Kolkata protests: At a time of festive cheer, a city seethes with rage
The Hindu | 14 September 2024
A month since the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, anger continues to simmer on the streets of Kolkata, posing the biggest challenge to Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as Chief Minister. Moyurie Som, Shrabana Chatterjee, and Shiv Sahay Singh report on the innovative ways in which the people are protesting and the government’s attempts at quelling the agitation.
Minutes past midnight on September 8, the mood was sombre at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, where a trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered a month ago. As resident doctors arranged petals and candles at the gate of the emergency building, a doctor began singing a song: “Ek je chilo mein, taar bhari dukh, bhari dukh (Once there was a girl, she was full of sorrow, full of sorrow)”.
Taking inspiration from a track from Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, a 1969 classic film by the director Satyajit Ray, the doctor’s song narrated the gruesome tale of August 9.
“I wrote the lyrics just hours ago,” said the medical officer at another state-run health facility. “Will this pain ever go? Will Tillotama (a name given to the victim) ever get justice?”
The hospital remained barricaded. Armed personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force and the Kolkata Police stood guard as resident doctors lit incense sticks at the memorial for the victim. The doctors wore black bandanas on their forehead that read, “Justice for Abhaya” (another name given to the victim).
Holding a microphone, one of the doctors said, “We will never forget what happened to one of our sisters a month ago. We will remain awake the whole night in her memory.”
A month after the incident, which sparked outrage across the country, people from all walks of life — doctors, artists, lawyers, engineers, rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers — continued to participate in ‘Reclaim the Night’ protests across the city. ‘Reclaim the Night’ is a reference to the fact that the 31-year-old doctor was attacked at night while taking a break from duty, and also to the 1970s movement, where women occupied public spaces at night, marching against sexual violence. There have been hundreds of protests across the country since August 9.
The beleaguered Trinamool Congress government has attempted to pacify the protesters in many ways — by appealing to them, pleading with them, declaring that it stands with them, and chastising them. On September 3, in the State Assembly, it passed the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, which enhances punishment for rape, promises swift investigation, and even the death penalty in a few cases.
However, the anger, which has swept the city like a storm, has not subsided. On September 12, pushed to a corner, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was willing to resign in the interest of the people. She explained that the doctors’ refusal to return to work was affecting the State’s healthcare system. According to the West Bengal government, more than 6 lakh people have been denied outdoor patient services at State-run hospitals in the last month. The ongoing agitation is Banerjee’s biggest political challenge in her 13 years as Chief Minister of West Bengal.