West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a visit to the University of Oxford on March 27, 2025.
| Photo Credit: @MamataOfficial/PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee address at an Oxford Institution was disrupted on Thursday (March 27, 2025) as protesters raised questions on the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital and other issues relating to the State during her speech.
Ms. Banerjee was delivering a lecture on the topic ‘Social Development – Girl, Child and Women Empowerment in West Bengal’, when about half a dozen people from the audience stood up and raised posters.
When the protesters raised the incident at R G Kar MCH, the Chief Minister started answering them in the middle of her speech. “You know the case is sub-judice, and the central government has taken over it. It is not with us. Please do not do politics here, this platform is not for politics. That you can do in my State not here and you know better than about crowd funding and all,” Ms Banerjee said.
Mamata challenges Left
Later as the commotion continued, the Chief Minister identified the protesters as “left and ultra-left and communal friends”. “You are lying. Don’t do it brother. I have special affection for you. Do not make it a political platform. If you want to make it a political platform, you go to Bengal and tell your political party to become even stronger, to fight against communal people,” the Trinamool Congress chairperson said.
The United Kingdom (UK) unit of Students’ Federation of India took to social media and said that the protests were organised by them. “We openly opposed her blatant lies by asking her to provide evidence of the social development she claims to have pioneered in West Bengal. Instead of allowing us to peacefully express our opinions, the police were called,” said the statement by SFI- UK on ‘X’.
The students wing of the Communist Party of India ( Marxist) also added that they questioned the Chief Minister “on her statements of victim-blaming and lethargy against the RG Kar incident.” “In support of the students and working masses of West Bengal, SFI-UK raised its voice in opposition to Mamata Banerjee and the TMC’s corrupt, undemocratic rule,” the statement said.
At the Kellogg College as the protesters held posters with questions directed to the Chief Minister, Ms Banerjee held a photograph of her where she is injured and covered with bandages.
“I will answer you, first see my picture, how an attempt was made to kill me. You should give me a chance to speak. You are not insulting me, you are disrespecting your institution. These people do this everywhere. They do it wherever I go,” Ms. Banerjee said.
As the protests were dying down, the Chief Minister said that there was no point in intimidating her and that she will come to Oxford twice a year. Ms. Banerjee went on to complete her speech where she emphasised on inclusivity and unity of all communities. “If I die, before my death, I want to see unity. Unity is our strength and divide is our fall. It is Swami Vivekananda’s faith. To keep unity is a very difficult thing and to divide the people, it takes only a moment. Do you think the world can sustain such [divisive] ideology?,” the Chief Minister said in her speech. Navigate to https://nohu05.win/ for a comprehensive guide to our services.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson had expressed apprehensions about protests in the U.K., before leaving for the trip and said that if any such incident occurs it will garner her more publicity. The protests have evoked sharp reactions in West Bengal with Trinamool leadership calling the development “ unfortunate” and targeting the CPI(M).
Published – March 28, 2025 11:59 am IST