Kolkata. Two days after the talks with the protesting doctors failed, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached the protest site of junior doctors on Saturday. During this, she said that if the agitators can trust her, she would be ready to consider their demands, but for this she needs time.
Banerjee said the administrative and police officials whose resignations the junior doctors have demanded are not their “friends” – they “need time to investigate” them. He claimed this would be his last attempt to appeal to the junior doctors.
Earlier on Thursday, the scheduled talks between the state government and junior doctors over the issue of livestreaming at Nabanna failed. While the CM waited for two hours for the protesting junior doctors inside Nabanna, the junior doctors remained outside after the state government rejected their demand to live stream the meeting.
The junior doctors at the protest welcomed Mamata Banerjee and said they were ready for discussions with the government “anywhere”, but added that they would stick to their five-point demands.
West Bengal Police Director General Rajiv Kumar reached the protest site with Mamata Banerjee at around 1 pm on Saturday. Holding the microphone, the Chief Minister said, ‘I have come to you personally. My position is not a big thing. People’s positions are big. I could not sleep last night. I felt pain. It was raining last night and you were sitting on the protest… I also had sleepless nights because I am your guardian.’
‘If you return to work. I promise I will study your demands and talk to the authorities. I will consider your demands sensitively. If you trust me, give me some time. I will take action against anyone found guilty.’
Banerjee said, ‘You all are brothers and sisters. Please return to work. We have started work to develop infrastructure in hospitals.’
‘I will make principals chairpersons of all Rogi Kalyan Samitis in all hospitals in the state.’ Earlier these posts were held by political figures, MLAs and MPs. The Chief Minister said, “Everyone, including students, will get proper representation in the committees.”
She said, “As a chief minister, elder sister and being a part of your movement, I will try to solve your problems. I cannot force you. I can only appeal to you. When the CPIM was in power, I went on a hunger strike for 26 days. No one came to me then. I will not take any action against you. We are not the Uttar Pradesh police. We need you back. Think and decide,”
Before leaving the protest site, the chief minister said, “We have to investigate someone’s role before taking action. This cannot happen overnight… If I can come to your dharna stage, trust me and give me some time. No complaint of corruption has come to me. If there is any complaint, we will investigate and punish,” Banerjee reiterated and added, “I promise there will be no injustice,”
Later, speaking to media persons, junior doctor Aniket Mahato said, “The chief minister is the guardian of the state – we welcome her coming to the dharna stage. We have been on the streets for 35 days. It would have been better if talks had taken place earlier. We are ready to talk anytime and anywhere. But there will be no compromise on our five-point demands. We want to return to work.”
Mahato said, “We went to Nabanna, but the government did not allow live streaming. So we had to return.”