TMC stages 48-hour dharna to express solidarity with Bilkis Bano
India Today
The senior female leadership of TMC, including MPs and ministers of the West Bengal cabinet, staged the dharna.
The Trinamool Congress staged a dharna for 48 hours in front of Kolkata's Gandhi Murti to express their solidarity with Bilkis Bano, who was gangraped and saw her family members get murdered by a mob during the 2002 Godhra riots in Gujarat, and mark their protest against the 11 convicts, whose life imprisonment terms were remitted by the Gujarat government.
The senior female leadership of TMC, including MPs and ministers of the West Bengal cabinet, sat in the dharna.
“These convicts were released on an important day like August 15. Not only were the 11 convicts released, they were garlanded and celebrations ensued after their release from jail.
It was shameful,” said Dr Sashi Panja, commerce minister of West Bengal.
The 48-hour dharna was not the first time the TMC was protesting against the release of the men convicted in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. The party took out a rally to express their solidarity with Bilkis Banu a few weeks ago.
“We had taken out a rally to protest against the release of the convicts. Now, we will sit in a dharna for 48 hours. No one from the BJP raised a single question over the release. Not even a female leader, nor the Prime Minister or the Home Minister,” said Chandrima Bhatterjee, senior minister in West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet.
On August 29, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took a dig at the BJP over the release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, stating that her party would organise a dharna to demand action against the accused.
