KOLKATA: Police personnel and BJP supporters clashed on Thursday during a march in the Bengal capital to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital earlier this month.
The BJP’s march to Swasthya Bhawan, the headquarters of the state health department at Salt Lake, began at a place around 5 km away. The party had earlier announced that its leaders would gherao Swasthya Bhawan.
The rally led by state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari tried to break the police cordon set up at several places along the route.
The police were seen trying to pacify the BJP supporters but later chased them to disperse. Adhikari was detained by police and put inside a prison van, following which the BJP activists tried to forcibly free him.
“By arresting me or beating up BJP workers, the TMC government cannot run away from its responsibilities. We want immediate resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and we won’t stop till that happens,” he said.
Adhikari said he along with four other leaders wanted to meet the state health secretary and submit a letter. “We were not allowed to submit it. Our party leaders, including me and our party MP Samik Bhattacharya, were detained,” he said. The saffron party workers shouted slogans ‘We want justice’ and ‘Mamata Banerjee, resign.’
“The police were very active in stopping our march to Swasthya Bhawan. But, they were inactive when RG Kar Hospital was vandalised. We want the truth to come out. The TMC government has completely failed to protect the mothers and sisters of our state. Mamata Banerjee should immediately resign as chief minister,” Majumdar said.
The young woman doctor, whose body was found on August 9 in the seminar room of RG Kar Hospital, was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty. The incident has sparked nationwide protests, with medics observing ‘cease work’ at several hospitals.
Junior docs intensify stir
The General Body Meeting of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Federation said late on Thursday night that ‘cease work’ will continue till Sunday. The meeting decided to intensify the stir by resorting to hunger strike. It also said that it felt “a bit disheartened” by Supreme Court observations. “If not now, then never. We cannot afford to back off now after putting in such efforts. We have our future genera-tions to answer to,” the junior doctors said.