Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pulled a surprise on the protesting doctors Saturday when she reached their protest site on a holiday, in an attempt to end the stalemate that has cornered the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.
The incessant rains since Friday hasn’t deterred the junior doctors, who huddled under makeshift tarpaulin camps all night as the protests entered 33 days. Mamata reached the protest site at Swasthya Bhawan in Salt Lake around 1pm.
“I have come here as your Didi, but I am also the Chief Minister, and I request you all to join work. It has been raining all day, I couldn’t sleep all night thinking that you all are out in the rain. I can’t sleep when you are on the road for days. I salute your movement, I too have spearheaded student movements and I salute your spirit. I am with you, I too want justice for the RG Kar victim,” said Mamata, accompanied by Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar.
“Despite concerns regarding my safety and security, I have come to speak to you here.”
This is the first time the West Bengal chief minister has met the junior doctors on protest since last month when the gruesome rape and murder of a junior doctor was reported at the government-run R.G. Kar Medical and Hospital. It was also perhaps the first time that Mamata met protesters, since taking charge of the state in 2011.
“We need you, if you have any trust in me and believe me, please join work. Give me some time, I will act if any charges against the officers are proven to be true. You know, I alone don’t take decisions, there are administrative officials too. I need to consult them as well and see what we can do further to fulfil your demands. It’s been 33 days you are out on the roads; just like your families, I am also worried. I will not take any action against you all, please join your work,” Mamata appealed amidst slogans of ‘we want justice’.
She further assured the junior doctors that no action would be taken against them like in Uttar Pradesh. “This is my last attempt to resolve the crisis.”
The West Bengal CM also urged the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), currently investigating the rape and murder case to complete investigation and hang the culprit within the next three months.
“I’ve come here as your elder sister, not as your Chief Minister!”
Smt. @MamataOfficial requests the protesting doctors to resume services as she promises to stand beside them in the quest for JUSTICE! pic.twitter.com/tB9FsbOIZ7
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) September 14, 2024
Just seconds after Mamata left the protest site after her five-minute address, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front declined to withdraw the ongoing protests.
“We are grateful the Chief Minister came to meet us all the way here, and we are ready for discussions immediately. But we want discussions, and we stand by our five demands. We will not let the spirit of this protest die down; we will continue with our protests till our demands are not fulfilled,” Dr. Aniket Mahato told the media before convening a general body meeting.
On 9 August, a 31-year-old trainee on-duty doctor was found dead in a seminar room in RG Kar hospital. The police arrested Sanjoy Roy, a Kolkata Police civic volunteer, and then added the rape charge in the case. Four days on, the Calcutta High Court handed over the investigation to the CBI after pulling up the Kolkata Police for a shoddy probe.
The junior doctors have placed five demands before the Trinamool Congress government, including the resignation of Kolkata Police chief Vineet Kumar Goyal; removal of Health Secretary, Director Medical Education, Director Health Studies; disciplinary action against DCP North & Central; and suspension of former R.G. Kar principal Dr. Sandip Ghosh.
They are also demanding proper security in all hospitals for healthcare workers, an end to what they call “threat culture” running in government facilities and justice for their colleagues.
Cardiologist Dr. Kunal Sarkar, who has openly supported the protesting doctors, said this move by the chief minister was an attempt to apply a “fresh coat of paint” on the damaged health department.
“There are three aspects I see in this gesture of Mamata Banerjee’s. Firstly, she wants to take the higher exit from this turmoil. Secondly, the government has understood the discussions with the junior doctors will be an ugly one because till the time you don’t acknowledge the problem you cannot find a solution and, in this case, they are the problem. And thirdly, this kind of movement to seek accountability hasn’t happened in the past and something she is facing for the first time of such scale,” he told ThePrint.
He added that this was a welcome move that showed the CM’s humane side and that it could make for a good start to a healthy discussion between the two sides.
“Last time the talks were called off due to live streaming demand and that was illogical. When your own PR that advocates transparency while replacing a sink in the district, it is live streamed, it will one day come back at you and that’s what has happened here. The party and the government will want to wrap this up at the earliest, but the junior doctors don’t seem to be letting go without being heard,” he added.
On 9 September, the Supreme Court had directed the protesting doctors to resume their duties during the previous hearing. The matter will be again taken up 17 September.
A hurdle arose Thursday when the TMC government refused to live-stream the discussions at the secretariat, pointing out it is a sub judice matter. A busload of 32 doctors sat outside the auditorium at Nabanna, while the CM waited for two hours inside an empty auditorium with selected civil servants.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya took a dig at the West Bengal CM in a post on social media platform ‘X’, saying that her visit was “a media photo-op to sow seeds of suspicion among the medical fraternity.”
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, in an apparent response to the BJP’s Bengal co-incharge, quipped, “in a World of king-size egos, some actions stand apart” while sharing a clip of Mamata’s visit.
This “historical movement”, political analyst political analyst Udayan Bandyopadhyay said, would continue to inspire many in the future as well.
“Doctors started this movement. The society, at large, reacted later. This has become a mass movement now. So, we cannot highlight a particular political attitude of the movement. This historical movement shall remain as inspiration to many who strive for a just society. After much socio-political articulation, it’s the time to integrate the core issues. That is the task of political parties,” Bandyopadhyay told ThePrint.
“If this interest aggregation is done successfully through policy alternatives and positive action, the system shall survive. The CM is and shall remain popular among the masses. Articulation and aggregation should be aimed at the particular group of people, who first raised the demands. Otherwise, the CM’s visit is noteworthy and appreciable.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Case of the missing CBI lawyer: How RG Kar rape-murder accused almost got bail
