Dreams of little girls being murdered: Amit Malviya on Bengal recording ‘highest’ number of child marriages
A top BJP leader has fired sharp criticism at West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress government, pointing to fresh data that shows the state tops India in child marriages. Amit Malviya, the party’s central observer for West Bengal and head of its IT cell, called out Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday, saying her leadership has turned the state into a place where young girls’ futures get crushed.
The numbers come from a recent sample registration report released this month. It reveals that 6.3% of girls in West Bengal marry before the legal age of 18—the highest rate across India. “A Bengal leading in child marriage isn’t the one Vidyasagar or Tagore dreamed of,” Malviya said in a social media post. “It’s Mamata’s Bengal, and the shame belongs to her.”
Malviya highlighted West Bengal’s rich history of social reform. The state is the birthplace of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who championed the Widow Remarriage Act in 1856 to fight child marriages and the plight of young widows. Yet, he argued, child marriages have spiked under Banerjee’s watch, robbing girls of their rights, dignity, and independence. “This reverses everything Vidyasagar stood for,” he added. He also invoked poet Rabindranath Tagore, who battled societal ills, saying today’s West Bengal falls far short of their vision.
Malviya went further, claiming these child marriages in West Bengal break national laws and betray India’s Constitution. He slammed Banerjee’s popular slogan of “Ma, Mati, Manush” (Mother, Land, People) as empty words. “Her rough, divisive politics dishonors Bengal’s icons like Vidyasagar and Tagore every day,” he said, blaming her for the state’s slide from progress to regression.
The controversy shines a spotlight on ongoing concerns about child marriage in India, especially in states like West Bengal, where efforts to curb the practice face political and cultural hurdles.
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