In a social media campaign, people from all walks of life are being urged to participate in the protest, being described as ‘For women’s independence on the midnight of Independence’, holding candles and blowing conch shells.
The names of places — from different areas of Kolkata to other towns in Bengal — where gatherings will take place were also being highlighted. Slogans such as “Justice for R G Kar”, “The Night is Ours”, “Reclaim the Night”, “Meyera Raat er Dhokhol Koro (Women seize the night)”, “Meyera Raat er Dokhol Nao… Sankha Dhonite Bhoriye Dao (Women seize the night… fill it with the sound of conch shells) were also being shared on WhatsApp.
As messages about the event were being circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms since Wednesday morning, leaders of political parties, both the ruling and Opposition, said they would join the unprecedented and so far apolitical movement on the streets.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray posted on X that he would join the midnight protest over the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. “… I am going to join the protesters particularly because I’ve a daughter and a little granddaughter like millions of Bengali families. We must rise to the occasion. Enough of cruelty against women. Let’s resist together. Come what may,” said Ray.
Ananya Chakraborty, former chairperson of the West Bengal State Commission For Protection of Child Rights, also shared the call to join the protest movement on her social media account, asking those who cannot hit the streets to blow conch shells at their homes at midnight.
Tollywood celebrities, filmmakers, and actors like Swastika Mukherjee, Prasenjit Chatterjee, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherji, and others also announced their presence during the protests.
However, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh took a dig at the protests at night. “Supporters of incidents like Nandigram, Singur, Hathras, and Manipur incidents are doing a drama at night. Remember nights in Bengal have always been safe for women. Many mothers and sisters work in different professions at night. Those who are highlighting a stray incident and dealing Benhal and actually doing politics,” Ghosh wrote on social media.
The latest protest comes after doctors across the country struck work following the rape and murder of the 31-year-old junior doctor whose body was found at a seminar hall in the R G Kar Hospital last Friday. The Kolkata police have arrested a civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the case.
Meanwhile, a special team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reached Kolkata to take over the probe into the R G Kar Hospital rape and murder on Wednesday.
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