RED DAWN RISING

It was a near-forgotten sight— College Street boipara (book market), the education hub of Kolkata, awash with red.

- Romita Datta

Left flags with the hammer-sickle-star and buntings with Che Guevara’s silhouette were back. So was the colour that once ruled the city, then consigned to relative obscurity over the past decade following the Trinamool Congress’s overwhelming presence in political signage. The afternoon was a flashback from an earlier era.

Most of the crowd of around 10,000 choking College Street on September 2 for hours, protesting the state and Centre’s handling of the educat ion sector, were young members and supporters of the Students’ Federation of India, the students’ wing of the CPI(M), and the Democratic Youth Federation of India, its youth wing. The crowd sang old tunes celebrating the sweat and toil of labourers and peasants. They talked of a return of democratic rights, a rejection of the divisive politics of religion and identity.