In a fresh escalation of internal conflict within the Trinamool Congress (TMC), senior leader Kalyan Banerjee has lashed out at party colleague and MP Mahua Moitra after she criticised his controversial remarks related to the alleged gangrape of a 24-year-old law student from South Calcutta Law College, reported News18.

“A few men commit this type of crime…But what can be done if a friend rapes his friend? Will the police be in schools?” Banerjee had said about the rape.

Following this comment, which provoked widespread condemnation, the TMC leadership distanced itself from Banerjee’s statement.

Mahua Moitra publicly rebuked him, asserting that “misogyny exists in every party,” but added that Trinamool Congress “condemns its own leaders for their loose talk.”

Responding with sharp personal barbs, Kalyan Banerjee targeted Moitra’s personal life, saying, “Mahua has come back to India after her honeymoon and started fighting with me.”

“She is saying I am anti-women. What is she? She has broken up a family of 40 years and married a 65-year-old guy. Did she not harm the lady? The women of the country will decide whether she broke up the family.”

Banerjee further accused Moitra of political opportunism and discord within the party. “She is against all women leaders of her constituency. She doesn’t allow anyone to work. She was elected as MLA in 2016, she had earlier called Rahul Gandhi a friend.”

Continuing his tirade, he added, “An MP who was expelled from parliament for breach of ethics is telling me about philosophy! She is the most anti-woman. She knows only to secure her future and make money.”

The war of words has highlighted deepening fissures in the TMC, coming at a sensitive time for the party as it grapples with fallout from the high-profile assault case.

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