Rakhi protest unites Kol, from edu campuses to hosp premises
Times of India | 20 August 2024
Kolkata: The city witnessed a different Raksha Bandhan on Monday as protests took over campuses and streets, with citizens tying rakhi on each other and pledging to stay united in the fight for justice.
Medical students and junior doctors of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital CNMCH), Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (MCH), SSKM Hospital, NRS Hospital and RG Kar Medical College and Hospital tied rakhis, with ‘We want justice’ written on them on, patients, their relatives, colleagues and security guards to signify a bond of safety and support.
Ankush Ghosh, a junior doctor at CNMCH, said, “We took out a rally from the hospital to Park Circus seven-point crossing. About 20,000 rakhis were tied to mark our protest against the crime on the campus of a govt hospital in the city.”
Junior doctor at NRS Hospital Aninda Mondal said, “Over 1,000 junior doctors and students joined the Rakhi Bandhan event as part of our protest against the crime. We also joined the CNMCH rally.” At MCH, junior doctor Suman Mandal said, “We formed a human chain on campus, which spilled on to College Street, to protest.”
The junior doctors at SSKM also tied rakhis to spread the message of their movement for justice to all sections of the society. At RG Kar, several former students were on campus to join the protest on Monday.
Several teachers, students and alumni gathered at the portico of Presidency University on Monday to protest against the RG Kar incident. Assistant professor at the department of astrophysics and former student of Presidency Suchetana Chatterjee said, “If we are unsafe in our own workplace then the fabric of society will collapse.” Vice-president of Presidency Alumni Association Bivas Chaudhuri said, “The protest was to demand justice, and to unite and spread the message of protecting society from criminalization through rakhi bandhan.”
Private facilities, like ILS Hospitals, Manipal Hospital, Dhakuria, and Apollo Hospitals, also showed solidarity with protesters. Debashis Dhar, senior vice-president, ILS Hospitals, said, “We observed Raksha Bandhan across all ILS units as a pledge of safety and support.”
Citizens also held rallies from Jadavpur University to Golpark and from Subodh Mullick Square to College Street.