The mother of the junior doctor raped and murdered at RG Kar Hospital said on Thursday that she had agreed to contest the Assembly election as BJP candidate from Panihati, while castigating Trinamool and the Left.
Within hours, the BJP released its second list of candidates, keeping the seat vacant. The party has now named candidates for 255 of the 294 seats.
“I have decided to contest as a BJP candidate. The proposal came repeatedly, but initially I did not agree,” the mother told reporters.
“Finally, I decided to become a candidate to uproot the TMC because of the growing atrocities against women and the lack of safety for them.”
Her daughter, a postgraduate trainee, was raped and murdered at night inside the RG Kar campus in August 2024. A locally influential civic volunteer was handed a life term in January 2025.
The atrocity had led to largely spontaneous and extended street protests across Bengal — unlike anything in recent memory — and drawn international attention.
“All the parties had come to offer us a ticket. But we thought that the BJP was the party that could secure justice for my daughter,” the mother said.
Her husband said: “They offered… the Panihati seat and now she has agreed to contest.”
A BJP source said the party had almost finalised the mother’s nomination from her home constituency of Panihati in North 24-Parganas. But it stepped back from announcing her name after the matter became public and sparked controversy —particularly since the RG Kar protests had self-consciously stayed largely apolitical.
Asked about the mother’s candidature, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya refused comment.
Part of the controversy owed to the attack that the murdered doctor’s parents launched against the CPM-led Left, accusing it of benefiting politically from their daughter’s death and helping the Trinamool Congress remain in power.
“The Left Front lost power after 34 years of rule, but it played a major role in keeping the TMC in power by splitting anti-TMC votes,” the father told the media.
“BJP candidate Sajal Ghosh was defeated from Baranagar because the Left candidate split his votes.”
The mother went a step further and said: “I decided to enter electoral politics with the BJP after witnessing how the CPM used my daughter’s case politically to strengthen its base and help the TMC win by cutting votes.”
She added: “I personally called BJP leaders and expressed my willingness to be a candidate.”
She did not say which leaders she had spoken to.
CPM state secretary Md Salim said the party had no conflict with the murdered woman’s parents but urged them to remainnon-partisan.
“We have nothing against the family, but the Left has a battle to fight with the RSS-BJP,” he said.
“I would request the parents not to take sides because a large number of Left-leaning people from the state, the country, and even the world came together to protest the crime and seek justice.”
Salim suggested the parents might be victims of the Stockholm Syndrome, which refers to hostages or victims developing empathy for their captors or abusers as a survival mechanism.
He continued: “We were the ones who went to court.… The Trinamool Congress and the police were trying to flee with the body, and our youth leaders Minakshi (Mukherjee), Kalatan (Dasgupta) and Dhrubajyoti (Saha) blocked the vehicle.”
Kalatan is the CPM candidate from Panihati.
The parents’ tilt towards the BJP marks a change from the stand they had taken during an interview with a television channel in January.
“After we refused to accept an offer from the BJP, they moved away from us,” the father had told ABP Ananda.
“We were made to wait for an hour at the BJP office but no one met us. We have seen all and will have nothing to do with political parties.”
The parents had repeatedly criticised the BJP over the outcome of the investigation by the CBI, a central agency.
Salim said: “Remember, BJP leaders made the helpless parents… travel between Calcutta and Delhi with the promise that the Prime Minister and the Union home minister would meet them, but that did not happen. Also remember, the CBI did nothing but endorse the statepolice probe.”
A BJP source said it was not the political parties but the people of the state who had hit the streets in numbers to protest against the RG Kar crime.
“Now, if her (the mother’s) name comes up as a BJP candidate, it may play down (the apolitical nature of) the protest. So, the party is still considering whether this decision would be right,”he said.
“But it’s a fact that if the mother campaigns for the BJP, it would help the party.”
Trinamool’s Barrackpore unit president Partha Bhowmick accused the parents of using their daughter’s death for political gain.
“It was Mamata Banerjee’s police who arrested the culprit, and the CBI — a central agency — endorsed it. Now she is contesting the election,” Bhowmick said.
“She had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the CBI, which means she was opposing the BJP (central) government. She may contest the election, but she should remember that her protest was for justice, notelectoral politics.”
The BJP’s second list names former Calcutta police commissioner Rajesh Kumar as the candidate for Jagatdal. Rekha Patra, the face of the Sandeshkhali movement, has been fielded from Hingalganj, while schoolteacher Sanat Sardar will contest from Sandeshkhali. All three seats are in North24-Parganas.
As in the first list, the BJP has favoured the old guard.
Ritesh Tiwari, once suspended for anti-party activities but reinstated after Samik became state unit president, will contest from Kashipur-Belgachhia.
Veteran BJP politician and actress Rupa Ganguly has been fielded from Sonarpur Dakshin. Suvendu Adhikari’s brother Soumendu has got the ticket for Egra, EastMidnapore.