'Rare Photo Indeed': Cancelled Derby Spawns Uncommon Unity, Sparks New Debate Amid Kolkata Rape-Murder Protests

Never-seen-before scenes unfolded in Kolkata on Sunday with the supporters of fiercest rivals East Bengal football club and Mohun Bagan joining forces to demand justice for a trainee doctor raped and murdered in the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital — a crime that has shocked the nation and triggered massive protests, including from the influential medical fraternity.

Slogans of unity reverberated around the Salt Lake Stadium on Kolkata’s outskirts where the two clubs were to play the season’s first “Kolkata Derby”, as their world-famous clash is popularly known as. The match between the rivals was cancelled in the 11th hour on Saturday evening after the Bidhannagar Police said it will not be able to provide the necessary security cover.

While the opposition BJP has said the match was called off fearing mass protests, the police have stressed the tie was cancelled because they received “intelligence inputs” that there will be “violence” at the venue. “We have got specific input that some people today will also come outside the stadium to create trouble,” a Bidhannagar Police official said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon. The police also released an audio of a purported plot asking to “take up weapons” against police “high-handedness”.

But that could not stem the protests. “Bangal-Ghotir ektai swar, justice for RG Kar,” supporters of the two clubs, who gathered near the Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake, shouted in unison on Sunday, keeping aside their century-old rivalry. The slogan could loosely be translated as: “Bangal” (mostly Bengali Hindus who migrated from what is now Bangladesh — and who are traditional supporters of East Bengal) and “Ghoti” (who are considered original inhabitants of Bengal and support Mohun Bagan) are united in their demand and they wanted justice for the RG Kar incident.

There were reports of lathi-charge by the police, drizzles, and the detention of supporters near the football stadium in Bidhannagar. But none could dampen the spirit of protesters. Dramatic visuals shared by news agency ANI showed a man in an East Bengal jersey and a man in a Mohun Bagan jersey detained inside a police vehicle — surrounded by a sea of people demanding justice for the 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital.

TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, who has been posting against the party line since the protests over the case began, said football and sports lovers should unite to protest against the arrest of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan supporters. “I appeal to all football and sports lovers to protest unitedly against the arbitrary arrests of supporters of Mohunbagan and East Bengal in a peaceful and democratic manner. Jai Mohunbagan! Jai East Bengal!” he said in another post on X.

The fans of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, two of India’s oldest football clubs with glittering trophy cabinets, have had frequent fracas in their century-old rivalry, keep engaging in shrill and scorching social, and were involved in an ugly stadium clash that killed 16 people in 1980. But Sunday was all about unity and solidarity for a cause.

While one user on social media said it was the first time that “60,000 supporters of Mohun Bagan & East Bengal football club came together & demanding justice for the doctor of #RGKarHospital”, another pointed to the “Never seen before visuals unfolding in #Kolkata!” News18 couldn’t independently verify the number or people gathered for the protests.

Another user said: “United we stand. It’s now or never.” The post was accompanied by a photo of a purported East Bengal supporter with a Mohun Bagan fan.

In another dramatic turn of events, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan supporters were joined by fans of the Mohammedan Sporting Club, a third Kolkata football giant that is on a resurgence path after decades on the wane.

The supporters shouted “we want justice” in chorus. And becuse of these protests, the bypass — an arterial road surrounding the city of Kolkata — was closed for at least three-and-a-half hours, according to News18 Bangla. Some accounts also said the Mohun Bagan skipper Subhasis Bose met with the protesters.

“I myself had reached outside the stadium and several other football fans had also reached…It was for the first time that the supporters of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were together…If half of the police that had reached there were deployed for the match, it could have been conducted…” All India Football Federation president and BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey told ANI.

A protester near Salt Lake Stadium told the news agency: “We [East Bengal and Mohun Bagan supporters] have come together because of the RG Kar incident. The police had said that they would not be able to provide protection, therefore the match was cancelled…Where did the police force come from now?”

Another pointed to the big security deployment of police in view of the protests and wondered why the derby could not be conducted. “…Where did such a lot of police force come from? You had said there was no police force and will not be able:to give police protection [for the match]…Why did the police lathi charge?…”

“This is not a fight of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, this is entire India’s fight..,” a person donning East Bengal’s red and gold jersey told ANI.

The supporters near Salt Lake Stadium turned on their mobile flashlights and darkness descended, according to News18 Bangla, which said the protesters overcame rain to raise their voices.

The BJP was quick to hit out at the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress over the cancellation of the much-awaited derby. “Rare photo indeed! East Bengal and Mohun Bagan supporters united in protest against Mamata Banerjee!”, Amit Malviya, the party’s information and technology department in-charge, posted on X.

“Despite cancelling the East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan derby, scheduled for 18th Aug, for fear of protests, seeking justice for RG Kar MCH rape and murder victim, football fans turned out in large numbers this evening…,” Malviya said in another X post.

“Mamata Banerjee couldn’t stop them. But Kolkata Police lathi-charged the crowd gathered there. Sad and unfortunate. This is going to be the death knell for the ruling TMC in Bengal,” he added.

The “Kolkata Derby” is over 100 years old — and despite India’s over-100 FIFA ranking, the folklores of the derby have made their way to the Western media. It has split Bengalis down the middle, forcing them to choose sides in a highly emotive contest. In the end, it was the RG Kar incident that bridged a gulf that was widely considered insurmountable.

The gruesome hospital crime has shaken the nation, brought the functioning of the hospital under scrutiny, led to the ouster of its principal, prompted a court intervention, and sparked a political war of words. The Calcutta High Court has handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). One person has been arrested in the case.