It is often said that when a political outfit thinks that people have no role in a democracy other than casting their votes, it goes on to commit a big mistake! Then, a successful mass movement can easily shake the (ruling) party and its arrogance. The successful (although unexpected for some!) Reclaim the Night Movement in eastern Indian Province of West Bengal, other major Indian cities and different parts of the globe on August 14-15 (2024) night after the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old lady doctor at Radha Gobinda Kar Medical College and Hospital (Asia’s first private medical college and hospital in Kolkata established in 1886) may well be considered as one such movement!

It may be noted that Reclaim the Night originated in Leeds in 1977, in response to the sexist statements and attitudes evident in the Police’s criminal investigation into Peter Sutcliffe, referred to as the Yorkshire Ripper in the media. One of the campaign’s aims is to reclaim women and marginalised genders’ Right to Access Public Spaces safely and freely. The Collective define Reclaim as a “powerful” campaign that raises “awareness for sexual harassment and gender-based violence”, an issue which often goes “unrecognised”. (Source: Mancunion)

The basic character of a mass movement is that no famous personality or political outfit organises such a movement, as it is organised by the common people. If any individual, organisation or party claims credit for organising a mass movement, then they should be recognised as opportunists. Even if a conscious citizen plans to start a mass movement, s/he has to hand over the baton (of leadership) to the mass. The task of the person(s) who would convene such a movement is to maintain this particular character of mass movement and to channelise the anger of common people in the right direction. As this basic understanding was maintained in most places, the August14-15 night saw people from all walks of life joining the protests, demanding justice for the young doctor, in different parts of West Bengal, India and many other countries. This is a unique experience, as well as learning, in contemporary India.

Read: Hospital Case will Either be Mamta Banerjee’s Kalinga or Her Waterloo – She can Change Course or Perish

As it was never considered as a movement by young ladies belonging to the so-called elite class, the first calls went to gig workers! As per an article published in Kolkata-based Bengali-language daily Anandabazar Patrika on August 21 (2024), officials of an organisation, which provides maids to households, visited their clients to talk about the issue of sexual abuse of women officials at workplaces. Hence, girl students, home-makers, Women’s Rights activists, common people, along with the rebellious feminists, took to the streets in Kolkata that night. Surprisingly, aged women, who often blame clothing of a victim as the main reason for heinous crimes (like rape) just like other bearers of a patriarchal system, also joined the Reclaim the Night movement!

India, perhaps, has experienced a movement that not only demanded justice and punishment for the rapists, but also stood up against blaming the victim for the crime, in a rare first! Victim-blaming has long been a part of Indian culture. The people (read women) of India threw the legacy of this particular culture into the dustbin by reclaiming the night! Interestingly, public toilets for women remained open on the night of August 14-15 in Kolkata. It has triggered a new claim: Why do women’s toilets across the eastern Indian city close at 10pm?

The protesters did not use banners of a particular political outfit or a social organisation that night. However, it is important to notice the relationship or equation between this movement and contemporary Indian politics. When the conveners made phone calls to common people in order to confirm whether they would take part in the movement, many reportedly asked the conveners: “Are you a member of any political party?” It shows that rather than identifying themselves as supporters of any political outfits in particular, they wanted to attend the event spontaneously. People, who could take to the streets and organise night-long rallies in 500 places of a city within 48 hours (of receiving the information about the movement) while conquering the fear of the Police (or State Power), are not at all cowards! Their reluctance to take part in protests organised by a political outfit shows that people get frustrated with the politicisation of crimes in India! Hence, this politically motivated movement cannot be considered as an apolitical movement.

This disgust is also political! This time, people have rejected the party flags (or political identity) because they are well aware of the activities of corrupt politicians and their vested interests. This is called political awareness in a true sense. The Reclaim the Night Movement allows ordinary girls and marginalised gender groups to start communicating with the State, directly. They have put forward a question to the State as to why the Internal Grievance Committee (formed by the administrative authorities for receiving reports of incidents related to sexual harassment) has turned into a farce? This, too, is purely a political question!

The Reclaim the Night Movement in India has shown that an important political movement can have a non-partisan character! When the protesters do not allow political leaders to join them, they only implement the demands of the common people. In India, common people have decided that they will not allow any party to gain political mileage from the incident of violence (in particular, the rape and murder of a young lady doctor). This movement is also against the current authoritarian and corrupt political system in West Bengal (as well as in India), as protesters have made it clear that they would never allow the Patriarchal political leaders to influence the civil society by dictating terms and conditions (of social norms).

Read: Tragic Death Of Indian Doctor Sparks Global Protests!

Hence, the Reclaim the Night Movement can justly be considered as the awakening of collective consciousness…

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das