R G Kar Rape: What Makes Us Angry

About two weeks ago, sitting in a State Government administrative building in Kolkata and discussing about the gruesome rape and murder of a Postgraduate Trainee Doctor at R G Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata, Anamika Gupta (name changed) looked disturbed when she said, “I stay at this Office till around 8 it in the night to complete my work. During COVID days when the office premises were almost empty, we were here till late hours at at night without feeling that I am unsafe. But now I am really scared. I am feeling unsafe.

The reason for this anxiety is the loss of trust or faith in the administration meant to provide the required safety and security to the Women. A sense of fear and helplessness was palpable in her expression.

People are angry. That anger is perceptible throughout the land. In West Bengal, that angst has manifested as a volcanic eruption. But against whom are we angry?

The answer is, it is against those who are directly or indirectly associated with rape and murder. Those who want to hush up or placate the perpetrators. Against them who are responsible for the oppression or harassment of women daily in some form or other and largely against the patriarchal system that is the root of the inequality.

We witnessed a call given on social media captioned ‘Women, occupy the Night’ in line with the ‘Reclaim the Night’ call of the women right’s movement in Leeds in the UK given in 1977. The call unleashed another ‘August Revolution’ on the night of 14th August 2024. The call spread like wildfire in every town, suburban city, and far-flung areas of West Bengal. Women of different ages started to flock together. Men stood together by their side. Even in district towns the assemblies were of more than ten thousand people. The ‘Reclaim the Night Call’ transgressed the State and reached different cities around the country. The State government’s reaction to ‘damage control’ in fact added fuel to the fire. Anger started to build up and resulted in waves of protest. Angry protesters with widespread participation barged at the doors of the establishment. The ghastly incident at R G Kar Hospital and the protest have now become a global phenomenon.

Such crime is not unprecedented in the State or the country at large. But the mass character of the protest is something not witnessed before. What lies behind this volcanic eruption of protests among all sections of citizens? Questions are vexing all of us. Even the leaders of the ruling political party are clueless. They are surprised at the spontaneous awakening against them in the backdrop of their huge success in the General Election only a few months back.

The essence of the emotion or sentiment behind this spontaneous mass awakening is the caged anger for a long period.

What makes us angry? The common cause is unfulfilled expectations. That unfulfillment leads to desperation which leads to anger or fury.

If we dispassionately analyse the performance of the present regime since it came into power in 2011, then we may conclude that today’s eventuality was inevitable. To end the uninterrupted 34 years of rule of the Left Front, citizens chose a fearless protester, who went undaunted even against physical attacks and once a lethal strike on her head.

The metamorphosis of Mamata Banerjee started immediately after she gained power electorally. The eviction of Nonadanga slum was the beginning. Like her predecessors, protests against all atrocities were scoffed at by her. The numerous cases of sexual assault on women in the state were termed by powers- that be sometimes as a “minor incident”, else a “trivial incident”,  a ‘staged incident’ or even as a ‘conspiracy’.

The victim was somewhat blamed for her eventuality in the case of Park Street. The investigating officer was ‘rewarded’ for her upright stand in the case, by being transferred to some insignificant role. From the murder of teacher and protester Barun Biswas, the murder of the dissenting youth of Bamangachi, to grave incidents at Kamduni, Gaighata, Madhyamgram, and Kanthi – wherever atrocities happened against women, questions were raised against the Police for shielding perpetrators in place of providing justice by booking them. Citizens felt betrayed by the Government.

Alongside, we saw corruption taking root in all spheres of life. Institutional corruption is nothing new. But for so long those were limited to a few. In West Bengal, institutional corruption started during the middle years of erstwhile Left rule. Nepotism and favouritsm ruled the recruitment in the educational services. The trend spread to other areas.

With Trinamool coming to power, institutional corruption spread its roots in every section and layer of society. From the top to the bottom-most level, the de-facto criteria for ensuring a job got changed. ‘Other’ abilities replaced educational qualifications in the selection process. Job seekers started getting deprived despite having proper qualifications. The educated youth sunk in despair. Trust deficit towards the ruling establishment became visible. I can feel this despair daily in my professional role as a psychological counselor.

The amassing of immense wealth by leaders of the ruling party manifested as an ugly and uncouth practice before the eyes of the common man. Unending scams were uncovered in Sarada-Narada-Teachers Recruitment and Food distribution. People started getting dissatisfied with these numerous corruptions. We saw heavy-weight leaders of the ruling party languishing in jail as accused.

People are also witness to a rule of muscle power mentored by local leaders of the ruling party and administration running as parallel administrations across the state. Somewhere it is in the shape of Shajahan Sekih, Shibu Hazra, and Uttam Sardar. Elsewhere it is ’Giant’ Singh. Names of such ‘demons’ started surfacing alongside stories about their misdeeds. About their immense wealth and power along with their strong connection with the ruling establishment.

A ruling party member of Parliament, Saugata Roy expressed in a Party event in Baranagar “Kay Kay (vocalist) lost his life in the aftermath of a concert here. I wonder about the source of this huge fund. I heard it’s around 30 to 50 lakhs. Money can’t appear from anywhere. Who is funding this humongous amount? Does bringing a performer from Mumbai justify it? To arrange an event on such a scale leads to ‘surrender’ to the political establishment.”

For years the Government suspended elections to the school managing committees, students’ unions in different colleges and universities, and library management committees. In many places, elections to the local bodies have become a farce. Even in assembly and parliamentary elections people of West Bengal are witness to the ugly face of power. The election and the margin of victory of the ruling party in the Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency in the recent past have invoked among all of us the memories of Arambagh during Left Front rule.  

Even the election of the doctors’ body IMA turned into a farce at the behest of the ruling party. Many shifted their affiliation to the ruling party after winning the election as opposition. The reasons behind it surfaced in many cases.  

From a national perspective, the people of West Bengal started feeling ashamed of the gradual downturn of the state in Education, economic situation, independent administration, socio-cultural and environmental parameters. The spirit of Bengalis once respected outside the state, started getting shamed. In most of cases, the residents are making the ruling dispensation responsible for such a state of affairs.

Dispensation in power, irrespective of the political party, takes it for granted that public memory is transient. Any incident results in an immediate outpour of emotion and ruckus in TV, Social and Print Media, public debate, etc. But they are not long-lasting and will fade out. Meanwhile, the media will keep itself engaged with a new incident.

Apparently, such eventuality may appear to be true. We have started forgetting so many things that happened in the past. Our memory is fogged with many such issues and our protests change every day. Something happens every day but few of them get stored in our ‘memory bank’. Most of them fade out in the course of time.

Or gets lost in the labyrinth of time. Perhaps this hapless young doctor will get lost in oblivion. The way Barun Biswas or Rizwanoor Rahman faded out from people’s memory. Could Riz have returned to our memory if the Chief Minister hadn’t visited his mother on the Id festival day recently?

Memories do get lost. So also, the spirit of protest is stored in our memory. Perhaps most of the leaders of political parties know this very well and depend on this impermanence. They are sure that whatever they do will gradually get lost in people’s memory. They are so sure about people’s ‘power to forget’ that they remain confident even after their repeated ghastly and terrible misdeeds. They remain unperturbed and belligerent in providing shelter to known anti-socials and corrupt political activists.

One stops here while working with the social mindset. Some questions arise here.

Do we really forget everything? Do we want to forget? Aren’t the scars of the past stored in the memory of those of us who are witnesses to terrible acts or who are not but shuddered to hear about them?

The media reported that the Governor of West Bengal went to Delhi to report to Home Minister Amit Shah on recent developments in R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata. Immediately one gets reminded about the genocide in Gujarat in 2002. The horrific account of which, captured in “Cry, My Beloved Country” by Hars Mander, an eminent writer and human rights activist who resigned from his services as a Civil Servant in protest against that genocide, is etched in our memory. A few thousand people belonging to a minority community were victims of genocide in Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat. Also, countless women were gang-raped by pro-Hindutva rioters. Horrors of Bilkis Bano returned in our memory.

Bilkis was not only a victim of gang rape but the number of her family members including her child were brutally murdered in front of her.

The rapists of Bikis were freed by Gujrat Government before completion of their jail terms. On Independence Day, they were garlanded. The fate of the hapless kid of Unnao came to my mind, who was raped inside a temple in Jammu. Supporters of BJP came out openly waving the national flag, in support of the rapist, asking for his exoneration and release. And also the gangrape in Hatras. Where the father of the rapist was a BJP leader. Memories of the journalist from Kerala, Siddique Kappan who was arrested when he came to Hatras for reporting. Sections under UAPA were slammed upon him.  Memories of the revolt of Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Fogat, and Bajrang Punia against erstwhile President of the Indian Wrestling Federation and ex-BJP MP Brijbhusan Sharan Singh on his alleged involvement in sexual harassment, the Kuki women who were gang raped in Manipur also came back.

The simple appearance of the name Amit Shah invoked all these episodes from oblivion.

Memories of Bijan Setu, Karandah, Suchpur, Bhikhari Paswan, Bantala reside somewhere in our memory. So memory doesn’t completely get erased. Not only for me but for others also. Some memories remain stored in the deep alleys of our mind. But such alleys are not always dark. They get lit up when times come. Such a moment came during the 2011 assembly elections.

If one really fathoms into the depths of memory, not only in the case of Rizwanoor-Singur-Nandigram, sections of the civil society who were seeking for a ‘change-of-regime’ linked themselves with old, very old scars in their protesting psyche. Those memories gave voice to the protestors.

Those at the helm of affairs in the present regime are perhaps carrying the same notion that people will soon forget present incidents. So who carries a volatile memory? People or politicians in power? The politicians in power perhaps have forgotten the days before the assembly elections of 2011. Or the individuals sitting at the top pyramids of power have distanced themselves far from the grassroots at the bottom-most level. This has increased the alienation. This alienation is why the virtues of the rulers get lost. The scars created by them in the past surface in the present.

The fountainhead of all these are the ugly eventualities entrenched in power. Those eventualities are what leads any political party to the inevitable end in its journey from an anti-establishment existence to a power-hungry ruler.

At the end of the nineteenth century, eminent Historian and an expert on Ethics, Lord Acton opined that Power is inevitably inclined to corruption. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption. It is observed that as power grows, the principle of ethics recedes. Power leads to arrogance. That arrogance leads one to lose all sense of propriety.

The thin line between ethical and unethical gets fudged. Clinging to power and extending it becomes the only objective. Pride leads the powerful to ignore or stifle dissident voices. Human qualities like honesty, non-violence, and empathy take a backseat. So also larger commitments to democratic principles or constitutional neutrality.

Two important psychologists Lammers and Galinsky in their research vindicated the psychoanalytic hypothesis. They have added one more aspect it is a fact that power brings corruption. More so, in the minds of those who think they are powerful.

The voice of power made itself heard again and again in the aftermath of rape and murder in R G Kar Hospital. Citizens experienced inappropriate and unethical actions on the part of the administration. The initial intimation about suicide, detaining the parents for three hours to see their daughter’s body, completing post-mortem in haste, the insensitive comment of the then Principal (Why the victim go to Seminar Hall in the night?). Insensitive and irresponsible comments by leaders of the ruling party, the destruction and vandalism at R G Kar Hospital on the 14th August night, the attempt to destroy evidence…

In our childhood, we lost our cool in a carom board game. We falter time and again. However, we tried to hold our composure, temperament became an impediment.

The alienation of our recently deceased ex-chief minister was the reason behind his temperament and arrogance. He sniffed ‘conspiracy’ in all his opposition. That tradition continues. It’s impossible to mind-read people by sitting in the ivory tower of the pyramid. It becomes difficult to assess which scar remains long-standing in public memory. It remains impossible, till a new perspective appears.

By the time this new perspective achieves visibility, the palace is already on fire. People by the time learned that the ruler sitting at the highest level had become completely deaf to listen to their expectations and concentrated on meeting self-interest. Organisation becomes their only obsession. People today have discounted the rulers because they have more or less lost their trust. They start a new process of forgetting them, even their virtues.

From waking up in the morning till we go to sleep we pass through different emotions. Those manifest as our dejection, anger, frustration, despair, disdain, helplessness, anxiety, fear and other such negative emotions. These coexist with feeling happy, contented, joy, relief, sexual urges, surety and other such positive emotions. How alert or agile do we remain about these emotions? How comfortable are we in expressing these emotions?

Even if positive emotions could be expressed, the negatives are left to languish in hidden alleys of the mind. They get suppressed. Start accumulating in storage pots. The pot starts overflowing after some time. We all know how a pressure cooker works. This steam builds up pressure and starts hitting the lid. The safety valve pops due to pressure, hot steam gets released with a whistle. But what if the safety valve gets sealed? It will explode. Such an explosion of emotion we witnessed on the night of 14th August.

Recently my friend and psychologist Anuttoma Bandyopadhay has voiced her opinion in Anandabazar Online. She thinks the reason behind the recent explosion of mass anger is what eminent psychologist Carl Gustav Yung termed as “Collective Unconscious”. We understand “Collective Unconscious” as the memories that reside in our unconscious mind and are carried in succession.

With due respect to what Anuttoma said I humbly differ a bit with her. To me, the role of the conscious or subconscious mind is a lot more perceptible in this case. Freud is more relevant here than Yung.

The loss of trust, despair, and anger that were experienced by our conscious mind in addition to the long-accumulated anguish in our subconscious mind led to the outpour of frustration and anger on the night of 14th August.

The spontaneous and mass nature of the outburst of feeling and emotion witnessed in West Bengal is unprecedented. Never seen it before. We cannot contemplate its future but some of today’s memories will transgress the boundaries of place-time-moment and remain permanently stored in our memory as indelible.

Such an assertion was voiced by Monalisa Maity, Teacher-in-Charge when she told her students “I have come to tell you to stand by any victim (of any oppression) to fight for your right. If you do not, then you will lose yours also.” She continued “If the State falters, the adolescent under eighteen also needs to act.” Her message reached even to far-flung areas of West Bengal.

While refusing the customary state Government aid in organising Durga Puja in Konnagar, a group of women recalled “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt”. And thus Gandhi returns to center stage among peaceful protesters. We have seen it in Saheenbagh also.

There was a notion held by many in West Bengal a few months back that Mamata Banerjee’s sources of strength are those who were helped through women-centric populist schemes like Kanyashree, Lakshmi Bhandar, etc. It is a fact that a section of women are benefitted from these schemes. But the question remains and there are doubts about whether women became truly self-reliant, how empowered they really are, and how safe are their day-to-day existence.

The ‘Take Control of the Night’ call is not limited to urban elites anymore. From towns to villages everywhere, women are leading the protest. A number of young men are by their side.

Perhaps this unshackling of suppressed protest is what the Chief Justice of India has termed as “National Catharsis”

Another relevant phrase comes to my mind and that is from author Milan Kundera, which says “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting”.

Translated from Bangla by: Subhamay Ghosal

Mohit Ranadip is a Psychiatric Social Worker. He can be reached at [email protected] Opinions are his personal.