Of Kolkata Metro assault and the media buzz

Shubhadeep Choudhury

While the police have filed an FIR against “unidentified persons” for assaulting a couple in the Kolkata Metro, four names are doing the rounds on the social media. One of the four whose names figure on the social media is vigorously defending the assault. On his Facebook page, the elderly man, who has affiliation with a Hindu right-wing outfit, has uploaded a video of a woman radio jockey giving a second-hand account of the incident, claiming the couple had acted outright silly and had nobody but themselves to blame for the assault. Loads of abuses are being posted on Facebook pages against the alleged accused, addressed as “dadu” (grandpa). An elderly man has filed a complaint with the police, the CID and the cyber crime branch for being falsely accused on the social media as one of those who thrashed a couple in the Metro last week for  getting “too intimate.” 

Kashmiris’ agony

Rakesh Kaul, vice-president of Kolkata Kashmir Sabha, was born and raised in Kolkata. His visit to Srinagar in 1989 to get married is etched in his memory. The day after the wedding, he visited his wife’s place, as is the custom among Kashmiri Hindus. On their way back, his wife’s brother offered to accompany them along with friends. Having seen the Naxalite unrest in Kolkata in the seventies, Kaul pooh-poohed the idea. But the bride’s mother insisted that the boys accompanied the couple. So, he agreed, grudgingly. As they hit the road, Kaul could sense fear among the locals. He abandoned the plan to visit Pahalgam for his honeymoon and flew straight back to Kolkata.

When he revisited Srinagar in 1994, he found the doors and windows of the family’s ancestral home were missing. The furniture inside had vanished too. “We met the CM and asked for reservation in educational institutions for displaced Kashmiri families. But nothing happened. We obviously do not constitute a worthwhile political constituency,” rues Kaul, who runs a factory in Pagladanga area of Kolkata.

Of Rabindra sangeet

In the latest “Mann ki Baat,” PM Narendra Modi’s said when he was young he loved listening to Rabindra sangeet (songs written by GurudevTagore) on the radio at 5.30 am. The remark has triggered a controversy. Apparently, AIR does not go on air so early in the morning. The first Rabindra sangeet programme of the day is aired by AIR Kolkata at 7.45 am and the timings were no different when Modi was young. 

Politician’s portrait 

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is reportedly peeved with a section of her supporters for displaying an old picture of her’s on their Facebook pages. She feels she looks too fat in the picture.The story goes that the CM signalled her disapproval of the picture when she saw one on display at  party secretary-general Partha Chatterjee’s office. Immediately, instruction was sent out to party offices and government establishments to replace CM’s old pictures with new ones. But the social media was left out from this exercise. Fresh instructions have now been issued to TMC supporters to replace Didi’s “fat” pictures on the Facebook with new ones.

Playing Mamata 

The BJP has alleged that one of its workers, Aditi Mukherjee, is being harassed by the police for playing Mamata Banerjee in a street play on the Rohingya issue. The actress says she was asked by the CID to appear at the state police headquarters at Bhawani Bhawan. “The Chief Minister likes to lambast the Central Government for destroying democracy. But look at the state of democracy in her own state,” remarked BJP’s Shamik Bhattacharya.