Thirteen hours before he died, Anish Khan put out a post on Facebook. It was a photograph of two women on a scooter — the driver wearing a headscarf and the pillion rider holding a small idol of Ganesha. “This is what keeps India together, Please do not kill it for a few votes,” he wrote.
In the early hours of February 19, Anish, a slim 28-year-old MBA graduate from Aliah University in Kolkata, who had recently enrolled for a journalism course at Kalyani University, allegedly fell to his death. From the accounts of his friends and neighbours, and his social media posts, Anish was politically active, a champion of justice, and always brimming with hope. He was popular among the Left students’ unions in Kolkata. He was associated with the Students’ Federation of India in the past, and often led rallies on various issues including the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). In his village Dakhinkhanpara, in Howrah district, Anish was sought after at every social and community programme for his oratory skills. He never hesitated to air his views on social media. “You are human, I am human too, and the only difference is having a spine!” he had posted less than two weeks before his death.
While West Bengal is no stranger to political violence, Anish’s unnatural demise has sparked massive protests across the State and rattled the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government. Soon after the news broke, students blocked roads at important arterial intersections and broke police barricades. By that evening, they had stopped traffic at the famous Park Circus crossing.
