Kolkata ‘Nabanna March’: R.G. Kar protests take political turn, become turf war between BJP and Trinamool

Doctors and social activists, who have been hitting the streets demanding justice, said they feel “cheated” as the protest has become a political dispute between BJP and Trinamool Congress

Police personnel fire tear gas shells to disperse the protesters as they carry out ‘Nabanna Abhiyan’ march over RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case, at Santragachi in Howrah on August 27, 2024. | Photo Credit: ANI

Eighteen days after the rape and murder of a doctor at the R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the protests for justice took a political turn with violence during the ‘March to Nabanna’ on Tuesday following which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called a 12-hour bandh in the State on Wednesday. 

Doctors and social activists, who have been hitting the streets demanding justice, said they feel “cheated” as the protest has become a turf war between the Opposition BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress. 

On Tuesday, as the protesters started walking towards Nabanna, the State Secretariat, following a call given by the Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj, they were stopped by the police in the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah. As protesters from the Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj clashed with the police and breached barricades to reach Nabanna, situated in Howrah just across the Hooghly river, police fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to keep the mob at bay. Many protesters threw stones at the police personnel in retaliation.

“It is very upsetting in the sense that where was all this police when we needed them? I think we have managed to keep the movement apolitical, even after this (Tuesday’s march). People are looking up to us, it’s hard to maintain this but let’s see,” Hassan Mushtaq, a protesting doctor the R.G. Kar hospital, told The Hindu.

During the build-up to the march, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) put out an official statement on Monday (August 26) and distanced themselves from it. “We have heard about the August 27 rally from media outlets. We, the people of WBJDF, want to clarify that this rally is not organised or called by us. We are not participating in this rally in any form.” 

Within hours of the clashes between the protesters and police, the State BJP shared a post on its X handle writing, “Mamata Banerjee, do you think deploying your police force can silence West Bengal’s students? Thousands are marching to Nabanna demanding justice, yet you use police to harass peaceful protestors. Where was this police force when rapes and brutal crimes were happening?” 

BJP State president Sukanta Majumdar slammed the police action on the protesters. “Why did police use force on unarmed and peaceful protesters? Even old people and women were not spared,” he said. Mr. Majumdar said many students complained that police used water laced with chemicals on them. He shared a helpline number for medical and legal aid for the protesting students. The BJP took to the streets in the evening and sat in a demonstration near Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters, demanding release of the detained protesters. 

Calling the march to Nabanna “a plot”, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh said, “People cannot randomly go and tour Nabanna, it is the State Secretariat.”

Additional Director General (South Bengal), West Bengal Police, Supratim Sarkar saw the hand of external forces behind the protest. “No true students of West Bengal would ever do such vandalism in the name of protests. There were other forces behind it,” he said.

Analysts said the protests might have been organised with political backing. Biswanath Chakraborty, a professor of politial science at Rabindra Bharati University, said the protest may have been covertly organised by the BJP. “Common people will still stay on the roads protesting for the victim. After the incident, we saw a civil society movement. But after today, there will be two parallel protests: civil and political,” he said. 

Over the course of the past 18 days, people have taken to the streets across West Bengal in solidarity with the R.G. Kar movement led by junior doctors. On August 14, lakhs of women came out on the streets of the State to ‘reclaim the night’ demanding justice for the victim.  

For over two weeks now, people have walked the streets without political banners. Even when political parties held rallies and reached the R.G. Kar hospital protest site to show solidarity, they were asked to leave by the doctors. Time and again, they insisted that they wanted to rise above political agenda and focus on their primary goal of justice for their colleague. 

The protests initially started organically, but with time it kept building up, reaching a point where Opposition leaders are asking for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation. Even Paschimbanga Chhatro Samaj raised slogans of “Dafa Ek, Daabi Ek, Mamataar Podotyag (One point, one demand, resignation of Mamata).”