Kolkata(West Bengal): This Viswakarma Puja, Kolkata will be witness to a different type of kite festival amid the ongoing protest demanding justice for the horrific incident of rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-owned RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, more than a month ago. Kite manufacturers have incorporated various protest messages in their craft and the demand for the specialised kites is much higher than their normal versions.
After ‘Reaclaim The Night’ protests rocked Kolkata and several parts of the country, this seems to be the perfect moment to “Claim The Sky’ with those specifically crafted kites. The ‘Justice for RG Kar’ message has been doing the rounds in every possible means of communication, from the doctors’ prescriptions, receipts of online food delivery to the donation bills for the upcoming Durga Puja. This year the theme for all pujas seems to centre around the nocturnal brutality at RG Kar.
Heartwrenching slogans like ‘Tilottama won’t lose’(the symbolic name for the deceased doctor), ‘Bring Abhaya’s Perpetrators to Justice’, and ‘Aar Kobey’(the symbolic song penned by singer Arijit Singh) are finding space on the kites, which will dominate the Kolkata sky on Tuesday on the occasion of Visawarma Puja.
Subhajit Garai, a kite seller at Hatibagan market, said, “Buyers want to show their protest by flying those kites, embedded with those slogans. So we have made these special kites which are selling Rs. 15 apiece. There is a good demand for the kites”.
Another seller in Lebutala market said, “Initially, I had ordered about 100 kites which were sold in a snap. Then another order for 200 kites was placed out of which only 10-20 are left. I never imagined the demand would be so huge and if there was some time, I could have restocked more. People are finding a new means of registering their protest by flying those on the festive day”.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had appealed to the protesting junior doctors to return to festivities which fell on deaf ears. Some people even appealed to turn the festivities into a mode of protest.
The reverberations of the slogan “We want justice’ will hover over the sky before the arrival of ‘Devipaksha’ which announces the arrival of goddess Durga from Mount Kailash.
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