May 13: Police action on anti-quota protesters in New Delhi triggered a series of protests across Bengal today.

Youth For Equality, a national forum of medical students and junior doctors, staged a demonstration at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital to protest the Delhi incident. Students of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital and North Bengal Medical College and Hospital also boycotted classes as a mark of protest.

“We will hold a meeting on Sunday to decide on a state-wide strike. We submitted a deputation to the governor earlier this month demanding immediate clarification from the government on this issue. But so far, the authorities are silent. If it takes an indefinite strike to jolt them into action, so be it,” said Satyajit Das, convener of Youth For Equality’s Calcutta chapter.

The national forum is also trying to bring engineering and management students in its fold to give the movement more momentum.

“Students of Presidency College, Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science University have expressed their willingness to join our movement. The proposal to introduce 27 per cent quota for other backward classes is a threat to general students of all streams,” Das said.

During tomorrow’s meeting, the forum will also decide how to bring about co-ordination among students of all streams, he added.

In the Burdwan medical college, about 300 students of the first, second and third year boycotted classes. Principal Udyan Ganguly said the students had informed him earlier about the boycott.

Around 500 students of North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, about 8 km from Siliguri, held a rally on the campus against the proposed quota. “The rally is also in protest against the treatment meted out to demonstrators in Delhi yesterday,” students’ union secretary Swapnadeep Sengupta said.