A crime and the wind of change

Like millions of my compatriots, I am watching the news coming from Calcutta (now Kolkata) with anger and a sense of shame.

First, there was a horrific act of rape and murder of a Junior Doctor inside a government hospital. This showed not only how insecure women are, but also how broken down the healthcare and education systems are in the city.

Then, it was apparent that this was no ordinary murder. The hospital administration, the police and the State government rushed in to destroy evidence and cover up through any means possible.

After that, when people protested and took to the streets in an unprecedented way, the arrogance of the administration was plain. The Police Commissioner, despite the litany of failure (including Police Officers getting arrested for destroying evidence), would not resign; the Chief Minister would not meet the protesting doctors in a transparent way (they are demanding the meeting be recorded or live streamed); the bureaucrats from once-glorious Indian Administrative Service peddling fradulent data blaming hospital deaths on striking junior doctors (despite clear evidence on the contrary). 

What started as a story of one particular administration failing to maintain law-and-order (alongside healthcare and education) has now become a spectacle of the failure of Indian democracy: There is no accountability in the administration. All the party politicians (except one or two exceptions) towed their party line and failed to express remorse or shame (indulging in what-abouts). Even the celebreties, who thrive on public approval, mostly avoided the issue. 37 days after the fact, this crime has assumed the totemic status - this may change the politics of the state forever!

It is obvious that the ruling elite of the state doesn't think that this is going to be that significant. They point out that this is just some city people marching with candles - soon the festivities would start and they would forget all about it. They know their votes come from the villages, from religious divisions, from handing out dole and from favours in the forms of jobs and subsidies. And, perhaps, there is some truth in it: The Bengali middle class professionals would rather take flight and leave the state, rather than getting into politics and fight. The excitement on social media may not translate into political action, and so far, the rural areas have been as indifferent to the Calcutta protests as the Calcutta citizens have been in the past when such atrocities took place in the villages. 

The protests have now become focused on the Junior Doctors, who are demanding safer working conditions and getting rid of corruption in the healthcare. However, it seems that the administration can't address - won't address - even these most common-sense demands. This is where the hope of change comes from: The administration can't even address the most basic demands, and they stand exposed along with all their enablers. They may not care for the votes of the urban population, but they care for their money and approval. They may think that social media does not represent the popular mood, but it is to social media they turn for likes and approvals. I sense that the tipping point has now come, when the celebreties would start feeling the pinch because of the impending festival season and start abandoning the ship. Many of them are Members of Parliaments, and losing them would lead to loss of political power.

It came as a surprise to me, but I have realised that I believe that social and political change should be gradual. But these gradual changes usually manifest at a tipping point, when the keepers of the existing order appear clueless. This seems to be happening now in Calcutta. What's crumbling is not only the ruling party's grasp over the narrative, but the structure of the state politics - defined by muscle power of the politicians and apathy of the urban populace - which remained the same for over fifty years. Many of today's senior politicians, including the Chief Minister, were rabble-rousers then, and they shaped the politics of the state. We have now arrived at its end game. I am, therefore, looking out for change.