West Bengal has a history of political unrest shaped by youth-led movements demanding change Just see the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally organized by Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj (West Bengal Students Society) after a very brutal rape and murder of a doctor in RG Kar Hospital, and then know how similar it is to the Kolkata firing incident of 1993. Both events signify prolonged discontent with the ruling administration, and both reoccur as trends of protest and repression in the state.

 

 

Kolkata was shocked to the core on August 10, 2024, by a gruesome crime that created furor in the whole of West Bengal. A young and hard-working resident doctor at RG Kar Hospital was brutally raped and murdered in a seminar hall that is located in the hospital. It was a statewide scandal that made the residents of the city gasp at the poor security standards that were in place, and the exposure also served to highlight the increasing dangers that healthcare workers were facing in the state.

Her sad demise raised a lot of eyebrows in the medical fraternity and among other members of society at large. When more information about the crime was revealed, what was shocking and sad was that the hospital failed to protect her from the crime. Being inside what was conceived as a restricted zone, the crime scene raised the issue of the health care workers’ insecurity.

The police began an investigation process as well, but people accused the government of the delay in apprehending the perpetrators, and nobody took immediate action to stop similar incidents. Angry protests broke out across Kolkata, and people are calling for justice for the doctor and justice against the state government. Still, many felt it was a manifestation of the lawlessness and negligence of the governance structure in West Bengal.

 

 

The event turned into a political issue in a few weeks’ time. People from different walks of life were out on the streets and demanding justice for themselves and their families. Doctors, students, and activists were protesting against the government that failed to protect its people. The Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj (West Bengal Students Society), a newly formed student organization, spearheaded the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ protest march, seeking the tenure of CM Mamata Banerjee to step down and bring structural reforms for not letting such tragedies take place in the future.

The latest incident of rape and murder in the RG Kar Hospital of Kolkata has raised the question of law and order situation in West Bengal and the capacity or the willingness of the state to bring the perpetrators of crimes against women to justice.

This is because the youth in West Bengal have, in the past, engaged in political instabilities by demanding change. The ’Nabanna Abhijan’ rally that was led by the Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj (West Bengal Students Society) in protests against the rape and murder of a doctor in RG Kar Hospital is no different from the Kolkata Firing incident of 1993. Both the programs echo age-old resentment towards the governing regime, and both days help unravel the patterns of protest and suppression in the state.

‘The 1993 Kolkata Firing Incident’

It was in 1993 that one of the most unpleasant events in the history of Kolkata happened when the Calcutta Police fired at a rally led by Mamata Banerjee, who was the leader of State Youth Congress at the time. The march was to call for compulsory direct photo voting. I’d like a free and fair election. The demonstration took place on July 21 and a clash between police and protestors occurred near Esplanade, in which many people died, including 13—not to forget those who suffered serious injuries.

After this, when the newly formed Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress government came into power in 2011, they instituted a one-man commission headed by Sushanto Chattopadhyay to probing into this incident. The one held in 1993 was major, inasmuch as it called for the alleged electoral fraud by the ruling Communists in the 1991 state polls.

 

 

The firing was done when protestors were checked by the police near metro cinema. Uncertainty also prevailed on the police operation; the then city police commissioner, Tushar Talukdar, said that he was unaware of the firing and vowed to investigate why the police targeted the demonstrators’ abdomen rather than their lower limbs.

It is considered as one of the significant episodes of the political history of West Bengal. It represented the discordant behavior of the state towards any form of protest and help escalate rejection of the communist-led government. Later on, with the political maturity that she has gained, Mamata Banerjee tried to take advantage of the incident against the Left Front and came into power in 2011.

‘Nabanna Abhijan’, the 2024 Nabanna Abhijan Rally

 The same was repeated decades later in Kolkata. In retaliation for the brutal rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar Hospital, the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ was organized by Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj on August 27, 2024. The crime revealed a very damning lack of security and administrative services, provoking an outrage in the general public, and students in particular, to ask for justice and proper addressing of the case.

 

 

The protest march to Nabanna, the state secretariat, was intended to draw CM Mamata Banerjee and her government into responsibility for the crime as well as the issues of governance and insecurity. The state’s response was swift and severe: the protest was declared unlawful, Section 144 was passed, and a heavy police force, including water canons and drones, was mobilized to stop the protest.

 

Drawing Parallels

The agitation that led to the protest in 1993 and the protest planned for Nabanna Abhijan 2024 was as a result of discontent with the ruling government. In 1993, they were concerned with free and fair elections, while in 2024, they were concerned with the inability to protect the people and prosecute criminals, especially those who persecuted women. Two of these movements were born out of disillusionment with the government’s policy-making processes and decisions, hence leading to protest.

Like in the case of both of the rallies, the governments answer was rather authoritarian. In 1993, the police used live bullets to disperse crowds, thus leading to a blood bath. Likely, in 2024,  the elaborate security provisions as well as the categorization of the Nabanna Abhijan march as prohibited will likewise demonstrate an effort to prevent discontent and to assert dominance. The use of Section 144 and the dispatching of thousands of policemen have been similar to those during the 1993 riots, which reflect, by repeating history, that extremist political freedom is quenched using force.

 

Implications for the Future

The consequences of these two protests could have a far-reaching impact on the political map of West Bengal. As a result of this, the Left Front was fired in 1993, which paved the way to its dismissal later on. The Nabanna Abhijan 2024 protest can also affect TMC in the same way, especially if the response from the state brings about violence or more people’s unrest. The similarities imply that the ways in which the state responds to any form of opposition, leveraging force or outright repression, may either perpetuate conflict or fuel the course of political reform.

Thus, the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally and the 1993 Kolkata firing incident are not merely historical events but an unending process of political insecurity in West Bengal. Each depicts the youth’s simmering anger as well as the difficulty a ruling government has in containing the latter. That is why it depends on the state, whether it stops the protest or fuels it, to decide the political destiny of West Bengal.

 

DISCLAIMER: All the information above are collected from different source, Internet & news channel and not directly collected by Consumerviews.in