Prez’s disappointment over Kolkata rape shows Bengal’s utter indifference to women safety: UP CM

PTI, Aug 29, 2024, 10:03 AM IST

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said President Droupadi Murmu’s “disappointment” over the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata reveals “utter indifference and unpardonable insensitivity” of West Bengal government towards the women’s safety.

The chief minister’s reaction came after President Murmu, in an exclusive signed article for PTI, spoke out for the first time on the Kolkata rape-murder and expressed her anguish at continuing crimes against women.

Declaring that “enough is enough”, Murmu said it is time for India to wake up to the “perversion” of crimes against women and counter the mindset that sees women as “less powerful, less capable, less intelligent”.

Adityanath took to social media and said the “disappointment” expressed by the President on the “gruesome” incident that happened with the lady doctor in Kolkata reveals the “utter indifference and unpardonable insensitivity” of Mamata Banerjee government of West Bengal towards the safety of women.

“The authoritarian, anti-women behaviour of the TMC government is undoubtedly a disgrace to democracy, an insult to humanity and a shame to civilized society,” the chief minister said in Hindi on X.

“The government of ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’, the holy land which holds the culture of goddess worship, which has completely failed in protecting the women power, should immediately apologise to the entire women power and the country,” he added.

Murmu’s hard-hitting and personalised article, titled “Women’s Safety: Enough is Enough”, is the first time the President has articulated her views on the August 9 Kolkata incident that has once again shaken the conscience of the nation and led to widespread, continuing protests.

The President gave the article after a detailed conversation on topical issues with a team of PTI senior editors, who called on her at Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark the 77th anniversary of the news agency’s founding on August 27, 1947.