Kolkata derby football cancelled in wake of RG Kar Hospital outrage

The authorities have cancelled the Sunday's high profile Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan Super Giant at the Salt Lake Stadium in view of the wave of protests sweeping the city and the police already stretched thin in controlling the crowds.

The Salt Lake Stadium was set to witness an unique mass protest on Sunday seeking ‘justice’ for the lady doctor who was raped and murdered at R.G. Kar Hospital.

A terse press release from the Durand Cup media team, a tournament of the Army, announced that the final Group A fixture of the two big guns – the first of their clashes in the 2024-25 season – stands cancelled. ‘’All online and offline tickets will be refunded,’’ it said.

The supporters’ groups of both clubs, who make for the most bitter rivalry in Indian football history, had come together to flood the social media with visuals and calls of 'Dui gallery te ek swar, justice for RG Kar' (Let there be one noise in both stands: we want justice for RG Kar).

It’s been more than a week since the public mood had been boiling over in Kolkata over the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the government college and hospital. Thousands took to the streets of Kolkata as well as far flung district of West Bengal on the night of August 14 to usher in the Independence Day with candle lit protest marches, songs and street corner meetings – with the dominant theme of letting women reclaim the streets.

An armed mob of hooligans, meanwhile, overpowered the elaborate police arrangement at the R.G. Kar Hospital the same night to ransack the emergency and other departments – destroying public property. A blame game has ensued since then between Mamata Banerjee’s state government and her political rivals.

The doctors’ agitation in the city has resonated in other parts of the country with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) calling for a nationwide strike of their services on Saturday.

The remainder of the matches in the 2024 Durand Cup arelikely to be shifted to Jamshedpur. “There are multiple options that the tournament committee is looking at. Jamshedpur is an option but there might be logistical issues. But nothing is confirmed at the moment and we are looking for the best solution,” an official from the organising committee said.

The match being cancelled, both teams will share a point each. It is unlikely to affect Mohun Bagan, who has already qualified for the quarterfinal round of the tournament while the abandoned game has left East Bengal in a precarious position.

Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly – the former Indian captain seen as a cultural icon of the city – has come in for a veiled flak in the social media for his comments on the R.G.Kar incidents. Calling it a ‘stray incident,’ Dada felt that it was not a general commentary on women’s safety in the state in general and Kolkata in particular.