'Banga Janani Vahini' raises voice against comments of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, seeks his removal
Kolkata: The Banga Janani Vahini of Trinamool Congress on Thursday raised their voice demanding the removal of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, over the latter's tweets about Bengal women. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned Roy's comments and said: "It was not right on his part to make such comments being a Governor, which is a constitutional post."
"We should take to the streets and be vocal against such remarks that portray women in a poor light. The Indian Constitution has given a person the liberty to speak in whatever language he/she wants. But the RSS is trying to impose certain things on us. We need to protest in a democratic manner," said TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, chairman of the recently constituted Banga Janani Vahini.
Roy, while offering his views about some states resisting Hindi learning, had questioned that if Bengal women can be bar dancers in Mumbai then why should they not learn Hindi. A former BJP leader, Roy originally hails from Bengal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has recently constituted the Banga Janani Vahini of women to fight for keeping the political environment in the state secular. The Vahini held its first programme at Hazra crossing on Thursday, where women staged a day-long dharna and spoke against alleged atrocity on women across the country. The Vahini will organise a similar protest movement at Shyambazar on Friday.
Shashi Panja, minister of state for Women & Child Development condemned the statements made by Roy and urged the women brigade to be united in protest. "Bengal should play a leading role in raising women's voice against such statements that go against the dignity of women," Panja said.
She spoke of the several schemes undertaken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee like Kanyashree, Rupashree and Sabooj Sathi and how these schemes have contributed to the social upliftment of women.
"The Central government has hardly done anything for the upliftment of women and have remained unperturbed to such comments and acts by a number of RSS minded leaders in recent times that have portrayed women in poor light," Panja added.
Chandrima Bhattacharjee, minister of state for Health, said that when a person assumes the Governor's chair he/she should not be the voice of any political party but he (Roy) who has been an RSS member, has spoken for the saffron party on more than one occasion.
"The Indian Constitution states clearly that there should not be any discrimination based on sex. Then why is the party in power at the Centre being silent against such comments made by their leaders?" she questioned.
