By developer
The R.G Kar rape and murder case had been taken up by the Supreme Court and the High Court at Calcutta amidst massive protests that rocked the state of West Bengal. The case had taken many turns until today, when it finally returned to the trial court at Sealdah. Millions who were hopeful of justice for Abhaya awaited an order which would finally indict the disgraced criminal Ex-Principal Sandip Ghosh, and all his cohorts who helped in the cover up of the crime. Today, we were brought the shocking news that Sandip Ghosh and the former Officer in Charge of Tala Park Police station has been granted bail. They will be freed from custody and once more brought to freedom.
This gross miscarriage of justice was possible because the Central Bureau of Investigation could not deliver a charge sheet in 90 days. This comes at a time when the doctor’s movement has entered a low ebb, after the compromises made in October and the split of the West Bengal Junior Doctor’s Front.
The bail order for Sandip Ghosh is a direct challenge to the movement, and is a clear victory for the TMC government in West Bengal. The CBI and the police could only truly be relied to investigate this case properly if it had the fear of the masses rallying against the government and the efforts of cover up. Unfortunately, the protests died down after each victory it achieved. Ultimate victory has still eluded this movement, and with the latest development, defeat seems likely.
Neither is there any large scale protests happening in the city, nor are there any solidarity protests happening anywhere else in the country. The media, which had put the spotlight on the protests, appears to have forgotten the issue entirely. The news cycle today is dominated by events in Bangladesh, where the rise of reactionary islamist forces and the still lawless situation has created conditions where minorities are being attacked.
The deteriorating situation in Bangladesh, following the revolutionary overthrow of the Sheik Hasina regime, where reactionary lumpens have wreaked havoc and began influencing the fragile interim government has had a direct influence on the people of West Bengal. A sense of fear and demoralization began to seep in, exploited to the hilt by the BJP and it’s allied bourgeois media.
They have fanned hatred against the new government of Bangladesh, support for the Awami League, and in the same vein, fear and hate against India’s Muslims, and curiously the great ‘fighter against BJP fascism’ Mamata Bannerji appears to be increasingly leaning on the BJP’s narrative on Bangladesh.
The doctor’s movement did not emerge in a vacuum, the revolutionary mobilization in Bangladesh had influenced the doctor’s movement, it encouraged the youth to revolt against an entrenched regime which ruled through fear and institutionalized corruption, just like Hasina in Bangladesh. Now, that source of inspiration appears to be fraying into reaction.
With the momentum of the doctor’s movement falling, reactionary forces have begun to converge and stifle any challenge. The changing political situation, is now threatening to defeat the doctor’s movement.
Changing political landscape :
The doctor’s movement emerged just one month after the July uprising in Bangladesh. Toppling Sheik Hasina’s government after she had allowed the murder of hundreds of youth, and even children, had created a sense of confidence among Bengalis in West Bengal, on the Indian side.
The issues which gave rise to the mobilization were present for a long time, from institutionalized corruption within hospitals, to the complete breakdown of healthcare infrastructure and service, which happened during the COVID pandemic. The recovery has been slow and haphazard, with overworked junior doctors and staff remaining in a vulnerable position. Public hospitals and public healthcare facilities generally remain underfunded, understaffed, lacking many basic amenities like restrooms for doctors.
These exploded when a female junior doctor was raped and murdered in the prestigious R.G Kar hospital of Calcutta. The act was followed up by efforts at cover up by the hospital administration with the support of the local police station and the collusion of the state government. It was only after junior doctors and medical students rallied that the cover up could not succeed. Much like in Hathras, the police and hospital administration were willing to cremate the body of the victim than conduct an autopsy to reveal the truth.
Once the truth was revealed, the protests started at R.G Kar, and spread through the city like wildfire. The protests grew beyond the city and expanded to other cities across India, and brought people from all walks of life to protests in the streets, in solidarity with the junior doctors. This massive mobilization has bookended a period of upheaval which began from 2019, with the anti-CAA protests. One can say, this is a culmination point of the last five years of class struggle in India.
The political conditions have now started to change. The revolutionary energy which culminated in the overthrow of the Sheik Hasina regime appears to be dissipating and reactionary forces are gaining in strength, using new found freedoms to organize and propagate. At the same time, the BJP has maneuvered to defeat the Congress led opposition in Maharashtra, and regain some political stability. Their strategy to hijack the leadership of the protests fell on it’s face, and they had to face a situation where their leaders were shooed off protest sites.
It must be remembered, that the doctor’s movement did not limit their target to the State government led by the TMC party, but also the Central government led by the BJP and central investigative agencies like the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). In the current phase of the movement, it is the CBI that draws the ire of the doctors. The BJP quickly turned from friend to foe of the movement, finding their long term interests in aligning with Mamata Bannerji who appeared cornered and beaten down from all quarters, losing to tea workers in the North, losing flood stricken rural population in the western districts, and with the INDIA alliance losing one state after another in state elections.
Mamata Bannerji may pretend to be an enemy of the BJP, but she is no enemy of the big capitalists, she is no enemy of Adani and Ambani. She has moved strategically to bring in pro-BJP oligarchs into the state and created the groundwork for an alliance with the BJP. The BJP for it’s part, would salivate at the prospect of tearing out one of the largest regional parties in the INDIA alliance, and divide the main bourgeois opposition force in the country, re-establishing it’s hegemony over the parliament. In this situation, it is likely that the junior doctors would find no friend in central investigative agencies, or the courts. Indeed, they will only show results if shown the fear of protests.
The failure of bourgeois institutions:
The RG Kar saga reveals more than anything else, the rot in our institutions. The Calcutta police showed the most brazen collusion with the state, literally acting on the instructions of the hospital administration and the government. The state government too, barely hid their bias against the junior doctors, these elected representatives proved they have no accountability to the people who voted them into power, and no shame in showing where their true interests belong. The TMC is more shameless than most in this regard, showing that their enrichment and maintaining their power is more important actually doing justice.
Were it not for the protests, nothing would have moved forward, and the scale of the crime would not have come out. The corruption network managed by Sandip Ghosh would remain in the fringes of the news cycle, the tragic death of Abhaya would have been forgotten and brushed aside, the issues plaguing public hospitals would never have been talked about. Instead, the government now visibly shaken by the protests were forced to concede ground to the protestors in order to pacify it. Without the protests, even the Supreme Court may not have intervened.
The fact that any effort to investigate happened at all, happened because public pressure was ever present. Once the protests died down, we witness this brazen miscarriage of justice, and the total failure of the CBI. The realities of class rule of the bourgeoisie, are brought bare before us now, and silences the pious ramblings of liberals and certain ‘leftists’ who feel that a CBI investigation would bring any semblance of justice. In fact, the demand for a CBI investigation was one of the key demands raised by the CPIM.
The CBI has been exposed for the incompetent organization that it is, only good for momentary political harassment at the direction of the Central government. The courts have been proven to be limited as well. The institutions of the bourgeois state have failed here, as they have failed multiple times in the past. The lesson being taught to us by history is this, justice cannot be delivered by institutions alone, it can only be achieved through struggle.
We must mobilize again !
Many had declared the end of the doctor’s movement in November, after the split of the WBJDF and the last meeting with the Chief Minister yielded little in terms of concessions. The truth is that the movement continues but at a low ebb, the solidarity protests have died down, and the energy has dissipated. The fight at the courts continues to drag on, while the TMC maneuvers to secure it’s power after a year of struggles pushing it into a corner.
The target of the protests has now shifted from the state government to the Central government and the CBI. They are unlikely to find any ally in the BJP which remains the main opposition party in the state of West Bengal, while being the ruling party in the Center. The BJP has suffered a massive setback in the last election, but is reorganizing and recovering, as we can see from the Maharashtra election.
In this context, the only way forward is to rebuild the mobilizations, and re-energize the masses into struggle.
JUSTICE FOR ABHAYA !
DOWN WITH THE TMC !
NO FAITH IN THE CBI & POLICE !