R G Kar: Burning Cauldron of Bengal
Men, women, students, and even sex workers rally for justice against the heinous rape and murder of a young doctor at R.G. Kar hospital. The latest to participate in the current unrest are iconographers of Kumartuli, hub of clay artisans, adding a new dimension to the movement.
As West Bengal along with rest of India is getting singed in burning protest over the rape and murder of the young doctor at the R G Kar hospital, men, women & school students have been joining forces shoulder to shoulder to increase the heat on the powers-that-be. The latest to participate in the current unrest are iconographers of Kumartuli, hub of clay artisans, adding a new dimension to the movement, believed to be the most widespread so far in the history of West Bengal.
The master iconographers of Kumartuli, more than a couple of century-old bustling clay potters’ colony in North Calcutta, were in a dilemma till the other day. They had in fact, been caught in a cleft stick, akin to the situation Hamlet faced in the famous Shakespearean play, often described as “to be or not to be.”
As the City of Joy has recently plunged into an abyss of sorrow and been in the grip a hitherto-unseen and most widespread wave of civilian protests over the dastardly rape and murder of a young 31-year-old doctor in the state-run R G Kar hospital, Kumartuli remained a sort of tiny island where the heat, despite having reached more than a fortnight back, failed to generate enough momentum.
However, when the sex workers living in Sonagachi, one of Asia’s largest pockets of prostitutes, decided to throw their hat in the ring, the neighbouring potters’ enclave shook off the initial inertia and vowed to join the protest rally from Sunday (08.09.2024).
The inertia and bouts of hesitation stemmed from a couple of factors; the Durga Puja, the four-day festival inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is barely a month away; an all-out participation in protest marches might severely impact their livelihood.
Because, idols of Durga and her troupe need to be delivered spic and span to hundreds of puja organisers from the first week of October. The more the troupe turns out to be out-of-the-world and intriguingly imaginative, the more puja-hoppers would throng the pandals.
Secondly, there has been an invisible threat from the ruling clique in West Bengal to the potters’ community against making their voice loud and heard. For, they do receive some grants and allied facilities from the state authorities which is why there were jitters earlier that restrained them from taking out protest rallies.
“We have finally decided to be a part of this historic wave of protests currently sweeping across West Bengal and India besides abroad,” says Subhodeep Rajguru (name changed), one of the idol-makers.
“Notwithstanding the threat perceptions, a decision has been taken by the idol makers’ committee to launch a march on Sunday to raise our voice against this heinous crime and a sustained bid by the powers that be to cover it up.”
In fact, leading historians of the city and elsewhere have termed this massive groundswell of protest and anger as a sort of Renaissance that Bengal has not witnessed since the aftermath of Indian Independence.
Apart from now-famous “Reclaim the Night” & “Reclaim the Dawn” movements and huge rallies, ‘Silent March’ with candles, switching off lights at 9 pm for 9 minutes and a host of Sit-in & Sieges have been lashing the city and other parts of Bengal that have already rattled the rulers.
A plethora of alibi to assuage the anger from the state authorities have fallen flat on the citizens and netizens who, cutting across all political affiliations, have been pillorying the rulers for trying to hush the crime up and shield the partners-in-crime.
Now, the potters’ rally is likely to make the circle complete in the sense that Calcuttans could hardly recall any such protest march from this community against such an incident as this in recent memory. For, the clay makers have always opted to stay put in their colony and declined to get swayed over issues that don’t concern them.
Have the sex workers’ decision compelled them to change their stance? “Well, definitely so; they (sex workers) are just barely a kilometre away from us. Secondly, our daughters are also growing up and travelling to schools and colleges. If this can happen in a well-protected hospital, where is the security of our daughters?” asked the Committee Convener who declined to be identified.
The Durbar Mahila Samanay Committee (DMSC), the sex workers’ organisation that looks after the whores across West Bengal as well as other parts of India, has already announced this year to boycott the age-old ritual of offering soil to the iconographers required for ground-breaking of clay to construct the idols in protest against the inhuman torture and rape of the young doctor.
“Some of us who already collected the ‘sacred’ soil from them before their announcement, have shared the stuff with others; as a result, we’ve managed to perform the ritual this year,” adds Rajguru.
Banners and placards have already been arranged for the potters’ rally. Yet, some of them are quite apprehensive of repercussions of the rally on the clay makers. “We have been verbally cautioned by the cops against modelling any image or a theme that might reflect the R G Kar horror. Even a few Puja committees who first floated the idea, had to backtrack in the wake of strict police order,” reveals Rajguru, with a slogan “Kumartuli dichhe haak/ amar Durga bichar paak”.
Amidst these increasing incendiary developments, grave and serious questions have been resonating in the air which might put both the Supreme Court and state authorities on a slippery ground; they include:
A) How can a hearing of the rape & murder of the doctor at R G Kar take place in India’s top court with the Calcutta police not being made a party to it?
B) Why has the top court not so far interrogated and pulled up the Calcutta Police over their failure to ensure the sanctity of the crime scene?
C) Why has the top court not asked the state or Calcutta Police what is the national laid down manual of forensic requirements of cremation since the CBI has already alleged a well-orchestrated tampering of evidence bid by the powers-that-be? Because the law and order is equally accountable in this case.
D) Why has the top court so far not enquired from the state authorities who informed the patient’s parents that the victim had allegedly committed suicide when she was actually raped & throttled to death?
Finally, the one and the unified voice that has repeatedly been erupting across the state is “Stop this Theatre of the Absurd & Ensure Justice for R G Kar”.
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