Under attack after the gang rape and death of a girl after she was set ablaze, the ruling Trinamool Congress Sunday staged rallies and held meetings across the state, decrying the campaign of "misinformation unleashed by the opposition parties".
In Kolkata, the Trinamool Yuva organised a rally from Golpark to Hazra in the southern part of the city. Senior party leaders like Partha Chattopadhyay, Subrata Bakshi and Sovandeb Chattopadhayay took part in the 3.1-km rally.
Several thousand Trinamool workers joined the rally, carrying posters and banners denouncing the opposition parties for "trying to halt development of the state" by highlighting such incidents.
"Leaders of opposition parties know they'll disappear from the scene if the Trinamool can continue with its agenda of progress and development for some more time. So they are hatching conspiracies to give the government a bad name," said Sovandeb, Trinamool chief whip in the legislative assembly.
"When small incidents happen, they can be tackled well. But doing politics over dead body is not the politics the state needs," he said.
Trinamool Yuva president Abhishek Banerjee said those indulging in "dirty politics" on the incident were "shameless people".
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Referring to the 34-year rule of the Left Front in the state, Banerjee said: "Then they used to do politics with people who are alive. But now, they find people are not supporting them. So they are resorting to politics of dead bodies."
Trinamool All India general secretary Mukul Roy said the party took out rallies in every rural block and all municipal wards of the state.
The girl, 16, whose father is a taxi driver hailing from Bihar, was raped twice y a gang in October in Madhyamgram of North 24-Parganas district. Shockingly, the second assault took place when she was returning home after filing the police complaint.
She breathed her last Dec 31 at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital here where she was admitted with severe burn injuries Dec 23.
Police have slapped murder charges against two accused, now under custody, based on the girl's dying declaration that the duo set her ablaze.
The police have drawn flak for their alleged attempt to forcibly perform the last rites of the girl to prevent any demonstration with the body.
In the wake of the incident, the civil society and the opposition parties have hit the streets, denouncing the administrative and the police apathy towards the girl's family.