‘Need to speak for ourselves’: Meet the women keeping Kolkata protests alive

What started as a protest by doctors against the Kolkata rape-murder has branched out into a movement featuring women from different socio-economic backgrounds coming out on the streets in West Bengal to reclaim public spaces and demand a safer environment.

Among the faces of the protests in Kolkata are Rimjhim Sen, an independent researcher on gender issues, and Sneha, a junior doctor at a government hospital.

Sneha had never participated in a demonstration but says that she had to speak up against “mob attacks”. Junior doctors this week defied the Supreme Court’s orders to return to work by Tuesday evening. “We have made up our mind that we can not be defensive. We have to learn to speak for ourselves.”

Rimjhim, on the other hand, had been involved in protests before but she had no idea that her social media post to “reclaim the night” – urging women to come out on the streets a day before independence day – would go viral. The significance of that protest was clear in the phone calls Rimjhim received from women from rural areas, asking her if they could show up for the demonstration for only two hours due to the absence of safe public transport late at night.

On the night of August 14, women protested at about 300 places across the state, and the ‘reclaim the night’ protests have refused to die down since then. “Women came out to protest to make a statement that the night is not reserved for one gender and every gender has the right to access it. After the (Kolkata rape-murder) incident, a fire had been lit. My post was probably a small spark.”

But what have been the protesters’ demands? Is it a people’s movement or a political conspiracy against the Mamata Banerjee government? And how has the official response been so far?

Watch this interview to understand.

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