WB govt's handling of RG Kar hospital rape-murder case led him to resign: BJP's Shazia Ilmi on Jawhar Sircar's resignation
Sep 09, 2024
New Delhi [India], September 9 : After the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Jawhar Sircar resigned from Rajya Sabha over the RG Kar rape and murder case, BJP leader Shazia Ilmi on Monday said that the way the State government has handled and neglected the issue has led him to sumbit his resignation.
Ilmi further said that not only Sircar but other senior leaders of the TMC such as Suvendu Shekhar Roy has also expressed anguish which potrays an increasing conflict within the TMC.
Speaking to ANI, the BJP leader said, "Jawahar Sircar has decided to resign. He thought that being in the government or being connected to it or being Rajya Sabha member would be difficult. He has given the serious reasons behind it. He has expressed his unhappiness due to the way this matter was handled and neglected and this is the reason he has offered his resignation. This shows an increasing conflict within TMC. You may have heard what Suvendu Shekhar Roy has said against Kolkata Police, so this is the situation of senior MPs in TMC. So, you can think what may be the condition of general public; I think its untenable. There is no point of Mamata Banerjee being in the government, she should resign."
On September 8, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Jawhar Sircar wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister and party chief Mamata Banerjee, offering his resignation from the Rajya Sabha.
His decision comes in the wake of the recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, which has sparked nationwide outrage.
In his letter to West Bengal CM, Sircar expressed deep disappointment over the government's handling of the situation and urged Mamata Banerjee to take decisive action to "save the state."
"While thanking you sincerely for giving me such a great opportunity to represent the problems of West Bengal as an MP in the Rajya Sabha, I must inform you that I have decided to resign from parliament and also from politics altogether," he said.
"I have suffered patiently for a month since the terrible incident at RG Kar Hospital, and was hoping for your direct intervention with the agitating junior doctors, in the old style of Mamata Banerjee," it read.
The TMC MP further said, "It has not happened, and whatever punitive steps that the government is taking now are too little and quite late. I think normalcy may have been restored in this state much earlier if the caucus of the corrupt doctors was smashed and those guilty of taking improper administrative actions punished immediately after the scandalous incident happened."
Following his resignation, his party colleague Kunal Ghosh said that the TMC agrees with the "spirit of his letter," which he dubbed as personal decision.
"Jawahar Sarkar is a respected person. He is one of the best bureaucrats in the country. This is his personal decision, his personal letter, I cannot comment on it. He has full right to take any decision about himself," Ghosh said while speaking to ANI on Sunday.
"We just want to say that we also agree with the spirit of his letter, the questions. We are with the sentiment of society but whatever his stand is, it is his personal decision. We also demand justice. We stand with the society. We also demand justice," he added.
The TMC government in West Bengal has been under intense criticism following the trainee doctor's death, which led to widespread protests and a subsequent CBI investigation into both the murder and financial irregularities at the hospital.
The body of the trainee doctor was found in the seminar room of the R G Kar hospital on August 9. The incident sparked nationwide protests. A civic volunteer was arrested shortly after. The CBI also arrested Dr Sandip Ghosh, for alleged financial misconduct at the medical establishment.