Kolkata: West Bengal Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Agnimitra Paul recalled how she was mocked on live TV by TMC leaders for being a fashion designer in the early 2000s. The Mamata Banerjee-led party constantly questioned her political capabilities.
“The Trinamool Congress called me a darzi (tailor), mocked my previous avatar as a successful fashion designer and implied I am not fit for the rough and tumble of politics,” Paul told ThePrint in an exclusive interview.
As a fashion designer, Paul had made a name for herself for designing not just for Tollywood celebrities but also making a foray into Bollywood by styling the likes of Sridevi, Mithun Chakraborty, Esha Deol and Hema Malini. Such was her association with Sridevi that when the actress died from accidental drowning in Dubai on 24 February 2018, a heartbroken Paul said she had “lost a sister”.
Now, Paul is on a mission. Her top priority is to deliver justice and ensure convictions.
“My top priority is to deliver justice to women who were raped in 2021 after the Assembly election results, only for working for the BJP,” she added.
‘2021 rape survivors need justice’
In 2021, Paul was the state president of the BJP Mahila Morcha. She claimed to have witnessed the horrific violence that followed the Assembly election results.
“Many of the women targeted were not even formal party members. They were booth workers, supporters, ordinary citizens. The brutality they faced at the hands of the TMC cadres and supporters is unimaginable. My party colleagues and I spent countless nights receiving reports of violence from across Bengal,” Paul said.
The West Bengal government has ordered a review of all cases, especially those involving crime against women, pertaining to the 2021 post-poll violence after the TMC defeated the BJP. A Times of India report states that there are as many as 300 such cases across Bengal, including several in Kolkata.
“The move follows a prolonged legal battle that reached the Supreme Court, which upheld a Calcutta High Court order directing probes into serious offences, including murder and rape, allegedly linked to violence after the 2021 elections,” the report states.
Paul told ThePrint that every case will be examined.
“I want all those victims to come forward. My appeal to all victims is to approach the police, register your complaints and do not remain silent. Every case will be examined,” she said.
The minister said she is aware that there would be women from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities who may have been subjected to sexual violence during that time. She said a commission headed by Justice Shampa Ghosh and senior police officer Damayanti Sen has already been constituted by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to look into these cases.
“We are committed to ensuring that justice is delivered and that no one responsible escapes accountability. We do not want anyone to feel that the events of 2021 have been forgotten,” she said.
Paul said that, as she is the Women and Child Development Minister, she wants to ensure that women in the state feel protected.
“The previous administration had made a mockery of women’s safety. It is not just the 2021 post-poll rapes but the rape and the murder of the young doctor at RG Kar medical college and hospital, and soon after the brutal gang-rape and assault of a 24-year-old student at the South Calcutta Law College campus in Kasba that had given Bengal a bad name,” she said.
Paul added that the rot went to the very top when a woman chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) would dismiss news of sensational rape cases like the 2012 Park Street rape case as “sajano ghotona (made-up stories)”.
Incidentally, TMC allegedly sidelined Sen for her thorough investigation in the Park Street rape case.
“While such crimes can occur in any society, the government’s responsibility is to respond swiftly and effectively. Under the previous government, victims were often forced to run from one police station to another because FIRs would not be registered,” Paul said.
Now, she said, every complaint has to be registered through a Zero FIR immediately, with the investigation following thereafter.
“As promised in our Sankalp Patra (manifesto), women’s help desks are being established in every police station, and each subdivision will have at least one dedicated women’s police station staffed by female officers. We are also expanding CCTV coverage across West Bengal to strengthen surveillance and accountability,” Paul said.
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‘Years of neglect weakened Bengal’
The first BJP government in West Bengal, led by CM Adhikari, is pushing a “double-engine” agenda to rapidly deliver development and resolve long-standing administrative challenges. Since taking office in May, the new administration has hit the ground running with a highly active, eventful first few weeks.
Paul said the government is also working on a technology-based safety mechanism inspired by the Swachha app, which allows citizens to report civic issues through geo-fencing.
“We plan to introduce a similar system for women’s safety. In any emergency, women and children will be able to send an alert, enabling the nearest police station to respond immediately,” she said.
As minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Paul also has the urgent task of making West Bengal monsoon-ready.
“Although our government hardly had much time, we have begun work on drainage and monsoon preparedness. I personally visited several waterlogging-prone areas, including the airport region, and directed BJP MPs, MLAs, municipalities, and corporations to start cleaning drains, canals, and waterways,” she said.
Paul has found Kolkata’s drainage problems deeply structural. She said multiple departments are involved in maintaining different parts of the drainage network, and in many places, manholes and drainage channels have been covered or damaged by poorly planned construction and beautification projects.
“In some areas near the airport, major canals have been heavily encroached upon, with roads, houses, and other structures built over critical drainage infrastructure. Are we expected to believe that those in charge of municipal affairs in the previous administration that ran the state for 15 long years did not know this was happening? Of course, they knew,” she said.
Paul alleged that in many cases, people were allowed to build houses or shops on public land and over critical drainage infrastructure in exchange for money.
“Years of neglect and unchecked encroachments have severely weakened Bengal’s urban infrastructure and contributed to recurring waterlogging. With the monsoon approaching, we have very little time. However, our officers, sanitation workers, and field teams are working on a war footing to clear bottlenecks and improve drainage,” she told ThePrint.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)