New Delhi: In a scathing letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Jawahar Sircar resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. Sircar cited his deep disappointment with the Mamata-led government’s response to the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“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,” Sircar wrote the letter.
Read Complete letter here:
In his resignation letter, Sircar voiced his frustration with what he sensed as a lack of decisive action from the Chief Minister, stating that he had hoped for her “old Mamata style” of intervention to quell the ongoing protests by doctors. He accused the government of inaction and a delay in taking punitive measures against those responsible for the crime and the subsequent mishandling of the case.”I have suffered patiently for a month since the terrible incident at RG Kar Hospital, & was hoping for your direct intervention with the agitating junior doctors, in the old style of Mamata Banerjee,” the letter reads further.
Sircar pointed to the widespread public anger and lack of confidence in the government, highlighting the urgency of addressing the root cause of the tragedy, including the “unchecked overbearing attitude of the favoured few and the corrupt.”
He believed that timely action by the government could have prevented the escalation of the situation and brought normalcy back to the state. Following his resignation, Sircar stated he would ” disassociate myself totally from politics”.
The incident, which sparked widespread outrage and protests, has cast a shadow over the state government. The victim’s family faced multiple delays and alleged attempts to cover up the crime, with the hospital administration and police coming under scrutiny for their handling of the case.
