'I'm Ready To Resign': Mamata Banerjee's Big Statement Amid Talks Deadlock, Kolkata Doctors Respond

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday that she was ready to resign “in the interest of the people”, a remark that came amid deadlock over talks to end a work boycott by junior doctors who are protesting against the rape-murder of a trainee doctor in a state-run hospital in Kolkata.

“I don’t want the CM’s post,” Banerjee said in an address to the media. “Our government has faced a lot of insult…There is a colour [political colour in the protests]. People came out on the streets for justice. But I hope people are understanding that…they [her rivals] just want the chair. I am ready to resign in the interest of the people,” she added, apparently reiterating her charge that rallies against the gruesome crime at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital had been hijacked by her political rivals — namely the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left.

The bickering continued late into the evening. “We don’t want her chair or her resignation. This is an apolitical movement. This movement is now the country’s movement. We are here for Abhaya’s justice. Cease-work will continue and we will wait,” one of the doctors on protest said, using the name the people of Bengal has given the rape-murder victim. Abhaya means fearless.

The chief minister’s party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), shared on X a photo of Banerjee sitting in front of a row of empty chairs, presumably kept ready for the delegation of junior doctors, who also wanted a live telecast of the meeting. The two sides could not reach a middle ground, as the deadlock dragged on.

“We waited for more than two hours,” Banerjee said in her press meet, minutes after dialogue with the doctors broke down for the second straight day even before they had begun. “We wanted to have discussion with an open mind,” she added, reiterating that the doctors’ protest had disrupted health care services in West Bengal and that 27 patients had died since the beginning of the demonstrations last month.

Moments later, the TMC shared another post addressing the doctors: “For the sake of the lives that are at stake, kindly call off the cease-work & resume your duties. We seek your support in these trying times. Yours truly, Bengal.”

The TMC, which initially wanted a smaller team of doctors for the meeting with CM Banerjee, had agreed to the demand for a 30-member delegation, but was not on board with the idea of a live telecast. “Since matter is sub-judice, it is not possible to show live,” a Bengal government official said, referencing to a Supreme Court case. The state, however, had agreed to record the meeting.

Tug of war

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had asked the doctors to join work by 5pm on Tuesday, but both the Bengal government and the protesters drove a hard bargain on the conditions for the meeting that could have ended, or at least taken a step towards ending, the impasse. The two sides were engaged in a lengthy mail exchange; the doctors had put forth several demands including justice for the 31-year-old victim and end to what they called threat culture in Bengal’s medical system, among others.

While Banerjee was unsparing in her criticism of politics in the protests on Thursday, she said her administration wouldn’t take any action against the doctors even though the administration could have taken steps under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to ensure normal life is not adversely impacted. The chief minister and her party say the campaign by junior doctors are turning fatal for patients that require emergency services, but the protesters assert that senior doctors are on duty and health care services are unaffected by their demand for justice.

The RG Kar incident has jolted the nation, brought the functioning of the hospital under the scanner, led to the ouster of its controversial principal, prompted a scrutiny of the case by the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court, spawned allegations of cover-up and a larger conspiracy, led to the passing of a stringent anti-rape bill in the Bengal assembly, and sparked a bitter political war of words. One person, a civic volunteer who had easy access to the hospital, has been arrested. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing the case.

The BJP has stepped up pressure on the chief minister amid massive protests calling for justice and accountability that has put her government under pressure. The TMC has accused the BJP and the Left of politicising the protests.