RSS is using the R G Kar rape case to deepen and expand its base across the country | Arun Srivastava

by Arun Srivastava

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was trolled and ridiculed for taking out a rally on August 16 in Calcutta demanding stringent punishment to the perpetrators of the horrid crime of rape on a trainee girl medic. A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to protect the dignity of women and asked the state governments to take action against these elements.

While the conscience keepers, liberal intellectuals and academics questioned the moral authority of Mamata in seeking punishment as she is the chief minister of state and should have acted on her own and even blamed her of passing the buck, but they preferred to maintain a stoic silence on Modi’s assurance and did not question him for abdicating his responsibility of not taking rapists in the states ruled by his BJP. These people even did not seek to know from Modi why he refrained from visiting Manipur which witnessed the worst form of genocide in Independent India where hundreds of women were paraded naked and raped and killed by Hindutva narcissists.

Amidst this scenario what has come as a rude shock is the pusillanimity of the left parties, their leadership, the liberal intellectuals and even some of the journalists who boast of believing in progressive and leftist ideas. It is worth noticing that Mamata took out a rally after a week of the ghastly incident. She is not naïve to indulge in a political game which had the potential to bounce back and inflict self-injury. She is a veteran of street fights. The leftist leaders discredited and maligned her. I feel pity for their stance. How could they be unaware of the machinations of the BJP? How could they come to believe that Mamata would allow the situation to aggravate to such a stage?

It is strange that they could not comprehend that the BJP was behind the insinuation campaign. Mamata had come to know of their design in the night of August 14, when a group of goons attacked the protesters inside the hospital. Which was why she had taken out the rally. No doubt Mamata must be held responsible for allowing persons like Sudip Ghosh, principal of the medical college to run the show, but hiding behind Sudip, BJP was trying to weaken the anti-BJP forces in the state and control the political structure of the state. BJP has been striving for long to grab power in Bengal. However the people of Bengal did not allow their scheme to take shape. But this is the first time it appears that the saffron brigade would succeed in its mission, courtesy of secular and left forces.

The most unfortunate has been the leaders from CPI(M) and Congress nurse so strong obsession towards Mamata, as a person, that they are unable to make out the consequence of the BJP move. In sharp contrast, the common Bengali is sceptical of BJP’s manoeuvring and nurse that it was trying a create a situation similar to Bangladesh where students forced Sheikh Hasina to quit and flee the country.

It is really a matter of shame that anti-BJP parties have failed to decipher the saffron strategy to float an innocuous students’ forum Chhatra Samaj and make it lead the movement against Mamata. Samaj is a creation of RSS. Under a planned strategy RSS refrained from bringing its own student body ABVP to the front. This would have alienated a large section of the students and also common people from joining the movement. The Chhatra Samaj is demanding the resignation of Mamata from the chief minister on the plea that she had failed to deliver justice to the victim girl.

The true face of Chhatra Samaj got exposed just a day ahead of the rally at a press conference. The prominent faces of the RSS were forced to confess that they belonged to the RSS and the rally was planned by RSS. "Yes, I am a member of the RSS, the biggest organisation in the world. I shall stay so for the rest of my life," declared Subhankar Halder, who had given the call for march to Nabanna to press for Mamata Banerjee’s resignation.

And while they kept repeating that it was an "apolitical movement", the programme’s saffron connection kept tumbling out willy-nilly during the one-and-a-half-hour interaction. RSS network across the state has been mobilising people for the rally. Halder confessed; “Specific instructions have come from our leaders that we have to send people from our areas like Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj†.

On August 26, they organised a rally to the state secretariat at Nabanna. As is the usual practice, police resorted to barricading and obstructing the movement of the participants. Realising that the response was poor and the number of participants was not sufficient to evoke a wide response, the agitators spread over Howrah and Calcutta. Their number was not sizeable. But even through the smaller number of participants, the RSS tried to create an impression that the rally had wider support of the people of Bengal.

It is no more a secret that RSS and BJP have been using rape as a political and judicial tool against Mamata. For them, the victim medic has been a means to achieve its mission. No doubt people should protest and seek justice for the victim girl, but the manner in which the BJP used the hospital case, it makes amply clear that the saffron ecosystem is more interested in its political gains than getting justice to the girl.

The Left is known for committing historical blunders. Once again it has been found to commit the same. DYFI state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee did not feel ashamed in saying; “This march is a ploy to divert the demand for justice. I urge the Left supporters and workers not to fall into the trap of the BJP and the RSS,†. Being a Marxist she should have understood the strategy of BJP and RSS and have exposed their design. But no, their personal obsession towards Mamata is so acute that they even prefer to forget and ignore basic Marxist polemics.

It has also transpired that the moving force behind the rally has been turncoat BJP leader Subhendu Adhikari. Ever since he left TMC and joined BJP to get protection in financial scams, he has been spitting venom against Mamata and scheming to finish her politically.

The RSS-led Chhatra Samaj has planned the future movement against Mamata on the lines of the Bangladesh students’ movement. It is the usual practice to seek police permission to take out rallies. But the Samaj has refused. This is the first major step of defiance of state authority and rules of governance. The Samaj intends to assert the supremacy of students, as was done in Bangladesh. Eventually, this would witness a showdown between students and police.

The saffron ecosystem has been resorting to a nice trick. They instead of approaching government authorities to seek permission to organise this nature of the event, have been straight way approaching High Court which is always too eager to grant them the permission. Sitting Hugh Court judge Abhijit Ganguly putting in his paper to join the BJP is candid proof of the nexus between a section of the judiciary and BJP. As judge he had passed large number of orders in favour of BJP. Incidentally demand has been made for review of all his orders and judgements. As a result of his betrayal to the judicial norms, the situation has come to such a stage that the common people now look at any order of the High Court with suspicion and presumes that it has come to promote the interest of BJP.

Though the BJP is officially not a part of Tuesday’s march, many of its local-level leaders in different parts of Calcutta are at the front of the Chhatra Samaj, a recently floated organisation about which little is known. The organisation – which claims to be not affiliated to any political party but is believed to be a front linked to saffron organisations – had given the chief minister time till Monday 6 pm to tender her resignation.

The Left’s students, youth and women’s wing has officially distanced itself from the march. But it is too late. damage has already been done. While the Chhatra Samaj leaders were holding a news conference a day earlier of the rally at the Press Club, questions were hurled at one of the organisers who is allegedly accused in a molestation case. The event quickly turned chaotic."We are not used to handling the media nor do we have a PR team. This is not a political movement but a spontaneous movement," Lahiri said.

Hearings of the case by the Supreme Court have virtually been a futile exercise. During the last five-six days of the hearing, the apex court simply talked about certain technicalities, like the timing of filing of FIR, or why the principal failed. But it has not come up with any concrete guidelines or directives. The Calcutta High Court handed over the investigation to CBI. But the CBI has nothing new to unearth, more than the Kolkata police had found. Its polygraphy test appeared to be a drama and nothing else. CBI could not also find clinching evidence against the principal, which is why it has so far refrained from arresting him.

The way the legal battery of the Modi government has been presenting the CBI case before the apex court, even the stalwart like SG Tushar Mehta was present in the court, it simply strengthens the belief that Modi intends to use the rape incident to malign Mamata and at the same time refurbish his image of being. He is in a sheer state of desperation to regain his political status in the fight against RSS. The Godi media has been running the news throughout the day and projecting it as more as a product. It cannot be denied that they exploit the sentiment of the people in a negative manner. The media is marketing insecurity.

No doubt the rape of the medic is a gruesome act and the perpetrator should be handed over the severest nature of punishment. But it is really agonising that the incident is being trivialised. Barring one person, the police volunteer Sanjay Roy, none has been arrested. Showing a proactive stance, the High Court handed over the case to CBI, but regrettably, the investigation has not progressed in the right direction as yet. True to its credibility, it is simply playing with the emotions of the people to serve the interest of its political master.

Yes, one thing ws quite noticeable. After the attack on the protestors in the night of August inside the hospital, the movement spread across the country. Really it was intriguing to notice to what extent the people of Bharat have become sensitive to the issue of security and safety of women. These people of Bharat ironically were not moved by the heinous crime of rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Bihar on August 12.

Just a couple of days ahead of R G Kar crime, a nurse was raped and murdered in Uttarakhand while returning home from hospital after her duty. Her body was found in an empty plot in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district. But this case too failed to shake the conscience of the Bharatiyas. They realised their moral duty and responsibility only after the hospital incident.

Supreme Court taking suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a doctor which took place in the night of August 9, at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital galvanised the saffron ecosystem to exploit the issue. The surge of peoples’ protest across the country, underlines the fact that the saffron ecosystem has become active ever since the incident took place. A petition filed by two Supreme Court lawyers provides an insight into the game: “The nation looks to the judiciary as the ultimate guardian of justice, the last refuge for those whose cries have been silenced by brutality. Her death must not be in vain; it must galvanise us to act, to ensure that no other woman suffers such a fate†.

While the apex court acted fast in the hospital case, it did not take notice of more horrific and gruesome than R G Kar, which took place on August 11 in Muzaffarpur of Bihar. In the doctor’s case, the perpetrators of the crime are presumably unknown faces. But in Muzaffarpur, the perpetrators are known and belong to rich and powerful families. Ironically the middle class of Bihar, the conscience keeper, as was seen in the case of the doctor, did not raise its voice of protest

The perpetrators of ghastly crimes ought to be delivered exceptional punishment. They must not go scot-free. But sad enough the Dalit girl of Bihar, whose parents are daily wage labourers, is being denied even of proper attention. In her police complaint, the girl’s mother said that around six sons of powerful and rich people of the nearby village, one of them she identified as Sanjay Rai, barged into their hut on August 11 and told the parents to hand over their daughter as “ they want to enjoy her†. Scared parents requested to forgive. But the power-mad lads did not listen to their request. They forcibly took away the girl.

Undoubtedly doctor needs justice. But Dalit girls deserved no less. She has none to raise voice on her behalf. The only party which has come to her support is the CPI(ML). Ironically the BJP which has taken the lead in spreading the agitation in support of deceased doctors across the country through its organisational network, preferred to maintain a passive silence in the case of Muzaffarpur, though it is in power and has its two leaders as the deputy chief ministers.

This exposes the duality of the BJP’s concern for women’s safety. In Bengal, while the BJP intends to create a situation, exerting moral pressure from the middle class, to embarrass Mamata and put the state under the president’s rule, in Bihar dalit girl’s killing does not move the BJP leaders. BJP is resorting to all kinds of dirty games to malign Mamata. But in Bihar, none of its top leaders visited the parents of the girl and expressed even “fake†sympathy.

To demean Mamata and her government a mob vandalized the protest site inside the hospital campus in the night of August 14. They even attacked doctors, nurses and others. Most of the attackers came from a slum behind the hospital. The Kolkata police on August 17 even summoned the leadership of two left-wing organisations DYFI and SFI in connection with the mob violence. Shockingly the BJP and left parties are blaming Mamata for what happened in the night. They want the people to believe that Mamata who is already in the docks would dare to indulge in this type of stupid action, which will further alienate the people and give her a bad name. While their supporters in the case of the doctor argue that the nation looks to the judiciary as the ultimate guardian of justice this cliché does not find a place in the case of Muzaffarpur.

Always alert to put Mamata and her government on the mat, this time too the judiciary agreed to have a CBI probe even after being aware that the track record of CBI is cracking the cases is worse. The Calcutta High Court had in the past in other cases had ordered a number of CBI probe. But it is not yet clear it has attained success in how many cases.

The design of BJP also gets exposed in the operation of Amit Shah of directing the state police forces to provide situation reports every two hours following the protests by doctors, nursing staff, and others against the alleged rape and murder of the doctor. Amit Shah who has never been concerned of the safety of women has suddenly become proactive. Under his instructions, the home ministry would monitor law and order in all states. This is simply a mechanism to project Kolkata crime in a bigger proportion and dimension.

The Supreme Court sought to know who had revealed the identity of the medic. It is worth mentioning that Kolkata Police had issued summonses to former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee and two renowned doctors Dr Kunal Sarkar and Dr Subarna Goswami, for allegedly spreading rumours and disclosing the identity of the woman doctor.

For nearly ten days the apex court has been seized of the rape incident, but so far it does not appear that anything concrete has emerged out of the legal proceedings. The Supreme Court had asked the doctors who were on strike to go back to their duties. But it has no effect on them. They continue to boycott hospital duty endangering the lives of the hundreds of serious patients. They are concerned of their own safety, but they treat the safety of poor patients with utter contempt. In fact this prompted a famous oncologist to write on Facebook that the doctors were using the case of deceased victim to bargain for their interest with the government. This is indeed a shameful act.

The doctors say; “Our stir will continue until we ensure justice for our sister. We understand that patients are facing problems, but our demands are justified". Since the apex court in yesterday’s order virtually fulfilled all the demands of the doctors, their continued cease work smacks of some kind of design. The doctors must speak their mind. The trainee doctor has been killed by a criminal, but these doctors will be responsible for the death of patients for want of proper medicare at the hospitals.

The Supreme Court’s observation in the Kolkata rape and murder case of a doctor from RG Kar Hospital appeared to be more of the nature of routine affair. It is also shameful that by exploiting the heinous incident the IMA has playing the game of BJP. During the ten-year rule of Modi, the IMA was controlled by the doctors owing allegiance to BJP. During these years a number of violent clashes had taken place between the doctors and relatives of the patients, who died due to the neglect and callous behaviour of the junior or resident doctors. But IMA tried to make it a major issue.

Judges must be aware of the fact that Indians treat the doctors like God. Moreover, relatives take their patients to the hospitals for treatment. They do not go the hospitals with the intent to fight. It is only when their patients die due to the callousness of the doctors they retaliate. It is really sad that the IMA has been patronising this culture instead of goading the doctors.

The CJI Chandrachud-led bench directed the NTF to make action plans which ensure dignified and safe working conditions for interns, residents, senior residents, doctors, and other medical professionals. It is indeed a shame that IMA had not taken up this task in right earnest. The bench must seek a reply from West Bengal IMA on what it has done for the development of infrastructural, employment of social workers who are trained in grief and crisis counselling as well as holding workshops for the same, and establishing a helpline number for medical professionals. It may raise its hands in the air and explain that it is not their responsibility.

Obviously, the next question arises; what for this IMA exists? Is it a platform for social gathering and merry-making? Questions should also be asked to IMA what it has done to do away with the patient-doctor clashes and suspicion. Quite interesting while the doctors and IMA was seeking an under taking from Mamata that;“no such incident occur in future†, two gruesome incidents took place. While a dalit girl was killed in Bihar,

The Supreme Court, in a sharp rebuke during the hearing of the Kolkata rape-murder case said that the nation cannot wait for another horrific incident to enact necessary changes on the ground. But ironically a number of rapes and murders of girl have taken place after this observation. But it has failed to move the rulers. It was really pleasant to see that West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose who himself faces the accusation of molestation of a women employee at Raj Bhawan expressed deep concern on the current situation in Bengal and assuring to make the state a safer place for women.

The bench was quite distraught at the mob attacking the hospital campus in the night of August 14 and unable to comprehend how the state was not able to handle the issue of vandalism at the hospital that happened during the midnight protest. Before the apex court raised this issue, the experts and even die-hard opponents of Mamata were searching for the answer: why for God’s sake the TMC allow its cadres to indulge in such an act which would simply further malign its image?

There is no denying that BJP and RSS have succeeded in their mission to malign Mamata and alienate her from the women of Bengal, who have been her support base. CJI has a genuine concern; "Medical professions have become vulnerable to violence. Due to ingrained patriarchal biases, women doctors are targeted more. As more and more women join the workforce, the nation cannot wait for another rape for things to change on the ground". Certainly, these are not the creations of outsiders or the relatives of patients. CJI must try and reach out to the root which is ingrained in the behaviour and working of the doctors.

In October 2018, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was quoted in several newspaper reports as telling cadres in Kota, Rajasthan: “We are capable enough to spread any message among people, whether sour or sweet, real or fake. We can do this work only because we have 32 lakh people in our WhatsApp groups. That is how we were able to make this viral.â€

Last September, The Washington Post had done an investigative piece headlined “Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India†. It accused India’s ruling party of having “perfected the spread of inflammatory, often false and bigoted material on an industrial scale, earning both envy and condemnation beyond India’s borders†.