Kolkata rape-murder ‘significantly dents’ Mamata Banerjee’s image, people demand stricter laws

By: Team India Tracker

A vast majority of the respondents believed that the medical college incident was the fault of the State government and the law enforcement agencies.

The horrific account of the murder of RG Kar medical college’s doctor has shook the entire country which followed nation-wide strikes by the medical fraternity throughout the nation. Politically, this incidence 

According to a survey conducted by Cvoter on 1,220 participants in West Bengal over the between 27-28 August, even her own voters are thinking that this incident might have ‘significantly’ dented her image. 

The poll conducted via Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview asked respondents, “how has the Kolkata horror impacted the image of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee?”. CVoter segregated the results based on who they had voted in the latest elections. 

Of those who voted for the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), nearly 40% respondents believed this incident has harmed her image ‘significantly’, another 20% said it has ‘moderately’ affected her image. About 32% believed there was little to almost no damage and only 8% couldn’t say anything.  

In contrast 64% of the BJP supporting respondents said that this case had ‘significantly’ hurt her image, another 14% said it had a ‘moderate’ impact, 11% had no say and only 11% said it would bear minimum to no impact on her image.  

This also needs to be taken into account that a vast majority of the respondents believed that the medical college incident was the fault of the State government and the law enforcement agencies.  

According to the survey, non-AITC voters were more likely to believe that the entire tragedy was a fault of the state government. Nearly 41.5% BJP supporters, 26% INDI alliance supporters and 25% supporters of other parties put the onus on the State government, whereas only 11% of the AITC did the same. About 39% of the AITC supporting respondents and around 49% INDI supporting respondents blame hospital management. In contrast, 33% of the AITC supporting respondents put the blame on the arrested/accused individuals, while only 20% of the BJP supporting respondents did the same.  

Nonetheless, across the board, more than 50% respondents agreed when asked ‘Will stricter punishments for rapes will effectively deter such crimes’.