Streets of anarchy in Kolkata: Call for violence from ‘peaceful’ protesters

 Many participants said they came as 'former students' or 'parents of students'

Protesters try to break a police barricade on the Howrah bridge on Tuesday afternoon.: Pradip Sanyal

Debraj Mitra, TT, Calcutta, 28.08.24 : Over 5,000 people gathered at College Square for a “peaceful” protest march to Nabanna, the state secretariat, to demand the chief minister’s resignation and justice for the young doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar hospital.

By the time the rally reached Esplanade, the same rallyists took on a different colour. One of them attacked a policeman. He hit the cop with what was till then a mast holding a Tricolour.

Some people tried to restrain the young man but the voices of sanity were drowned out by calls for more violence. Their next target was a series of guardrails on the road that were toppled with a vengeance. Another man kept hitting at a banner featuring Mamata Banerjee’s picture. Many marchers egged him on and hurdled abuses at the chief minister and the police.

The protest was called by an outfit named Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj, which tried hard to claim that the movement was apolitical.

Tuesday’s rally presented a different picture. Not just because of the presence of BJP leader Arjun Singh, walking with bodyguards and loyalists. But because of the presence of many who were more like seasoned rallyists.

A man who was seen issuing directions to others had a brief altercation with some marchers near the intersection of College Street and MG Road. A couple of men challenged him. “Who are you?” asked one of them.

The man took his phone out and showed his WhatsApp chat list. It featured chats with at least two state BJP leaders, one of them of the general secretary rank. “Eto amader lok. Thik achhe (He is our man. All right),” the challenger was satisfied.

Many participants said they came as “former students” or “parents of students”.

True colours

A man in a black T-shirt seeking the chief minister’s resignation was candid. “This is not my usual colour,” the ponytailed middle-aged man said.

Mrityunjoy Nath said “saffron was his “asal rang, pachhander rang (true colour, colour of choice)”.

He identified himself as the founder of Mahakal Nath Yogi Sena Seva Sangha. The resident of Sonarpur went on to name the RG Kar victim — which the law does not permit — to claim that she was from the “same sampraday (sect)” as him.

Nath went on to add: “Muslim appeasement is at its peak in Bengal. If the chief minister does not resign, our campaign against her will intensify in the coming days.”

Swami Joydebananda Maharaj, from Brahmamayee Mahakali Ashram, which has branches in Calcutta and Haldia, was walking in saffron robes.

He told this newspaper: “Mamata has put a price of ₹10 lakh on a woman’s life and dignity.... When the administrative head of the state is doing injustice, protest is the only option.”

Rebuff sting

Joydev Das, who identified himself as a BJP “karyakarta” in Nadia, shouted slogans with vigour.

“I am involved in politics. But I have come here as a citizen,” he said.

Till a few days ago, Das had hoped Tuesday’s protest would have participation from across the political spectrum. He was particularly enraged at how the CPM officially distanced itself from the march. He singled out Minakshi Mukherjee for “turning her back” on the protests.

Fake news

The gamut of fake news peddled on social media had influenced many participants.

“The victim’s body had 113 bite marks. And we have a police commissioner who tells the victim’s family that she had committed suicide,” said a visibly animated Apurba Gain, 31.

The victim’s post-mortem report, police sources said, lists 16 external wounds and nine internal injuries. The report says there were no fractures and no injuries to the muscles, bones or joints, the sources said.

Vineet Goyal, Calcutta’s police commissioner, has categorically said no one from the police told the family that the doctor had committed suicide.

A teenager pursuing his graduation at a college in south Calcutta said “the broken pelvic bone and collarbones clearly suggest that the victim was attacked by more than one people”.