'Never Asked For it': Protesting RG Kar Doctors Hit Back at Mamata Over Her Resignation Offer

Kolkata: After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a dramatic statement offering to step down, protesting doctors clarified that they had never demanded her resignation. Instead, they had only requested a public meeting to address their concerns, doctors said. "We just want that our meeting should be in front of everyone. We don't want the recording because the recording can be edited. Everyone can see the live streaming. Our only motive is that everything should be in front of everyone...We've full faith that it (meeting) can happen. We want live streaming. Our protest will continue till we get justice", Dr Anurag Mandal, a junior doctor who was part of the delegation that went to meet CM Mamata Banerjee, said while speaking to reporters.

Furthermore, the doctors accused Mamata of using her remarks to shift blame onto them for the stalemate surrounding the RG Kar issue. “The chief minister's remarks are unfortunate. We wanted the talks to take place. However, the state administration was adamant about not allowing live streaming of the meeting. Our demands are justified. We wanted live streaming for the transparency of the meeting,” another agitating doctor said.

“We had never asked for her resignation and are neither here to press for it. We are here with our demands for the sake of justice for the murdered doctor of RG Kar Hospital. We wanted to resolve this issue. We are extremely unhappy that the talks did not take place. But we will still wait for a response from the administration,” the protester added.

What Exactly Happened?

The protesting doctors refused to engage in talks with the West Bengal government to resolve the deadlock at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, insisting that the meeting be live-streamed.

The discussions, set for 5 p.m. with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , were delayed as she waited for over an hour to meet the junior doctors. However, the meeting did not take place as scheduled.

What Mamata Said?

Speaking to reporters Mamata Banerjee said she was "ready to resign" for the "sake of people".  The Chief Minister asserted that she also wanted the victim to get justice and apologised to the people of West Bengal for the continued deadlock. "We have tolerated a lot of canards and insults for the last 33 days," she said at the presser but assured the protesters that despite violating the Supreme Court directive by not resuming duties, she would not take action against them.

Banerjee said the meeting with the junior doctors cannot be live-streamed as demanded by them because the issue is sub-judice and before the Supreme Court. She said her government had made arrangements to record it and hand over the recording to them with the permission of the apex court if needed. "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 tolerated a lot of canards and insults for the last 33 days. I thought the junior doctors would engage in talks for the sake of the patients and on humanitarian grounds," she said.

"We have been waiting for over two hours, hoping that reason would guide the junior doctors... I apologise to the people who expected that the issue would be resolved today," she said and claimed that "external instructions" were influencing some junior doctors not to engage in discussions.

The TMC supremo also claimed that she wanted discussions with them with an open mind as solutions can be reached only through discussions.