West Bengal Minister Agnimitra Paul on Sunday faced strong backlash for admonishing a homeless woman for boiling milk for her child on a pavement in Kolkata.
Paul, who holds the twin portfolios of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, was on her usual inspection drive in the Park Street area of the city with her entourage on Saturday when she saw a woman boiling milk on the pavement. Seeing a lit stove, Paul asked her why she was cooking on the street. “I am not cooking. I am only warming milk for the child,” the woman replied as the child crawled nearby.
“Warming milk for a child on the pavement? In Park Street?” Paul thundered. “Who gave you the right to set up a household here?” the minister pulled up the elderly woman and asked her to remove her belongings.
Soon, Paul, the BJP MLA from Asansol Dakshin constituency, was seen instructing the police officers accompanying her to clear the footpaths. “It is your duty to see that the footpaths are not encroached upon and stay clear of squatters. Why do I have to do this and be the bad one?” said the fashion designer-turned politician.
After the video of the incident went viral, the Left-leaning women’s outfit, AIDWA (All India Democratic Women’s Association), condemned the minister’s behaviour, saying they were shocked by Paul’s behaviour. “Can a minister behave like this with a mother? She has been elected by the people. She is a public representative. Will she not have even this much empathy for the people? There is economic inequality in our society. As a result of the government policies, the disparity is increasing every day. That is why countless mothers like the elderly woman on Park Street have to raise their children on the pavement,” a statement issued by the outfit read.
Demanding a public apology, the women’s outfit said, “Instead of thinking about solving the problems of the marginalised people, the inhumane behavior of the state minister—who is a woman herself—towards another woman is certainly condemnable.”
“In these 100 days (of the first BJP government), more than 50 incidents of violence against women have occurred. Women are protesting across the state for not receiving money under the Annapurna scheme. A woman committed suicide in Gazole, Malda, after not receiving the Annapurna Bhandar money. There is no talk about all this. Yet a mother had to face harassment just for sitting on the pavement and heating milk for her child,” the AIDWA added, referring to a string of protests across the state over non-receipt of funds under the cash transfer scheme.
TMC MLA and spokesperson of the party’s Mamata Banerjee-led faction, Kunal Ghosh, also hit out at the BJP minister. “Let the pavements be cleared out, but not by wiping away the human face. I saw her (Minister Agnimitra Paul) reprimanding a pavement dweller who was warming milk for her child, telling her to stop all this and move away. My point is, let the pavements be cleared. But every drive must have a humane face. In our socio-economic structure, everything cannot be done with police and bulldozers. I have seen beggars even on the streets of advanced Western countries,” the TMC MLA said, adding, “It does not take much effort to understand that the same government is anti-poor and inhuman”.
Ghosh said that he met the affected woman, who told him that she hails from Punjab. “She is Hindu and her name is Sita. She married a Muslim man and is now known as Rashida. After her husband left, she was left helpless with one son and two daughters. Her son has died. One of her daughters has also been abandoned by her husband. They have no home. She lives by the roadside with her daughter and a small child. She cleans the streets and pavements and scavenges for waste. She has nowhere else to go,” the TMC leader said.
According to Ghosh, the woman was living on the pavement “for a long time”. “She has no disputes with the shopkeepers in the area. But after the minister’s remarks, the police told her to move. She does not know where to go… In her words: ‘For me, God and Allah are the same. But what do we do now? Where will we live? What will we eat?’,” he said, claiming that police have asked her to leave the area.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Paul said, “Living like this (on the pavement) is not safe. Pavements are built for people to walk safely. But if people start encroaching upon pavements and living like this, gradually every street and pavement in Kolkata will be occupied.”
