Protests against femicide carried out by the medical professionals and left-wing activists in India’s West Bengal province have now entered their third week. Apart from demanding justice for the victim and better security for women at the workplace, protestors have also raised the need for larger societal changes.
On August 26, the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front (WBJDF) organized a mass convention in Kolkata to discuss the failure of the state government to provide better security at work places and accountability for crimes. The conference was attended by several members of civil society as well as the doctors.
Doctors belonging to the WBJDF have been on strike since the beginning of the demonstrations over the rape and murder of a junior female doctor in Kolkatta’s RG Kar public hospital on August 9. There were large-scale nationwide protests following the reports of the crime, with doctors across the country going on strike to demand better security measures at their workplaces.
The WBJDF also decided to hold a demonstration in support of their demands in the city on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, left groups continue to mobilize thousands of people across the state. Apart from raising the demand for justice for the victims of RG Kar hospital, the left has been consistently raising the need for the creation of a safer public environment for women. Left groups such as Student Federation of India (SFI), All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) among others have organized night vigils in different parts of the state.
On August 24, hundreds of cab drivers held a rally in solidarity with the protesters in Kolkata. The rally was organized by the Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a left-affiliated trade union movement.
On Tuesday, LGBTQ, sex and mental health workers in Kolkata gave a call for a march in the city to demand justice for the victim and also for safer public places for all. On Monday evening transgender activists in the city carried out a small demonstration on the same issue.
Right-wing attempts to push for regressive agenda
Apart from the fact that left groups have faced numerous attempts by the state government and the ruling TrinaMool Congress (TMC) to disrupt the protests, issuing threats of police action or mob violence, the protests have also seen attempts by the right-wing to infiltrate to push a regressive, electoral agenda.
The state government has accused left leaders of vandalism during the night vigil protest first organized on August 14 at the RG Kar hospital. The government has also issued warnings against the school administrations in the state to not allow students to participate in any protest.
Hindu supremacist groups such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its parent organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and other groups such as the newly formed Chatra Samaj have asked for capital punishment of the culprits apart from demanding resignation of the state government. They have indulged in violence during some of their marches. On Tuesday, these groups called for a march to the state secretariat which ended in clashes with the police.
The left has clearly distanced itself from right-wing demands and mobilizations. Communist Party of India (Marxist) polit bureau member and secretary of its West Bengal state unit Mohammed Salim claimed that Tuesday’s call to go to the secretariat by the right-wing forces “was nothing but a ploy to divert attention from the spontaneous campaigns demanding justice in the RG Kar incident.”
Meenakshi Mukharjee, one of the leaders of the movement and state president of DYFI warned in a video message posted on social media just before protests on Tuesday for people to be vigilant about the right’s move towards violence and promoting a regressive agenda through infiltration of the movement.
Meanwhile, the state government responded to the demands of better security for women at the workplace by curbing their working hours and restricting night duties for women. This led to strong reactions from the progressive sections which called the moves “regressive.”
Shrabani from Janwadi Mahila Samiti, a part of AIDWA, told Peoples Dispatch that such a move goes against the entire spirit of the women’s movement in the country “which has fought long” against “sex-based discrimination” and for women’s “freedom of movement.”
If the West Bengal government goes ahead with what it announced last week, “it will narrow down the scope of women’s participation in public spaces” Sharbani said, noting that rather “the government must encourage greater participation of women in public places.”
Left parties have called for a mass rally on September 3 in Kolkata to push for their demands of accountability in the cases related to violence against women and to denounce both the right-wing forces and the state government’s attempts to curtail the rights of women.
