TMC leaders strike conciliatory note

KOLKATA: The ruling Trinamool Congress is split in three voices on the ongoing doctors strike since Tuesday, ranging from belligerence to conciliatory and finally the resolute.
Joining ranks with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abesh Banerjee and mayor Firhad Hakim’s daughter Shabba Hakim, Baidyanath Ghosh Dastidar, MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s doctor son, took to Facebook to “apologise” for any criticism by the party to doctors and their cause and their “ill-informed” comments.Baidyanath later edited his post.

Venting his ire, Baidyanath said it was “unacceptable” how 200 people could enter a government hospital and “literally kill a 23-year-old doctor” and for only five of the 200 persons arrested so far. He said he felt it was sickening that the brightest minds of our state sit in the open and demand protection against lynching, and it was reprehensible that some people were trying to colour doctors along political lines when they give their life to serving people. Baidyanath replicated Shabba, who had also taken to Facebook to “apologise.” Banerjee, who is a reticent Facebook user, sources said, has been resolute in his support for the protesters.
The chief minister had earlier refused to react to these comments, saying they were “children”.
Unlike the CM’s hardened stance on Thursday at SSKM hospital, party’s secretary-general, Partha Chatterjee — also the state education minister — appealed to striking junior doctors to “keep aside” misunderstandings and withdraw their agitation. In a Facebook post, Chatterjee said all their grievances could be solved through discussions with the government. “I would like to appeal to my young friends to keep aside misunderstandings and join back at work. We should not lose faith on masses. I too have been involved in student politics and now after being appointed in a position, still believe that all of us should work towards serving the masses. Just like you need security, patients also need treatment. I would appeal to all of you to think over it,” he said.
Mayor Firhad Hakim, too, struck a conciliatory note. “It is my appeal to striking doctors to resume work. Many people are dying in hospitals state wide for lack of treatment, please see this with compassion. Please enter a discussion with the state but keep the services functional. Your work place security is being considered by the chief minister herself and has been scaled up. People treat you like God so please do your duty to them,” he said. Filmstar MP Dev, however, highlighted a predicament. “Why will the people who save our lives be assaulted again and again? Their security is our responsibility. Again, on the other hand if doctors do not stand by the lakhs who are helpless, who will? Let good senses prevail and the problem is resolved,” he wrote on Twitter.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, didn’t see anything wrong in her “outsider” comment. “I am told that many people didn’t like my comment that outsiders were there among the protesters. I didn’t say anything wrong. I have been told that a person seen giving an interview has been working in a private clinic for the past decade. Is he a junior doctor?” she said. She had earlier claimed that the agitators had refused to talk to her or pay heed to her aides, MoS (health) Chandrima Bhattacharya and city police commissioner Anuj Sharma.