KOLKATA'S STUNNING TAHRIR SQUARE MOMENT

IT was Kolkata's own Tahrir Square moment, its own Shahbagh.

- MONIDEEPA BANERJIE

Actually, let me revise that. I watched Tahrir Square very closely on TV. I saw Shahbagh with my own eyes, having had the opportunity to report on that movement in Dhaka. But Kolkata today is perhaps even more extraordinary. All of Kolkata today became the hallowed ground of the most astonishing people's protest ever. In the 77 years of its Independence, I dare say India has not seen anything like it.

With a grating, metallic screech, the nine-foot-high metal barricades were dragged aside this afternoon by policemen on the narrow BB Ganguly Street. The road leads to Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters.