Opposition parties themselves have come in the dock for increasing atrocities on women in Bengal and Rajasthan.

Opposition parties, which stalled Parliament demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the Manipur violence, have come under fire over discrimination in Rajasthan and Bengal over women’s atrocities and violence. Rajasthan has once again come in the headlines regarding the atrocities on women. Two gang rape incidents in Alwar district have added to the troubles of the Ashok Gehlot government in the state. The Congress government in Rajasthan is already badly beset by allegations of corruption. New incidents of women atrocities in this state have made BJP more aggressive. Recently, during the public meeting in Sikar, Prime Minister Modi had fiercely sarcasm on the Gehlot government on red diary and atrocities on women. The surprising thing is that Rajendra Singh Gudha, a minister from Rajasthan himself, put him in the dock for corruption and atrocities on women. During the proceedings of the Assembly, Minister Gudha took a red diary in his hand and accused the Gehlot government of corruption.

Instead of getting the matter investigated, the Gehlot government sacked Gudha from the post of minister and also threw him out of the party. Raising the issue of atrocities on women in Rajasthan, Congress MLA Divya Madrena said that women are unsafe in Rajasthan while protesting with placards in the assembly of the ruling Congress on Manipur violence. However, the Congress could not muster enough courage to take any action against Divya Madrena like Gudha, the minister who opposed her government in the House.

Significantly, Rajasthan ranks first in the number of rape cases in the country. There has been an increase of 2.79 percent in cases of rape of girls below the age of 10 years. At the same time, there has been an increase of 13.64 percent in the incidents of gang rape with small girls. There has been an increase of 2.79 percent in the cases of rape of 10-year-old girls. This has been revealed recently in the report of the Rajasthan Police. The most worrying and frightening thing is that the cases of rape and gang rape of girls are increasing year by year. This has been revealed in the monthly report of Rajasthan Police till June-2023. Like Rajasthan, the opposition parties are silent on the atrocities on women in West Bengal. BJP MP Locket Chatterjee broke down while asking whether atrocities against women in these states would be noticed only when videos recording such incidents went viral. Locket Chatterjee claimed that over 3,000 women are in relief camps. Over 57 people were killed in the violence during and after the elections in West Bengal. Two tribal women were stripped and assaulted by a group of people in West Bengal’s Malda district. Malda police arrested five people including three women in this case. The BJP alleged that the police remained mute spectators when two tribal women were stripped and tortured in Bengal a few days back. The BJP alleges that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided not to do anything in such cases. In South Panchla under Panchla police station of Howrah district in West Bengal, the victim woman has alleged that TMC goons stripped her naked and paraded her around the village on the day of the panchayat elections. In relation to the incident, an FIR has been registered on behalf of the victim in Panchla police station.

Like West Bengal and Rajasthan, the opposition parties did not even think it necessary to react in protest to the incidents of violence in Bihar. In Bihar’s Katihar, a large number of villagers and local people’s representatives were protesting in the Barsoi block office premises as part of the program regarding irregular electricity system. One person was killed and two were injured in the firing by the police. Had the same incident happened in a BJP ruled state, the entire opposition would have raised eyebrows. The opposition parties did not utter a single word against the Nitish government on the incident of police firing on the people who were forced to take to the streets for a basic demand like electricity. In states with opposition parties, BJP has got an opportunity to attack the opposition unity because of its silence in the cases of corruption, deteriorating law and order situation and atrocities on women.

This is the reason why Prime Minister Modi has accused the efforts of the coalition of opposition unity to form a coalition to cover up corruption and crimes. Opposition parties have accused the action of ED and CBI in corruption cases of opposition parties as being done at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre. But no initiative was taken towards a concrete solution to this problem which is hollowing the country like cancer. The opposition parties have not disclosed even once what will be its policy in the matters of corruption. On the contrary, the entire thrust of the opposition parties has been to forge an alliance against the BJP government at the Centre. Whose sole purpose is to field a joint candidate against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, so that polarization of votes can be stopped. The opposition parties did not express any opinion on the issues which proved fatal for the country. The question is, for how long will the opposition parties continue to adopt a dual policy. Such allegations will continue to be leveled against the opposition parties till they do not adopt the same approach in corruption and criminal matters. On such sensitive issues, the coalition of opposition parties will have to follow a transparent and equitable policy. It is difficult to win the trust of the voters just by forming alliances to contest elections. If this is not done, the BJP will continue to get a chance to attack.

– Yogendra Yogi

The writer is a senior journalist