Subhasish Bose turned 29 on Sunday. The Mohun Bagan Super Giant captain chose to mark his birthday by turning up at the Salt Lake Stadium area to join thousands of football fans who had gathered as one to demand swift justice for the postgraduate trainee doctor who was murdered and raped at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
Bose’s stand came on a day former cricketer Harbhajan Singh wrote a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, urging them to “act swiftly and decisively” in the case.
Bagan’s Bose, along with wife Kasturi Chhetri, had much the same plea on their lips when, on a rain-sodden Sunday, they joined the multitudes of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting supporters in showing solidarity with the cries for justice and safety of women.
The season’s first derby — Bagan and East Bengal were to have faced off in a Durand Cup group game on Sunday at the Salt Lake Stadium — was cancelled on Saturday after police refused to give the green light citing the prevailing situation in the city. In a show of unity, the fans took to the streets braving the rain and unprecedented police bandobast in and around the stadium.
“I came as a citizen of this country. There is no politics in this. I did not go as a Mohun Bagan captain. First and foremost, being a responsible and socially aware citizen, it was my duty to be with the fans of the three clubs. Football can wait,” Bose, whose name would have been on the start list had the derby been held, told The Telegraph on Sunday evening.
“Like everyone, we want justice for the murdered doctor. The perpetrators of this crime should be arrested.”
Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia and other wrestlers had shown the will to fight the powers-that-be on the streets of the national capital last summer in protest against sexual harassment. Bose was the only active footballer seen on Sunday among fans holding a placard seeking justice for the young doctor.
“Today my mother and wife would find it unsafe to travel in this city. For them, for everyone, for the fathers of the daughters, for the brothers of all the sisters and for everyone, we should come forward and protest in whichever way we can,” said Bose, under whose captaincy Bagan won the ISL Shield at this very stadium last season.
The India international said it was his moral duty to join the protest. “What happened at RG Kar should not have happened,” he said.
East Bengal midfielder Souvik Chakrabarti had written a strongly-worded post on social media on Saturday, but later deleted it. “It’s sad that (the) Derby was cancelled. Every sports fan wants to watch the game he or she follows. But I am happy that the Bengali society has put up a united front on a very important issue... That’s why till justice is done, we will not stop. Let barriers come our way,” Chakraborty wrote.
Kalyan Chaubey, the All India Football Federation president, who wore the East Bengal and Bagan shirts with distinction during his playing days, was also present at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.
The BJP leader, who lost the Maniktala Assembly byelection last month, was, as expected, critical of the decision to cancel Sunday’s match and also the state government.
“It is shameful. And look at police deployment, it looks like a riot is going on,” he said.
