Police use tear gas shells during a protest march by Chhatra Samaj activists to state secretariat against the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor, in Howrah, Tuesday, Aug 27, 2024. (Image: PTI)
What started off with a social media post asking women to “reclaim the night” in solidarity with the Kolkata rape and murder victim, changed into a demand for CM Mamata Banerjee’s resignation.
Tuesday’s march in Kolkata and the administration’s response to it had all the ingredients of a mass protest — an apolitical organisation asking the Chief Minister to resign and starting a march towards the state secretariat, the administration’s unequal response with unprecedented security arrangements deploying 6,000 police personnel with three-layered security, protestors defying odds and some of them reaching as close as 300 metre before the Secretariat. One can’t find fault if any viewer would find similarity with the recent chaos in Bangladesh. After all, CM Mamata Banerjee herself alleged that a malicious campaign is underway against her government with the CPIM and BJP trying to trigger Bangladesh-like protests in the wake of the RG Kar rape and murder in Kolkata.
Is this the real game plan of the BJP that has been trying to electorally defeat Banerjee’s TMC for a long time, but unsuccessfully? Here’s a look at what unfolded, who said what and put things into context over the past few days.
11-day-old students’ body
Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj is an 11-day-old students’ body that was created after agitation in West Bengal in response to the gruesome rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital seem to overwhelm the government. But what started off with a social media post asking women to “reclaim the night”, witnessing massive support in solidarity with the victim, slowly changed into a demand for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation with the birth of this outfit. Unlike a new organisation, this nascent ‘student outfit’ set a deadline of Monday, 6 pm, for Banerjee to resign. Tuesday’s protest was in response to Banerjee disregarding that deadline.
Sayan Lahiri, who is spearheading the movement, earlier told News18, “We have three demands — justice for Abhaya [the trainee doctor], capital punishment for the culprit, and Banerjee’s resignation because she is not just the health minister but also handles the state police.”
What unfolded was TMC showing a couple of videos, to claim that the march was an attempt to destabilise Bengal. Soon, arrests were made and the ADG South Bengal Supratim Sarkar himself came out to react and made a strong charge, “One of the organisers met a politician in a hotel. This rally is illegal as no permission has been sought.”
In response to this charge, BJP’s Bengal co-incharge Amit Malviya threw his weight behind the outfit. In a tweet, he said, that the ‘Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj’ and their ‘Nabanno Abhiyaan’ are an “apolitical students’ movement”.
Lahiri too rubbished any association with the BJP, “The TMC is trying to portray that the protest is being led by BJP but we are a part of the common people.” He cited examples of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury extending his help to them as well as “teachers who have not got justice.”
But what no one can refute is that the demand for Bengal CM’s resignation is a political one and it seems to have emerged as a focal point of their agitation, given the CBI is seized of the investigation of both the rape and murder as well as alleged irregularities at RG Kar Hospital — the venue of the crime.
BJP’s goal — Keep the pot boiling
The BJP has made it clear in no uncertain terms that its goal is the same as the one of the students outfit in question — Mamata Banerjee’s resignation – and they intend to “continue the protest” till that happens. “We have appealed to all agitators, students, guardians and conscious citizens (of Bengal) to make tomorrow’s Bandh for 12 hours called by BJP successful. This agitation will go on till Mamata Banerjee resigns and capital punishment is meted out to the rapist and the conspirators of the RG Kar incident,” said Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari.
On the investigation front, the TMC has already raised questions about the speed of the CBI’s investigation into the rape and murder. “One arrest has been made and that too by the Kolkata police. What is the CBI doing? So much delay is happening, so much fake news, politics is going on, to stop all this the case must be solved soon,” said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh. What Ghosh stopped short of saying but many in TMC would in private, the longer Sandip Ghosh stays out, the longer the television coverage on the issue continues which essentially keeps the pot boiling, making the administration look inefficient, which perfectly suits the BJP.
With Tuesday’s chaos, where according to Adhkari’s claim, 132 were injured, 22 were admitted and 3-4 were seriously injured — the BJP has received enough reason to try and implement Bengal Bandh on Wednesday and get ready for another confrontation.
Amid all this, a saffron-draped old man waving a tricolour bravely facing the water cannon has become a symbol of resistance — a symbol both the Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj and the BJP needed. But is it enough to keep the pot boiling enough to extract an organic public response? Only time will tell.
