Justice for RG Kar rape and murder victim’ isn’t just a slogan among street protesters and a hashtag on social media anymore. It has transformed into an emotion, compelling people who had made peace with social stagnation and political continuity to demand change. Even the onset of the Durga Puja season does not seem to be diverting their focus from that goal.
West Bengal is left wondering whether to prepare for Durga’s homecoming or keep everything aside until the Kolkata victim gets justice. Durga Puja is barely a month away, but the angry Bengalis are in no mood to relent.
The state is not even ready to take a pause to welcome Durga, who it treats like a daughter, before justice is delivered to the 31-year-old trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Even the arrest of the former principal, Sandip Ghosh, by the CBI over financial irregularities and corruption at the hospital has not stopped protesters from pouring out into the streets and demanding justice.
Hope for justice in Bengal is like waiting for Godot. After 34 years of Left Front rule and 13 years and counting of Mamata Banerjee in power, Bengalis have made peace with political killings, rising crime graphs, corruption, and the vice-like grip of the syndicate raj with a trademark ‘cholche, cholbe (it is happening, it shall happen)’ shrug.
Averse to changing its ruling dispensation in a hurry, West Bengal had voted back Mamata Banerjee to power for the third time in 2021 on the back of her popular slogan ‘Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chay (Bengal wants its own daughter)’. This was despite pollsters predicting anti-incumbency and the opposition BJP mounting an aggressive campaign. But the lure of holding on to its daughter, despite the government’s alleged failings, made Bengal reject what Banerjee described as the party of the ‘bohiragoto’ (outsider).
As protesters face water cannons and police batons, and celebrities sing revolutionary songs on roads, the question that comes to mind is: will this Durga Puja be a subdued one?
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, director of the 2016 film Pink on consent and society’s ingrained misogyny, told ThePrint that he may not even come to Kolkata during Durga Puja this year. “My mind is heavy after what happened. I make it a point to visit Kolkata every Durga Puja to catch up with old friends. This year, I want to stay by myself and quietly contemplate the events that unfolded at the RG Kar Medical College and the protests after,” he said.
Also read: What would you do in Mamata’s place? Not what she did at RG Kar, say Bengal’s people
Bengal wants justice
Bengalis worldwide wait for these four days every year. From Saptami, which falls on 10 October this year, to Dashami on 13 October, Bengal will celebrate Durga Puja. Only a Bengali can fully appreciate the dual nature of welcoming the goddess at this time of year—as both mother and daughter. In our religious mythology, Durga visits her parents, Menaka and Giriraj, only for four days each year. As they shower their love and attention on their daughter, who comes home with her children—Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh, and Kartik—Bengal transforms Durga Puja into a celebration of a daughter’s homecoming. It is a unique sentiment that only a Bengali can truly fathom, where love and devotion intersect. For many Hindus, especially from the northern states, this period coincides with Navaratri, a time when even meat eaters eschew non-vegetarian meals and observe fasting and other rituals.
In Bengal, on the other hand, people indulge in the choicest fish and mutton dishes during this period, which is also a time to watch big budget Bengali films, shop for new clothes, redecorate homes, and, in a good year, buy a car or an apartment.
These and the many puja pandals that come up across the state contribute to the big, fat Durga Puja economy every year. This year, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the festivity as protesters refuse to vacate the streets until the Kolkata victim gets justice.
Many Durga Puja committees have already rejected the government’s festival honorarium of Rs 85,000 as a mark of protest. Rina Das, president of Bhadrakali Bouthan Sangha in Hooghly, told PTI: “We have decided to boycott this grant this year to honour the sentiments of our members who are deeply upset over the brutal attack on the postgraduate trainee doctor at her workplace. We had received this grant for several years in the past.”
Bollywood singer June Banerjee told ThePrint that every year during Durga Puja, there is a big demand for artistes to perform at pandals and other festive venues in Bengal. “There have been a few enquiries for gigs this year, but nothing has been finalised so far. It appears that the celebrations will be muted. Organisers seem to be uncertain of the scale of puja this year. The public sentiment seems to be averse to pomp and grandeur,” she said.
The song on most protesters’ lips for now seems to be Arijit Singh’s Bengali track ‘Aar Kobe?’. “On 9th August, 2024, in the heart of Kolkata, a tragedy shook the nation to its core. The brutal massacre of a young trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College ignited a firestorm of protests across India. This song is a cry for justice, a lament for the countless women who suffer in silence, and a demand for change,” the description of the song reads.
Also read: RG Kar case coverage is full of misinformation. BJP is spewing lies about Kolkata police
Tollywood trolled
While many Tollywood personalities like Srijit Mukherji, Swastika Mukherjee, Sohini Ghosh, and Aparna Sen have taken to the streets, there are some who haven’t. The CEO of a top event management firm in Kolkata told ThePrint, on the condition of anonymity, that many events are getting cancelled, and advertisers are unwilling to sign Tollywood actors for commercials right now, given the negative public perception around film stars.
As the protests demanding justice for the Kolkata victim have turned political, with BJP’s Sajal Ghosh, a key organiser for the Santosh Mitra Square Puja Committee, calling on other committees to reject the state honorarium, many Tollywood actors, like Anirban Bhattacharya, are facing public ire on social media for either being attached to the ruling political dispensation or “playing safe” by not speaking up about the rape and murder.
When Tollywood superstar and TMC Lok Sabha MP Dev shared dais with BJP’s Roopa Ganguly, who played Draupadi in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata, to demand justice for the RG Kar victim, there were angry reactions from fans over such forced camaraderie.
Actor Anindya Chatterjee, who has taken to the streets, told ThePrint: “Many Durga Puja-special campaign shoots have been cancelled. This used to be one of the busiest times of the year for us. But the fact that Tollywood is so politically inclined has adversely affected ad campaigns”.
Like every Durga Puja, this year too some big-ticket Bengali films are slated for release, like Srijit Mukherji’s Tekka starring superstar Dev and director duo Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Bohurupi. Film journalist Bhaswati Ghosh said the box office fate of these films remains uncertain.
“September is the month of preparation for October Durga Puja. But the mood here is gloomy. I do not want puja celebrations to be subdued or the puja releases to not fare well. But my sense is justice will be on everybody’s mind this Durga Puja,” she said.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)