to be stonewalled and uprooted. The more he says such things, the more reasons we have to unite and fight against BJP.”