‘5th And Final Time’: Mamata Banerjee Invites Protesting Doctors For Talks Today (image-X/MrSinha_)
The West Bengal government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended its fifth and final invitation for talks with the junior doctors protesting over the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. Earlier meetings between the state government and the protestors were called off, citing disagreements on many issues.
On Monday, Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant said in an email that representatives of the junior doctors have been invited to the fifth and final meeting to be held at Banerjee’s Kalighat residence at 5 pm today.
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Pant also added that no live streaming or videography of the meeting will be allowed as the matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court. The letter, however, added that the minutes of the meeting will be recorded and signed by both sides.
The delegation of protesting doctors that came for the previous discussions has been invited to arrive at the CM residence at 4:45 pm. The doctors are currently holding a meeting to decide whether to accept the invitation.
On Saturday, a delegation of the protesting doctors met Banerjee at her residence, demanding justice for the deceased and her family. The meeting followed the chief minister’s surprise visit on the same day to the protest site near Swasthyo Bhavan, where Banerjee assured that the demands of the doctors would be addressed.
The chief minister had also invited them for tea at her place to facilitate discussions; however, the invite was declined by the protestors, who have been demanding to livestream the meeting, the reason behind the month-long impasse between the two sides.
Banerjee, on Saturday, asked the doctors to not “insult” her after delay in the talks. Meanwhile, the doctors claimed that they were asked to leave “unceremoniously” after waiting for over three hours outside Banerjee’s residence. They agreed to have the meeting without the livestreaming, but after notifying Chandrima Bhattacharya, the Minister of State for Health, of the same, they were asked to leave as it was too late, claimed the protestors.
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Meanwhile, BJP IT-cell head Amit Malviya slammed the letter for being “laced with overtones of intimidation.”
“Using ‘sub judice’ as the reason to decline a request for live-streaming/videography is absolute trash and smacks of a conspiracy,” he stated in an X post.
