By Abhijit Majumder News18
The river of lethal political poison flows through West Bengal鈥檚 educational campuses. From the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder to the Kolkata Law College rape, the banks of law have retreated to accommodate the smooth flow of crime in the name of student politics under political patronage.
A young doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was raped and murdered in a locked seminar room last year. The first-year Law College student was gang-raped on campus. Both accused reportedly had links with the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The social media profile of the main accused in the Kolkata Law College rape, Monojit 鈥楳ango鈥 Mishra, claims that since 2017, he has led the college unit of Trinamool College Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the ruling party in West Bengal. Trinamool, however, has denied it.
Fellow students say Monojit鈥斺淢ango鈥 to friends鈥攚ielded tremendous clout on campus. Even teachers and staff apparently dreaded him. He reportedly had several complaints of harassment and molestation against him, but seemed to enjoy some kind of political immunity.
According to the rape survivor鈥檚 complaint, 鈥淢ango鈥 and the two other accused, Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed, called her to the college鈥檚 union room around 7pm on June 25.
But hold on: Classes are over by 5pm, so why were the college gates open so late? Turns out a security guard on campus was helping the accused.
Once the woman reached the union room, Monojit asked her to 鈥減rove her loyalty鈥 to the TMC student wing. She sensed something was wrong and tried to leave. But the three allegedly dragged her to another room, raped her there, shot videos while taking turns, and threatened her against speaking up.
The brazenness of it all鈥攁s in the case of the RG Kar rape and murder鈥攔eeks of political syndicates at work on West Bengal鈥檚 campuses. Even though TMC has publicly condemned the act and tried to distance itself, it has not done anything to address the biggest issue of student safety and political interference in institutions, raising legitimate concerns about the party violently weaponising student politics.
West Bengal鈥檚 crime rate against women in 2022 was 71.8 per lakh population, much higher than the national average of 66.4. This is despite rampant underreporting out of fear of consequences that are evident to the world now.
Student union elections have been suspended in most colleges across the state for more than a decade so that proxies of the ruling party can run their writ. Naturally, the politically backed unelected cabals exercise total control and authority without any accountability.
JNU political theorist Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya aptly describes this model as 鈥渇ranchisee politics鈥.
鈥淚 call TMC鈥檚 model of politics as franchisee politics because similar to the franchisee system, where one can use a brand for their own benefit, local TMC leaders use Mamata Banerjee鈥檚 image to run their businesses. Suppose you are an entrepreneur and you have developed a brand and want other people to use your brand by giving them a licence in exchange of a licence fee. And with that licence, those other people can sell their products because the brand has recognition and sellability. This is what we call the franchisee model.鈥
It seems that till they keep TMC in power, the people of West Bengal will have to put up with this territorial micro-control and unpunished violence by local power brokers.
Nevertheless, the people can start by boldly and unwaveringly demanding campus safety protocols like 24脳7 CCTV coverage, entry with biometrics, women-only complaint desks, emergency buttons, and rapid response teams.
Student union elections must happen or politics on campus should be banned in entirety. Only issue-based forums and debates should be allowed and there should be zero tolerance for violence and threats and no entry on campus for the convicted.
The police must be accountable for swift inquiry, preserving evidence, timely FIR, and publicly disclosing actions taken.
Only the people can change what the people have put in place.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18鈥檚 views.