(Top): Film-maker Mrinal Sen (centre) at Wednesday’s march to protest lawlessness in Nandigram. (Below): Mrinal Sen at Thursday’s rally voicing support for the state government. Pictures by Pabitra Das and Amit Datta

Calcutta witnessed two processions on two days — one starry, apolitical and silent, the other starry, state-backed and gimmicky. Metro was in both to spot the differences — and one curious commonality.

Crowd count

Wednesday: At least 60,000 people marched from College Square to Esplanade to protest the lawlessness in Nandigram. Volunteers in the silent procession put the figure closer to the 100,000 mark.

Thursday: The number of participants at the rally for “peace and development of Bengal” from Eden Gardens to the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road fell short by a zero (6,000), according to unofficial estimates, while the official police figure stood at 15,000.

Police presence

Wednesday: As the procession prepared to start from College Street at 1pm, it found its path blocked by normal weekday traffic.

The police had taken no steps to allow smooth passage to the silent march. Finally, the sheer numbers forced traffic to part. Police presence was paltry. Traffic snarls were localised.

Thursday: At least 500 policemen, led by deputy commissioner (south) Jawed Shamim, were on duty hours before flag-off at 4pm. Traffic along parts of Park Street, Chowringhee, Red Road and Esplanade was diverted and parking zones made no-parking for a few hours to make way for the rally. The traffic snarls spread far and wide.

Sights and sounds

Wednesday: The march was silent, with only a few groups breaking out into “We shall overcome” along the way. At Esplanade, there were a few songs of protest.

Thursday: Song and dance by Adivasi groups, pro-CPM speeches, voices of support for the government, relief at peace returning to Nandigram, ugly comments against some newspapers and TV channels.

Celebspotting

Wednesday: Mrinal Sen, Sankha Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Anjan Dutt, Goutam Ghose, Usha Uthup, Mahasveta Devi, Jogen Chowdhury, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Joy Goswami, Bibhas Chakraborty, Suvaprasanna, Mamata Shankar, Saoli Mitra, Koushik Sen, Parambrata Chatterjee, Debleena Dutt...

Thursday: Mrinal Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee, Mithun Chakraborty, Sova Sen, Arindam Sil, Anindita Sarbadhicary, P.K. Banerjee, Subodh Sarkar, Chuni Goswami, P.C. Sorcar (Jr), Usha Ganguly, Biplab Chatterjee...

Common link

Mrinal Sen: “Just because I was at the rally yesterday does not mean that I cannot be at this gathering today,” argued the veteran film-maker on the Mayo Road dais on Thursday. His presence at Wednesday’s rally had raised eyebrows, as he is a Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee favourite and had inaugurated the film festival last week. “I met him (the chief minister) in Nandan (after the rally) for over an hour. He said he was aware of all developments and hugged me. I am all for peace in Bengal,” concluded Sen.