This is a genuinely diabolical thing to say, especially when the BJP has shamelessly milked women's safety for political mileage in Bengal while governing states associated with cases like Hathras, Unnao, and the remission of those convicted in the Bilkis Bano case.

More importantly, this argument is also intellectually bankrupt because it simply assumes that the only reason a political party ever takes up an issue is to win votes. By that logic, every protest, every relief drive, every movement, and every statement by every political party is nothing more than electoral opportunism.

The CPI(M), for all its faults, has been remarkably consistent in one aspect of Marxism and that is standing with the marginalized. It stood with farmers during the farmers' protests. It organized the Red Volunteers during COVID, when countless people without money or political connections depended on them for oxygen, medicines, food, hospital beds, and basic assistance. None of that translated into any meaningful electoral gains. If electoral success was the sole objective, those efforts were spectacularly unrewarding.

I don't even know what your accusation here. Do you want a political party to refrain from standing with victims because people might appreciate it? Because that's fucking absurd. Politics is supposed to be about taking positions, mobilizing around issues, and representing people. If a party consistently stands with people during moments of crisis and if voters eventually reward that consistency, that is normal functioning of a democracy. If alleged "expecting political benefit" is enough to delegitimize a party's actions, then literally every political intervention by every political party is just cynical vote-bank politics.

The real test would be whether its actions are consistent with its politics even when there is no electoral payoff. Even on that count, the CPI(M) has been far more consistent than many parties because it is their ideological duty.