Victims feel like the girl next door – a familiarity that has led many women and men to take to the streets to “take back the night” in spontaneous appeals driven by social media. (Ministry of Public Transport)
The main aim of the BJP is to weaken women voters who have been staunchly supporting the Trinamool Congress
In 2011, a frail old man from Maharashtra, wearing a white hat and surrounded by idealistic people (many of whom later became successful politicians), caught India's attention.
Anna Hazare launched the Jan Lokpal movement against the UPA government at the Centre, attracting young and old to Jantar Mantar and later Ramlila Maidan), as happened on Wednesday night, when people – especially Bangladeshi women from toddlers to seventy-somethings – objected to the horrific death of a 31-year-old doctor by a suspected citizen volunteer, a Bangladeshi deputy police officer. Incidents of rape and murder.
Those who have lived in the Delhi of 2011 and the Kolkata of 2024 will easily point out the striking similarities between the two. Both sparked national reactions, both were driven by civil society rather than any political group, and both felt unfair to the system.
In 2011 and later “Mai Bhi Anna” became a rallying cry and countless Indians wore hats emblazoned with the slogan, each of them considered a force multiplier for the social reformists who were quick to inspire captured the imagination of social reformers. In 2024, “We want justice” became the rallying cry from Alipurduar in Bengal to Jadavpur in Kolkata, Lokhandwala in Mumbai to AIIMS in Delhi.
While one is against corruption and the other against alleged cover-ups of sensational rapes and murders, the anxiety in both cases is directed at the current administration.
The Congress-ruled UPA had to go through tough times, with senior ministers such as Pranab Mukherjee forced to take action to broker peace, albeit unsuccessfully. Now, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself has tried to put out the fire and may have hinted for the first time that she is open to a CBI probe before the Calcutta High Court hands over the inquiry to a central agency.
In hindsight, one would say that the BJP took advantage of the Anna movement politically by amplifying the corruption charges leveled against the Congress party every other day by the Indian Anti-Corruption Agency (the body that leads the Anna movement). sports. The tone of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the BJP was set by the Anna movement. From publishing a “most corrupt list” to “exposing” various alleged scams, the Anna campaign goes beyond Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pre-determined key election promise – “Achhe Din”.
But with the Kolkata rape reaching similar heights in the public imagination and Bengal assembly elections taking place just two years later, what is the BJP doing?
The party holds regular darnas, takes part in planned marches by the Mahila Morcha to Banerjee's residence, holds midnight protests and holds multiple press conferences across India by different leaders, while avoiding directly joining RG Kar The hospital doctors rioted to maintain the apolitical nature of the situation and its legitimacy.
Bharatiya Janata Party national president Sukanta Majumdar has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an inquiry into the midnight vandalism and violence at the hospital, while the Prime Minister on Independence Day The issue of women's safety was mentioned in his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort without naming any incident.
“We need to stop atrocities against women. People are angry about what is happening to women across the country. We all need to take a serious look at this issue at the national and central levels. Action needs to be quick and swift and the media must highlight punishment for the perpetrators , in order to act as a deterrent.
The main aim of the BJP is to weaken women voters who have been staunchly supporting the Trinamool Congress. The discussion about Sandeshkhali did not seem to affect the TMC as it won 29 seats. But the BJP is betting big on this because it believes Bengal's 3.73 billion voters feel more about the rape and murder of a young doctor at a prestigious hospital in Kolkata by a citizen volunteer than they do about the women of the island. The feeling is much higher.
Victims feel like the girl next door – a familiarity that has led many women and men to take to the streets to “take back the night” in spontaneous appeals driven by social media.
