West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee offered to resign amid protests by junior doctors demanding justice for a murdered colleague, accusing them of political motives.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she was willing to resign for the sake of justice after a tense two-hour standoff between the state and protesting doctors, ratcheting up the political controversy over the grisly rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata last month.
Banerjee also indicated that the protesters were politically motivated and wanted her chair, not justice for the 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital on August 9.
Her comments came after a delegation of junior doctors – who have struck work now for over a month – reached the state secretariat for talks with the chief minister, but sat outside the auditorium for two hours because the government didn’t agree to their demand of live-streaming the negotiations.
“I am even willing to resign for the sake of the people. I don’t want the chief minister’s post. I want the people to get justice, Tilottama (a reference to the rape victim) to get justice and for the common people get medical treatment,” Banerjee said in a dramatic press conference.
A 34-member team of junior doctors reached the state secretariat at around 5.25pm on the invitation of the chief secretary to hold talks with the chief minister. Banerjee waited in the auditorium from 4.50pm to 7pm, but the doctors refused to enter over a demand of live-streaming the proceedings. The government said it couldn’t live-stream the talks because the Supreme Court was hearing the matter and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is hearing the case.
The doctors later said they never demanded the resignation of the chief minister, or her chair.
“We were hurt by this statement. We didn’t go there to hold discussions about her chair. We went there to demand justice and to discuss our five demands,” said a protesting doctor.
The developments came on a day the state health department sent a letter to all government-run medical colleges asking for a list of junior doctors who resumed duty after the Supreme Court’s order. This created a furore with senior doctors saying they would join the strike if punitive action was taken against junior doctors.
Doctors across the state have been on strike since August 9 demanding justice for the junior doctor who was raped and murdered in RG Kar Hospital last month. The incident has triggered a nationwide uproar.
The doctors have five demands – justice for the murdered doctor; action against all officials responsible for alleged tampering of the evidence; action against former RG Kar Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh; the resignation of Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal; and the creation of a safe environment for doctors in medical colleges and hospitals in West Bengal.
In its last hearing on the case, the Supreme Court asked the doctors to return to work by 5pm on Tuesday. But the agitators have defied the deadline, saying their demands hadn’t been met.
In her press conference, Banerjee largely struck a conciliatory tone but in the end, lashed out at what she called were political elements who were obstructing talks with the government.
“We have tolerated many canards and falsehoods. Our government has been humiliated and maligned. People came out for justice but they don’t know that there is a political colour diverting it…They don’t want justice, they want the chair,” she said.
She sought to apologise to the people of West Bengal, noting that 27 people had died due to lack of health care facilities, and around 700,000 people were affected.
“We have been waiting for over two hours, hoping that reason would guide the junior doctors…I apologise to the people, who expected that the issue would be resolved today,” she said. “I waited for three days for them to come, but they did not come… violated the SC directive.”
The body of the second-year postgraduate student, who was allegedly raped and murdered inside a seminar hall of the hospital, was found on August 9. The crime took place at the third-floor seminar hall of the chest department late at night and police later said that multiple lacerations and wounds were found on her body.
A 31-year-old civic volunteer with the police, Sanjay Roy, was arrested the next day in connection with the case and was sent to 14-day police custody. But by then, the crime had left Kolkata stunned and prompted sweeping protests by doctors who struck work and women’s groups demanding safety.
The investigation was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which later arrested Sandip Ghosh on corruption charges.
Since the gruesome crime, protests have swept Kolkata as agitators have alleged a string of missteps by the state administration and actions by Ghosh and the city police to tamper with evidence. The government has denied all allegations.
There are around 93,000 registered doctors in West Bengal out of which around 7500 are junior doctors. Hundreds of junior doctors have been holding a sit-in outside the Swasthya Bhavan, the headquarters of the state health department, since Tuesday defying the deadline.
The first efforts of negotiation began on Tuesday afternoon when state health secretary NS Nigam sent an email to the protesting doctors. But the talks broke down after the protesters demanded the health secretary’s resignation. Then on Tuesday, chief secretary Manoj Pant wrote to the doctors, inviting a team of 12-15 members but didn’t mention whether the chief minister would chair the meeting. The doctors responded stating that they would send a team of 30 members, demanded that the proceedings of the meeting with the government be telecast live to maintain transparency, and asked that the chief minister be present.
Pant sent a second letter on Thursday afternoon, inviting the protesters for talks at 5pm at Nabanna, the state secretariat.The government said the team should comprise 15 doctors and that there would only be video recording of the proceedings, no live-streaming.
The junior doctors reached Nabanna with a team of more than 30 doctors while sticking to their demand of live-streaming. “We want an open discussion. If the Supreme Court’s hearing can be streamed live, the chief minister’s administrative meetings can be streamed live, then why not this meeting? There is nothing to hide,” Aniket Mahata, a protesting doctor, said before the meeting.
But once they reached Nabanna, it became clear that a stand-off was in the offing. For over two hours, Banerjee waited inside the auditorium at the state secretariat with state junior health minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. Seating arrangements were already made for the doctors and Banerjee to preside over the meeting.
At least three video cameras were set up to record the proceedings. Outside the auditorium top bureaucrats including the chief secretary and home secretary and senior police officers, including the director general of state police, negotiated with the doctors’ team.
In her press conference, Banerjee explained her stance.
“The Supreme Court is hearing the case and CBI is investigating it. It is a subjudice case. There is a protocol. We agreed to record everything to maintain transparency. Three video cameras were set up. We could have shared the recordings with both the apex court and the doctors,” Banerjee said.
“The doctors came to Nabanna but never attended the meeting. I forgive them. Some of them were willing to join the meeting. But instructions were coming from outside not to go for negotiations,” she added.