CPM leader's rape remark against Mamata sparks row

KOLKATA: On a day Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee was ostracized for his crude, gender insensitive remark, CPM leader Anisur Rehman embarrassed his party while mocking the Trinamool government's compensation for rape victims, saying, "I would like ask Mamata Banerjee what would be her fee if someone gets Rs 20,000 after being raped."
Worse, the former minister in the Left Front government also told the gathering of CPM's peasant wing Pradeshik Krishak Sabha in North Dinajpur how Mamata showcased one Champala Sardar of South 24-Parganas as a "rape victim" when the Left Front was in power.
"She (Mamata) was in the habit of picking up women on her way claiming that they were raped. We used to make fun of her. I told her that this won't serve her purpose. She has to look for good women. No one can be better than you (Mamata)," Rehman said.
The comment predictably led to reactions of outrage, with Trinamool parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee sending a privilege notice to West Bengal speaker Biman Banerjee against Rehman, attaching a video footage and newspaper clippings of Rehman's "atrocious comment".
"The comment has put the women in Bengal to shame. It bears out that the CPM didn't learn a lesson from its mistakes even after being voted out of power. I am deeply pained with the way the CPM has targetted our leader and woman chief minister. I'd appeal to all to refrain from making such indecent remarks. I have urged the speaker to take stern action against the MLA," Chatterjee said.
The chastened CPM MLA from Dumkol in Murshidabad was forced to apologise, saying, "I am sorry for being discourteous. I had no mala fide intention to denigrate any individual. I seek apology from the CM and the people of Bengal."
Senior Trinamool leader and panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said, "I wonder how such a person could become a minister in the Left Front government. It doesn't speak well of the party that made him a minister. Communists are, however, in the habit of making such indecent comments."
Bengal Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya said, "I condemn the remark."