A section of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan fans unfurled giant banners on Sunday at Salt Lake stadium during the Kolkata I-League derby to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.
The East Bengal fans’ banner read: Rokto diye kena mati, kagoj diye noy (land was bought with blood, not documents). Another display showed the character Batul the Great, a popular superhero comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. With Batul being told that “NRC ashchhe, palaa palaa (Go away, the NRC is coming), the superhero Batul shows an amazing display of his muscle power. Most East Bengal fans trace their roots in Bangladesh, who were forced to leave home in East Pakistan during the Partition of 1947.
Mohun Bagan fans reciprocated by displaying a banner that showed people in East Bengal jerseys being welcomed by a man in Mohun Bagan colours.
The setting of Sunday’s match was unusual, highly charged, emotional and a display of camaraderie between the archrivals. There were over 63,000 football fans at the Salt Lake stadium who watched the match in which Mohun Bagan defeated East Bengal 2-0.
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