On an August summer evening, they demanded justice for the RG Kar Hospital victim. In the twilight, emotions welled up. Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting fans are rivals on the terraces. For Tilottama (name changed), they were united on the streets.
The heavens opened. Fans didn’t care. Police reportedly used force. The supporters showed resilience. They were determined to protest peacefully, legally and apolitically. They raised slogans and to quote Bob Dylan: “(I) heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world.”
Among the crowd was Subhasish Bose, the Mohun Bagan Super Giant captain. He would have been on the Salt Lake Stadium pitch on Sunday if the Durand Cup derby had taken place. Once the game was cancelled, he decided to join the protest. The defender could have stayed at home, celebrating his 29th birthday. He hit the streets instead.
“Something unexpected has happened, which should never have happened, and I felt we all should take a stand as a citizen,” Subhasish said, speaking to RevSportz. “Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting fans decided to be brothers in arms, and for the first time, this has happened. This is not about football. This is not only a fight of the women. Every father, brother and husband should be part of it. This is Bengal’s fight. This is our country’s fight. Today, my mother and wife are scared to go out alone after evening. I don’t want women to live in fear. I want them to feel safe in my state, in my country. This is the reason why I joined the protest.”
He called for the harshest punishment for the perpetrator, or perpetrators, of the crime. “The punishment should be exemplary, so severe that no one could even think about committing such a heinous act again.”
Subhasish has been playing top-flight football in India for close to a decade now. Did he ever see such a protest before? “Until yesterday (Sunday), I only saw the rivalry between the fans (of the three Kolkata giants),” said the Bagan stalwart. “For the first time, I saw them united for a common cause. And it was the need of the hour. A football match is played over 90 minutes. Beyond that, we are responsible to uphold our humanity. The victim deserves justice and that is my demand. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been taking part in the protests, demanding justice. The day justice will be delivered, our protests will come to fruition.”
Subhasish wasn’t alone. His better half, Kasturi Chhetri, joined him in the march. “She shed a tear,” said Subhasish. “The incident has made her very upset. For the last few days, she was feeling uncomfortable going out alone. She is a woman and maybe she can feel the pain even more deeply.”
In the grand scheme of things, the cancellation of the derby became incidental. “As a footballer, I never want a derby to be cancelled, especially as a Bengali,” said Subhasish. “At the end of the day, the cancellation was a decision taken by the government. But what happened instead was even bigger.”
He insisted that his stand was completely apolitical. “There’s no politics here. I didn’t even tell anyone that I would join the protest. I saw some posts from the fans (on social media) and decided to join them. I was one of them. If, going ahead, another protest of this nature happens, I will turn up again.”
As club captain, Subhasish would have asked the Bagan management to allow the players to show their solidarity if the derby had taken place. “I don’t know if (the organisers) would have permitted that,” he said. “But I would have surely asked the club to allow us to wear black armbands.”
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