Kolkata. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she was ready to resign “for the sake of the people” and regretted the refusal of junior doctors to hold talks to resolve the impasse in the RG Kar rape-murder case.
Banerjee waited for nearly two hours for the agitating doctors to arrive for the meeting. She said she too wanted the victim to get justice. She apologised to the people of West Bengal for the continued impasse. “We have endured a lot of lies and humiliation in the last 33 days,” she said at a press conference, but assured the protesters that she would not take any action against them despite them violating the Supreme Court directive by not returning to work.
In a dramatic turn of events, the agitating junior doctors who reached the gate of the state secretariat (Nabanna) refused to hold talks with the state government until their demand of live telecast of the meeting was met. As per the demand of the protesters, the talks were to be held at 5 pm in the presence of Banerjee. The protesters remained at the gate of the venue after reaching the secretariat at around 5.25 pm.
Banerjee said the meeting with junior doctors cannot be telecast live, as demanded by them, because the matter is pending in the Supreme Court. He said his government has made arrangements to record it and hand over the recording to them (junior doctors) if needed with the permission of the court.
She said, “For the sake of the people, I am ready to resign. I also want the victim to get justice, but this is not the way. We have suffered a lot of defamation and humiliation in the last 33 days. I thought that the junior doctors would talk for the sake of the patients and on humanitarian grounds.” She said, “We have been waiting for two hours, hoping that maybe the junior doctors will understand something… I apologize to those who expected that the problem would be resolved today.” She claimed that “external instructions” were influencing some junior doctors not to participate in the discussion.
Referring to the negative comments against her government on social media, she said, “Many people tried to defame our government on social media as well. People came out for justice, but they do not know that it is being given a political colour…they want the chair. I am ready to resign from my post for the sake of the public. I do not want the chair.” Referring to the death of 27 patients and the suffering of about seven lakh patients due to the ‘work strike’ by junior doctors, Banerjee said, “I also want justice for the victims, but the doctors will have to return to work after the Supreme Court’s decision.”
The chief minister said she was not taking action against the agitating doctors and had forgiven them because she was “bigger than the doctors”. “I am still saying that I will not take any action against them for not coming and making us wait for two hours. I will forgive them because as elders it is our responsibility to forgive our younger ones,” she said.
The chief minister said, “I waited for three days for them to come, but they did not come…violating the Supreme Court’s direction. They did not return to work. But we have not taken any action because sometimes you have to deal with such situations with patience.” Banerjee said she wanted to discuss with them with an open mind as solutions can only be found through discussions. The junior doctors began their strike on August 9, when the body of a female intern was found in the hospital’s seminar room. Since then, the protests have been growing, disrupting healthcare services in government hospitals across West Bengal.
The protesting doctors blamed the government: said they never asked for the resignation of the Chief Minister
Agitating junior doctors in West Bengal on Thursday blamed the state administration’s adamant attitude for not allowing them to live stream a meeting to resolve the impasse over the Kolkata-based RG Kar Hospital case and reiterated that they had never demanded Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation. The doctors termed Banerjee’s remarks blaming them for the impasse as unfortunate and said their ‘stop work’ agitation will continue until their demands are met.
The doctors said, “The Chief Minister’s comment is unfortunate. We wanted talks to take place.” However, the state administration is adamant on not allowing live telecast of the meeting, an agitating doctor told reporters. “Our demands are legitimate. We wanted live telecast of the meeting for transparency.” The agitating doctors on Thursday refused to hold talks with the West Bengal government to resolve the deadlock until their demand of live telecast of the meeting is met.
As per the demand of the protesters, talks were to be held at 5 pm in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Chief Minister waited for more than an hour to meet the agitating doctors, however, the meeting did not take place at the scheduled time.
The protesting doctor said, “We have never demanded her resignation nor have we come here to press for it. We have come here with our demands for justice for the doctor who lost her life in RG Kar Hospital. We wanted to resolve this issue. We are very sad that there was no dialogue but we will still wait for the response of the administration.” Another doctor said that the protesters never demanded Banerjee’s resignation.
He said, “We have no such intention at all. Our aim is justice (for the doctor who lost her life in RG Kar Hospital). We had five demands, in which we did not demand her (Mamata’s) resignation anywhere. Our demand is clear. We want that those who obstruct the path of justice should be brought to justice. Even the victim’s parents did not demand her resignation.” Expressing regret over the doctors’ refusal to negotiate, Banerjee urged them to return to work and said that she is also ready to resign and leave the post for the sake of the people. Banerjee claimed that she tried very hard to negotiate with the protesting doctors in the last three days. She said that the talks with the doctors cannot be broadcast live as the matter is sub judice and in the Supreme Court.
Banerjee said, “We waited for three days, but they (doctors) did not come. I hope people will understand that they do not want justice, they want a chair. I am ready to resign from my post for the sake of the people. I want justice for the victim and the people of the state.”