Damayanti Dasgupta.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Like any other Bengali from Kolkata, Damayanti Dasgupta grew up with the word michil, or procession, something the city is synonymous with, always having something to protest against. Even the standard war cry of the current Chief Minister is Dharmatala Cholo — march to Dharmatala — the place in central Kolkata where michils usually converge.
For a lay Kolkatan, the announcement of a big michil either means staying home ideally or avoiding that road like a plague. But today Ms. Dasgupta, neither an activist nor associated with any political ideology, is voluntarily participating in processions, be it in the dead of the night or under a scorching sun or in rain.
She has already participated in seven protest events in a span of two weeks, starting with the demonstrations that took place across Kolkata in the early hours of Independence Day, and will take part in three more marches this week: on Thursday (August 29, 2024), a procession from College Square to Dharmatala; and on Sunday (August 25, 2024) yet another michil on the same route and then a meeting at Lake Town. All she wants is justice — for the rape-murder of a post-graduate medical student at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, a case that has triggered unprecedented public outcry in Kolkata, its tremors felt across the country.
“We have a 26-year-old daughter, our only child. We can feel from the core of our hearts what the parents of the brutalised young doctor are going through. This is the main reason behind my participation in these agitations — to seek justice,” Ms. Dasgupta, who is accompanied by her husband — and the not the other way around — to these protests, told The Hindu.
“I am also against the endless corruption at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital that is now coming into light and that is perhaps the main reason behind the brutality that the young doctor had to suffer. It does not matter whether the State police or CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) is investigating the case. There are so many layers of corruption attached to it at so many levels that we, the common people, need to scream for justice,” she said.
Ms. Dasgupta, who has edited an anthology of travel writing by 19th century Bengali women and has also authored a biography of Abala Bose, the wife of scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose, said that she chooses to attend only those protests in which political parties are not directly involved.
“It is highly satisfying to see common people, irrespective of their social status or political and religious beliefs coming together with such intense emotion,” she said. “Never in my life have I participated in any social or political protest. But this incident shook me so much that I could not hold myself.”
The event Ms. Dasgupta is unlikely to ever forget is this past Independence Day-eve ‘Reclaim the Night’ protests, when she joined the procession from Lake Town to the R.G. Kar Hospital. Just before they were about to reach the hospital, tear-gas shells began to fly over their heads. Vandalism had begun at the hospital. They retreated, but overall, the march was a heart-warming experience for her.
“We noticed hundreds and hundreds of people, both young and the elderly, both Hindus and Muslims, even couples carrying children in their arms or on their shoulders. The entire Jessore Road was reverberating with slogans like ‘We want Justice!’ Muslim men were distributing water to the thirsty agitators. The best part was that people were holding placards they had handwritten or painted themselves — nothing connected to any political party or even social organisation,” she said.
When asked whether the continuous protest events she’s participating in will yield any results at all, Ms. Dasgupta said: “As long as the protests go on, there is at least a possibility of a positive outcome in the case. If the protests stop, the matter will go into cold storage. Therefore, the protests must go on.”