Mamata’s remark on girls sparks outrage in Odisha; Dy CM calls it ‘insult to Bengal women’

The remark by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that girl students residing in hostels should not venture out at night and they have to protect themselves has not gone down well in Odisha, with Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, among others, slamming Banerjee, terming it an insult to the 4.90 crore women in West Bengal.

Chairperson of the Odisha State Commission for Women, Sovana Mohanty, also took strong exception to the “girls should not be allowed to go out at night” remarks by TMC supremo and said that the WB CM does not feel the pain of the survivor.

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Banarjee’s comment had come in the wake of a gang rape of a 2nd year female medical student from Jaleswar in Odisha’s Balasore district, outside the campus of a private medical college in Durgapur in the neighbouring state.

Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, condemning the incident, has deputed a three-member delegation of the Odisha State Women’s Commission (OSWC) to assess the situation from Durgapur.

Taking to social media handle ‘X’, Deputy CM Parida said, “A woman leader like Mamata Banerjee, who has earned the identity of Didi and a female Chief Minister, has disappointed women with her statement – ‘Girls should not go out at night.'”

“This has not only surprised me but also astonished and insulted 4.90 lakh women of West Bengal. Instead of delivering justice to the victim, the Chief Minister has no right to bring gender inequality and raise questions on the rights of girls,” Parida lamented in a post at ‘X’.

“And if there is no sympathy for an Odia girl victim, then let them write to the Odisha government. We can understand the matter of our children even in your state. It is extremely condemnable not to feel ashamed. If girls do not expect empathy, safety, and rights from a female Chief Minister, then from whom will they seek it?”, Parida concluded.

The female students across the state have expressed deep disappointment over what they said was an outrageous remark by Banarjee.

“It’s deeply distressing to note that a woman CM of the stature of Banarjee, who has been at the helm of Bengal for over a decade, has resorted to such an insensitive statement to lower the dignity of young girls. At a time when gender equality is the order of the day, a popular CM of a state wants the confinement of women after sunset. We feel as if we are living in a medieval age,” said a postgraduate female student of a government-run university in Bhubaneswar.