AIFF director Kalyan Chaubey also joined the protest outside the iconic Salt Lake stadium.© X (Twitter)
In a rare display of camaraderie, supporters of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan gathered at the Salt Lake Stadium to protest the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Amid the ongoing protests in Kolkata, the first derby of the season between the two bitter rivals was cancelled on the eve of the match on Saturday. All India Football Association (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey also joined the protest outside the iconic Salt Lake Stadium.
Over the past week, violent protests have taken place in Kolkata over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
To avoid a similar situation in the stadium, the Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan on Saturday was cancelled.
According to reports, the Durand Cup organisers were considering moving the match outside Kolkata with Jamshedpur hosting the match.
However, Chaubey criticised the decision to cancel the match and was also not in favour of holding the matches outside Kolkata.
“The first derby match of the season between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan was supposed to be held today and the number of policemen deployed here to stop this match and arrest the supporters who had come to watch the match, if even half of them had been deployed, this match would have been held today. East Bengal, Mohun Bagan matches should have been held here,” Chaubey told reporters during the protest.
Chaubey also demanded that the perpetrator(s) behind the alleged rape and murder of the woman doctor should be punished.
“I believe that football is not involved in politics, it is above all religion, caste. I am confident that if you organize the match here, there will be no commotion, no unrest on the football field, I am confident that all the people will support their teams peacefully, but the match should not be moved here… The people of football also want the perpetrator to be caught as soon as possible and the perpetrator to be punished,” he added.
Topics mentioned in this article
Mohun Bagan
Football
Kalyan Chaubey