TMC slams BJP 'silence' over Maha doctor’s death, flags 'double standards'

West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday accused the BJP of hypocrisy and “emotional bankruptcy” over its muted response to the suspected suicide of a woman doctor in Maharashtra following an alleged rape — contrasting it with the saffron party’s frequent outcry when such incidents occur in West Bengal.

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, West Bengal minister and TMC national spokesperson Shashi Panja said the BJP’s silence was “deafening” and reflective of its selective outrage.

“We knew that the BJP has so far been politically bankrupt. But has the party now become emotionally bankrupt too?” Panja asked. “It did not utter a word on the tragic incident in Satara.”

The 28-year-old doctor, posted at a government hospital in Maharashtra’s Satara district, was found dead in a hotel room on Thursday night. According to police, she had written a note on her palm accusing a police sub-inspector of rape and an IT professional of sustained mental harassment. One of the two men named in her note was arrested in Pune on Saturday.

Panja questioned the conspicuous silence of BJP leaders and national media outlets, saying that had a similar tragedy occurred in West Bengal, it would have triggered an avalanche of criticism and political visits.

“Where is the voice of the media now? Why are national channels quiet?” she said. “Had this incident happened in West Bengal, all hell would have broken loose with members of the women’s commission and human rights commission rushing to the state.”

She accused Central agencies and BJP leaders of turning a blind eye to such cases in states governed by the party itself. “Where are these agencies, and the voices that cry for justice?” Panja said. “Don’t these agencies visit BJP-ruled states where there is a ‘double-engine government’? Or are they reserved only for West Bengal?”

The minister also attacked the BJP for what she described as its divisive rhetoric and its tendency to brand Bengali-speaking people as “Bangladeshi.” “BJP’s audacity and arrogance have crossed all limits,” Panja said.

The TMC’s sharp response comes against the backdrop of a familiar pattern in national politics — where the BJP has frequently seized upon crimes against women in West Bengal to criticise the Mamata Banerjee government and question its law and order record.

Over the past few years, incidents such as the Sandeshkhali assault allegations and other cases of sexual violence have drawn intense political attention, with BJP leaders demanding President’s Rule in the state and accusing the TMC of shielding perpetrators. National media coverage has often amplified those incidents, prompting repeated accusations from the ruling party in Bengal that the outrage is “selective” and politically motivated.

By contrast, the TMC argues, similar or worse crimes in BJP-ruled states often receive little national attention. Women’s rights groups and opposition parties have previously accused the Centre of maintaining double standards — vocally condemning crimes in opposition-ruled states while remaining silent when they occur under its own administrations.

The latest case in Maharashtra, where the BJP shares power with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, has reignited those allegations of selective outrage.

With PTI inputs