BJP MP Roopa Ganguly was in tears on Wednesday as she spoke about the atrocities meted out on women in West Bengal while drawing a parallel with her role of Draupadi from Mahabharata, saying that she would constantly cry over the ‘Draupadi Chirharan’ sequence.
The comments came as West Bengal is in tumult over the alleged gangrape and death of a minor on Nadia’s Hanskhali where a Trinamool leader’s son was reportedly involved.
“People said my acting as Draupadi was very good. But it was not acting. I used to come back to the hotel from the shooting and then cried because I was living the life of Draupadi. If a woman is disrobed in front of people who are laughing at her, imagine the pain of the woman. And this is the situation of Bengal’s women now — those who are alive,” the BJP MP said while speaking to news agency ANI.
“Now imagine that is happening to your child. Close your eyes and imagine the face of your child and then imagine the same happening to your daughter. How come people of West Bengal are so indifferent to what is happening to its women,” Ganguly said.
The BJP MP’s poignant remarks came in the wake of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s statement on the matter, who tried to trivialised the incident as a love affair that went wrong.
“How do you know if she was raped? The police are yet to ascertain the cause of the death. I had asked them. Was she pregnant or had a love affair or was sick? Even family knew it was a love affair. If a couple is in a relationship, how can I stop them?”, the chief minister had said.
Mamata Banerjee’s callous remarks had earned the rebuke of National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma, who slammed the West Bengal CM and called her statement was unfortunate. “Being a woman, she should understand the pain of another woman. She pointed fingers at the victim, it was wrong,” Rekha Sharma said.
Hanskhali gangrape case
It may be recalled that a Trinamool Congress leader’s son has been accused of raping a juvenile girl by inviting her to his birthday party. The girl died from heavy bleeding, and her body was allegedly cremated by the accused forcefully.
The girl’s family claimed that the main accused is Brajgopal the son of Gajna Gram Panchayat member Samar Gowla.
The police have arrested the accused and registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The accused, the son of a local TMC dominated panchayat, was slapped with the charges of rape, murder, and suppressing evidence.