Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: ‘Live Telecast Impossible’- Mamata Banerjee Rejects Doctors’ Request

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday called upon agitating junior doctors, who had gathered outside her residence, to attend a meeting scheduled later. The doctors refused to step inside unless the talks they were staging outside demanding transparency through live streaming of the talks are broadcast live. Legal restrictions relevant to the case, which are subjudice, do not allow live streaming of the meeting. Instead, she assured that the meeting would be videotaped and sent for viewing, if the Supreme Court permits it.

Banerjee Appeals For Dialogue Amid Doctor’s Protest
Banerjee made an emotional appeal to the protesting doctors. “Please come inside my residence,” she said. “I don’t want you to stand in rain.”. She said she was open to talking and dismayed that they were reluctant to talk after they issued several invitations. “Why are you people insulting me like this? Please don’t insult me,” she added as a reference to their absence in previous attempts at meeting. Banerjee has been genuinely trying to calm the agitated junior doctors protesting for over a month to seek justice in connection with the rape-murder case of a woman at RG Kar Medical College.

The doctors were still seeking attention outside. They continued demanding live streaming of the meeting, in which they were supposed to meet top state officials like DGP Rajeev Kumar and Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, who had been waiting with Banerjee at her residence. The standoff marked rising tension between the two parties.

Doctors Demand Live Streaming For Transparency
The protesting doctors have been insisting on live-streaming discussions, saying transparency is a must. “We want live streaming so that other junior doctors protesting at the site can also see what happens in the meeting,” said one of the representatives. The doctors said they will permit their videographer to capture the meeting for transparency, and Banerjee’s security personnel declined saying that it would be for security purposes only.

The doctors, however, do not yield to this assurance by the health secretary Banerjee that they would be shown the video recording of the meeting. They have foreseen a lack of transparency in the discussions if it would not be live-streamed. This, they fear, will further delay the resolution to their demands.
Stalemate Over RG Kar Hospital Crisis

On Thursday, a similar incident happened with the doctors and Chief Minister where she failed to meet due to a disagreement over live streaming. Banerjee waited for more than two hours at the state secretariat for doctors to attend the meeting, where the absence of agreement on transparency halted discussions. She then said that she was prepared to resign from her position if that is what has to be done for people since justice was the reason.

Some Visit Banerjee’s Residence
Banerjee granted the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front only 15 representatives in Saturday’s session. Still, the doctors agreed to that if their demand for live streaming was met. They said they would hope that their demands for transparency would spur a breakthrough in the stalemate.

One of the protesting doctors was heard saying: “We will come and attend the meeting and then go back to the protest spot to let everyone know what happened. But we need transparency for this.”

Doctors’ Email Request A Second Meeting
Before the gathering on Saturday, doctors had written to Banerjee suggesting that they hold a follow-up session after she had popped by the protest site unannounced. They welcomed her and considered it a gesture of goodwill. In the email, junior doctors also reiterated their demands on transparency and adequate representation, and they seem to have met halfway.

“We are eagerly waiting for your positive response to end this deadlock,” the doctors said in their email, urging for a joint decision to their five-point demand. The protesters also mentioned that they would maintain their movement non-political, seeking justice alone in this case.
Banerjee’s Assurance of No Repercussions

Earlier in the day, Banerjee had visited the protest site and reassured the protesting doctors that no punitive action would be taken against them for staging the protest. She said she sympathized with them and believed democratic movements should not be suppressed, a distinction she drew between West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Banerjee’s surprise visit, led by top officials, was just the right move to ease tensions and restate her commitment towards resolving the doctors’ concern. Yet assurances notwithstanding, doctors remained adamant over their insistence on meeting their demand for clarity over live streaming before returning to work.

Healthcare Services Disrupted Amid Protests
As of now, it is poised to be a long standoff between the West Bengal government and the protesting doctors. While Banerjee has announced that she is open to dialogue, the doctors seem intractable in their demand for transparency. This standoff has not only affected healthcare services but has more importantly brought to the surface issues regarding trust and transparency between the state government and its medical fraternity.