Kolkata, Oct 30 (IANS) After the ghastly rape and murder of a lady junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises last year, the slogan that reverberated across the state — and indeed the nation — was “Tomar Swor, Amar Swor, Justice for R.G. Kar. Sara Banglar ektai Swor, Justice for R.G. Kar (Your call, my call, Justice for R.G. Kar; Entire Bengal has just one call, Justice for R.G. Kar)”.

Maintaining a rhythmic semblance with that earlier slogan, the Trinamool Congress has now coined a new one — “Sara Banglar ektai Swor, Justice for Pradeep Kar (Entire Bengal has just one call, Justice for Pradeep Kar)” — as the tagline for its ongoing protest demonstrations over the suicide of 57-year-old Pradeep Kar at Panihati in North 24 Parganas district earlier this week, after his name was reportedly excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

On Thursday, the Trinamool Congress held its first protest rally at Pradeep Kar’s locality, where party leaders and supporters were seen carrying placards bearing the new slogan written in Bengali.

Participants in the rally were also heard chanting the same slogan as they walked through the neighbourhood, protesting against what they described as a tragic outcome of the NRC exercise. The rally was led by Partha Bhowmik, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore constituency, and Nirmal Ghosh, the party MLA from Panihati, among others.

At the conclusion of the rally, Bhowmik said this was just the beginning of a wider movement, and that protest demonstrations will be organised across West Bengal in the coming days against what he called the BJP’s “attempt to instill fear among the people using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and NRC as tools”.

“Our party and the state government stand firmly beside Kar’s family. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee have assured them of all possible assistance,” Bhowmik said.

On November 4, the day the first stage of the three-phase SIR process is scheduled to begin in West Bengal, the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly is expected to lead a counter-rally in the same area, demanding a thorough investigation into Kar’s death.

“The Leader of the Opposition has the freedom to hold that rally. However, his rally will be political in nature. Our rally today was a rally of the common people,” Bhowmik said.

–IANS

src/pgh