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Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee waiting for the doctors to join the dicussion. (Image: X/@AITCofficial)
Doctors protesting against the RG Kar rape and murder case skipped the meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over Live streaming
“I am ready to resign,” said Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after deadlock with the junior doctors protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital last month. Banerjee’s big statement came after Trinamool Congress shared dramatic visuals in which Banerjee can be seen sitting alone in a hall waiting for junior doctors.
The deadlock between Mamata Banerjee and junior doctors continued on Thursday evening after a delegation of 32 camped outside the state secretariat but refused to enter and meet the Bengal Chief Minister after the authorities did not allow the live streaming of the discussion.
Visuals released by the TMC showed Banerjee sitting in an empty auditorium with rows of chairs and tables laid out in a semi-circle before her.
Would you ever see a @BJP4India CM waiting 1.5 hours to engage in open dialogue with protestors? Absolutely not.From JNU to the farmers’ protest, from wrestlers’ protest to Manipur – PM @narendramodi and BJP have consistently shown a disregard for democratic discussion and… pic.twitter.com/huTzNvbklG
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) September 12, 2024
Banerjee while addressing a press conference said that she waited for 2 hours but the doctors did not show up, “If people want justice, I am ready to resign for people’s interest. I don’t want CM’s chair.”
“We have been waiting for two hours to meet the doctors. We had written to them and they said they would come and that is why we made these arrangements. We wanted to have discussion with an open mind. The Chief Secretary, the Director-General of Police, Home Secretary… were all here,” she added.
Clarifying why the government did not allow the live streaming of the discussion, the Bengal Chief Minister said, “Since the matter is subjudice, therefore it is not possible to show live. I tried thrice to hold talks with junior doctors to end the protest. I will still not take any action against agitating junior doctors, will forgive them since we are elders.”
‘Tried Our Best…’: Mamata Govt Explains
After the doctors did not attend the meeting following the state government’s refusal to hold a live telecast, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant said, “We have tried our best to make them understand. We have explained to them what all arrangements have been made. We have made recording arrangements so that the entire proceedings are well documented. There should be trust between the two parties… We want to listen to them.”
“There should not be any difference or opinion in it, there is no conflict situation. Both of us are working with the same objective. So I don’t understand why they are feeling that unless there is live streaming we will not go to the meeting. We want to document everything and discuss it with them properly,” he added.
The Dramatic Mail Exchange
Earlier today, the doctors were invited, for a third time, to meet the state government and negotiate an end to their strike in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Before this, two invitations this week were rejected by the doctors.
The first was rejected because it was sent by Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop. Notably, the doctors were demanding the resignation of the sender. The second letter was also rejected because of the state government’s refusal to live-stream the meeting and the limit on the number of people attending the discussion.
The third invitation was accepted by the junior doctors, in which Pant stressed that the state is “always willing to engage in a meaningful dialogue”. However, Pant also mentioned that live-streaming would not be allowed.
The junior doctors have been holding a sit-in protest outside the state’s Health Department HQ for several days now. Meanwhile, several other senior doctors have returned to work following the Supreme Court’s order.
