TMC alleges rift among striking doctors, says a section wants to resume work
The junior doctors, however, refuted the TMC’S allegations, saying that discussions on multiple points were held in the meeting till a conclusion was reached
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been on the backfoot over the RG Kar rape and murder case and the state-wide protests, alleged that a rift had developed among the striking junior doctors before they went to hold talks with chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday.
“The junior doctors held a meeting among themselves at the protest site in Salt Lake before going to meet the chief minister at her residence in Kalighat on Saturday. There was a clear rift among the doctors in the meeting. While a section wants to resume work and continue with the protests, another section didn’t want the talks to be fruitful and wanted the impasse to continue,” Kunal Ghosh, TMC leader told the media while releasing an audio clip of the meeting.
A few thousand junior doctors in various medical colleges across the state have been on a strike for the past 37 days demanding justice for the trainee doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered on August 9. Since September 10, the striking medics started a sit-in outside Swasthya Bhavan, the headquarters of the state health department, with five demands.
The impasse has been continuing as talks between the chief minister and the protestors failed to take off twice last week as the two sides failed to agree on the terms and conditions of the meeting.
The junior doctors, however, refuted the allegations saying that discussions on multiple points were held in the meeting till a conclusion was reached.
“We have heard the audio clip. It is true that the clip was recorded when the meeting was going on before going to the chief minister’s residence. But it is not true what is being portrayed as a rift. There is no rift. Such meetings are held to arrive at a conclusion. We have representatives from all the medical colleges in the state. When we arrive at a conclusion, we all agree and stick to it,” Aniket Mahata, a protesting doctor told the media.
This is, however, not the first time that allegations of a rift among the protesting doctors over holding talks with the government have been made.
On September 12 when the first meeting between the government and the striking medics failed to take off, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had told the media: “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.”
Earlier, TMC leaders, including legislators Chandranath Sinha, Lovely Maitra and Udayan Guha, had launched scathing attacks against the protestors and opposition parties over the continued protests in the state.
Last month, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala posted a video of Maitra, in which the latter purportedly referred to protesting doctors as butchers citing the impact of their strike on poor patients. In an earlier speech, she had asked party workers to take revenge against those who were raising fingers at the TMC supremo.
In another video, north Bengal development minister Udayan Guha could be seen telling party workers: “If they bite you once, you have to bite them five times. Only then this propaganda will stop and the attempt to disrupt the pace will stop.”
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had to intervene and ask party leaders to be more humble and more sympathetic.
“Public representatives across party lines need to be more HUMBLE and SYMPATHETIC. I urge everyone in @AITCofficial not to speak ill of anyone from the MEDICAL FRATERNITY OR CIVIL SOCIETY. Everyone has the right to protest and express themselves— This is what sets West Bengal apart from other BJP-ruled states,” he wrote on X.
Both the state government and the senior party leaders blamed the protesting doctors for some of the patient deaths in various hospitals, alleging that they didn’t receive proper medical treatment because of the strike.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the state government, told the Supreme Court last week that 23 people have died as a result of the doctors’ strike following the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital in August.
On September 13, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on X that at least 29 people have died in various hospitals “due to disruption in health services because of long drawn cease work by junior doctors.”
She even announced a token financial relief of ₹2 lakh to family members of each deceased person. The state government, however, refused to share any details of the 29 victims citing privacy of the victims.
“There have been more deaths. We are verifying. The names and other particulars can’t be shared as it would infringe on their privacy,” said a top official.
“The state government is on the back foot over the doctors’ protest as it has the support of the citizens who have hit the streets on multiple occasions. It is desperately trying to break this protest and hasn’t left any stone unturned. While on the one hand the chief minister and chief secretary are inviting them for talks, the legal options have also been kept open,” said Rabindranath Bhattacharya, professor of political science at Burdwan University.