Former Indian Cricketer Sourav Ganguly along with his daughter Sana Ganguly light candles as part of their protest demanding justice for the alleged sexual assault and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor of the RG Kar Hospital, in Kolkata. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Many celebrities close to the Trinamool Congress have joined the ongoing protests and taken a strong stance against the rape and murder of a woman doctor on duty at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) on August 9.
Former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly, who stirred a controversy for terming the rape and murder at the RGKMCH a “stray incident”, took part in a candlelight protest with his daughter Sana on Wednesday.
“There is safety for women everywhere in India, including in West Bengal. India is a fantastic country, so is West Bengal, it’s a great State, a great city we live in. We should not judge based on just one incident,” Mr. Ganguly had said earlier. Many social media users also demanded the removal of Mr. Ganguly as the brand ambassador of tourism for Tripura following his controversial statements.
He later clarified his statement and said what happened was “terrible and shameful” and that strict punishment should be given to the culprits.
Meanwhile, his daughter Ms. Sana, while addressing the media, strongly asserted that such incidents need to stop. “Every day we come across a rape incident and I feel so bad about it… Even in 2024 such incidents are taking place, despite talking so much about equality,” she said, adding that the protests should continue and that the victim should get justice.
‘Political weapon’
Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who participated in protest rallies and held press conferences in Kolkata recently, said the communal, political, and electoral violence in Bengal needed to stop. “In this case, rape has been used as a political weapon. This current government and system need to end,” he told the media.
The ongoing protests have also seen an outpouring of support from famous personalities of art, theatre and music, as well as celebrities of the Bengali film industry, who would often be visible with the Chief Minister in events like the Kolkata International Film Festival. They also carried out multiple protest rallies to demand justice for the victim. On Sunday, multiple film personalities took out a protest rally of their own and marched peacefully from Khanna to Shyambazar with banners.
Actor and former Trinamool MP Mimi Chakraborty also voiced her support for the R.G. Kar victim on her social media page. She walked the streets in support of the victim. This led to people lashing out at her for her allegiance to the ruling party. She received rape threats from social media users which she shared screenshots of.
Actor and Trinamool Congress MLA Raj Chakraborty hit the streets with his wife and actress Subhashree Ganguly demanding justice for the R.G. Kar victim. They were part of a 200-member rally held by the Bengali film industry actors.
Actor and director Parambrata Chattopadhyay, who also participated in a protest rally, said, “After a long time I witnessed the people of our industry unite in a movement like this. Not everyone can be silenced, those who want to speak up against what happened have the democratic right to do so.”
Ms. Subhashree Ganguly had a special film screening planned for her film Babli. She cancelled the show in solidarity with the ongoing protests and took to social media and voiced her support.
Bengali actors like Kaushik Sen, Saswata Chatterjee, Paoli Dam, Churni Ganguly, and many others also walked the streets to voice their support for the cause.
Bengali music industry personalities like Imon Chakraborty, Rupam Islam, Debojyoti Misra, Mir Afsar Ali, Lopamudra Mitra, among others were also part of protest rallies in Kolkata. Senior music composer Mr. Debojyoti Mishra said, “We are all a voice in the protest, like the thousands of others who have joined in the march today.”
Director Srijit Mukherjee also took to the streets and said, “My mother is a doctor, she has done night duties, has slept in seminar rooms, she has many friends in R.G. Kar, that is why it is personal for me. I hope safety on campus becomes stringent.”
On August 14, actor and director Aparna Sen had gone to the protest site at the RGKMCH to join junior doctors and medicos in their protest. “She was raped and killed brutally. Was there an attempt to conceal the truth and shift our focus from the incident?” she had asked, while also raising questions about the role of the Kolkata police in the initial investigation. However, a section of the protesters had vocally objected to Ms. Sen’s presence at the protest site.