Eighteen months after her daughter was brutally raped and killed and the life as she knew it morphed into an unending struggle for justice, Abhaya’s mother has turned pain into an unyielding political purpose.
The 56-year-old once lived a quiet life, running a modest household with her tailor husband. Their daughter, a trainee doctor pursuing her MD in pulmonary medicine at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was the centre of their world.
“Everything we imagined for the future had her at its heart,” she says.
That “future” collapsed on August 9, 2024, when Abhaya was raped and murdered while on duty at the hospital.
What followed was not just personal devastation but a political storm that engulfed the state. For months, the streets of Calcutta and beyond swelled with anger. Thousands marched, demanding justice, turning the tragedy into one of the most formidable challenges faced by the Mamata Banerjee government in her third term. Junior doctors across state-run hospitals went on prolonged strikes, while citizens questioned the crumbling sense of safety and law and order, particularly for women.
For the grieving mother, however, the passage of time has not dulled the loss — only sharpened its purpose.
“Our dreams died with my daughter,” she says, her voice steady but heavy. “Now we dream for the people, to make their dreams possible in a safer Bengal.”
Justice, she insists, is no longer a personal demand alone. “It is not just for my daughter. It is for every daughter like her,” she says.
That conviction has drawn her into a terrain she once kept her distance from — politics. Preparing for election campaigning from Panihati as a BJP candidate, her home turf, she speaks with a clarity forged by anguish.
“Power gives you a voice,” she says. “My husband and I have gone from pillar to post — from Calcutta High Court to the Supreme Court — begging for justice. But justice remained elusive.”
Her words soon turn pointed. From the outset, she has held the chief minister directly responsible for the circumstances that led to her daughter’s death. Now, she argues, justice itself is obstructed by the existing political order.
“Justice will be possible only when Mamata Banerjee and her party are removed from Bengal,” she says, framing her electoral plunge as an extension of her fight.
The bereaved mother reached out to the BJP leadership, seeking a nomination from Panihati. For her, the choice was pragmatic.
“I joined the party that I believe can win and bring change,” she says, asserting that the BJP alone has the strength to pursue justice in the case and confront what she calls systemic failure.
Yet beneath the political articulation, the rawness of a mother’s grief remains unmistakable. At times, her composure gives way to emotion.
“I want safety — for women, for mothers, for daughters,” she says. “I don’t want people to forget what happened to my daughter, or the injustice we have been forced to endure.”
Her campaign, she insisted, will not be built on a single issue alone. Waterlogging in Panihati during the monsoon and piled-up garbage are some problems she intends to address.
“Even an inch of rain floods the streets, and garbage makes it hell,” she says.
But the central question lingers — why politics? Her answer is blunt. “Without power, no one listens. This is about change... the kind of change people in Bengal need now. People have lost hope of finding justice. I want to give them a voice,” she says.
She recalls her daughter, who taught her to raise her voice against injustice.
“We have always had a difficult life. My husband is a tailor, and I am a homemaker. But we were a strong family. I still draw strength from her. She may not be physically present, but she is with us every step of the way. There is no better teacher than adversity,” she says.
Her entry into politics, however, has not been without controversy. Both the CPM and the BJP have invoked the RG Kar incident in their campaigns, often drawing criticism for politicising a tragedy she wishes had remained above partisan lines. She acknowledges the support her family received from CPM workers but remains unswayed.
“It was not just the CPM; the whole country stood with me,” she says. “But the CPM is no longer strong enough to fight for justice.”
CPM state secretary Md Salim had publicly urged her to stay away from politics, maintaining that the party’s support had never been conditional.
CPM’s Panihati candidate Kalatan Dasgupta — one of the faces of the resistance against alleged attempts to suppress evidence in the Abhaya case — has questioned the BJP’s role, accusing it of remaining “inactive and silent” during crucial phases of the investigation.
He also pointed to unanswered questions placed before the CBI and criticised Union home minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not granting the bereaved mother an audience despite repeated requests.
About facing her as his electoral rival, Kalatan says: “I call her kakima (aunt). She will remain so to me despite the poll battle. I fought for my sister. There are lakhs of people like me who fought for her seeking justice. I will do so again, irrespective of identity and political background, if any woman faces such cruelty again. My education and party have taught me this.”
Abhaya’s mother, too, refuses to be drawn into personal attacks against her political opponents. Her focus remains fixed, her narrative unwavering. She also turns the ruling party’s own rhetoric back on it, recalling the 2021 slogan “Bangla nijer meyekei chay.”
“If Bengal wanted its own daughter,” she asks, “does Bengal deserve a daughter who cannot protect another daughter? A woman must stand up for another woman. What we have seen is humiliation for other women by her, not protection.”
In the end, her decision to enter politics is one she claims both as a right and a necessity. “As a mother, I have the right to seek justice. And I believe I have done the right thing,” she says.
Between campaign speeches and personal loss, she continues to walk a difficult line. But at the core of it all remains a single resolve: that her daughter’s death will not fade away from memory without accountability, and that her own transformation — from a homemaker to poll candidate — will serve a greater purpose.
- Panihati votes on April 29