TMC MP Jawhar Sircar to resign over ‘faulty handling’ of Kolkata doctor rape-murder case by Mamata govt

Jawhar Sircar, a Rajya Sabha MP of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) partyin the Indian state of West Bengal, announced on Sunday (Sep8) that he would be stepping down as a lawmaker over the Mamata Banerjee government's 'handling' of the Kolkata doctor rape and murder case.

Sircar, a former bureaucrat, expressed his anguish at the state of affairs in the party and corruption, and warned that there was angst in the people against the government.

In his open letter to CM Mamata, Sircar also said that he was leaving the world of politics and registered his protest against the corruption within the ruling Trinamool Congress by a section of leaders who, he said, are gaining in strength.

"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 said.

Sircar is a former Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer and had joined the TMC in 2021.

He politician said he would go to Delhi and submit his resignation to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

He further said in the letter that the ongoing agitation of doctors was against the "unchecked overbearing attitude of the favoured few and the corrupt".

Why did Sircar step down?

In the letter to Banerjee, Sircar said that he joined the TMC as it offered "an excellent forum to carry on the struggle against the autocratic and communal politics" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Referring to the corruption in West Bengal, Sircar mentioned the 2022 West Bengal school job scam, and said, "I was quite shocked to see on TV and print (media) the open evidence of corruption that the former education minister indulged in."

Hepointed out that he made a public statement that corruption must be tackled by the TMC and the state government, "...but I was heckled by senior leaders of the party."

Sircar added that he did not resign earlier as he hoped that Banerjee would carry on with her public campaign against corruption.

"Though I carried on my task in Parliament with fervour, I became increasingly disillusioned as the state government seemed quite concerned about corruption and the increasing strong-arm tactics of a section of leaders," he added.

What did Sircar say on Kolkata horror?

On August 9, a trainee postgraduate doctor at the RG Kar College and Hospital in Kolkata. There has been nationwide uproar over the Banerjee administration's handling of the case.

Banerjee herselfhas faced calls for resignation by the opposition in the aftermath of the tragedy.

In his letter to the chief minister, Sircar said, "I have suffered patiently for a month since the terrible incident at the RG Kar Hospital, and was hoping for your direct intervention with the agitating junior doctors, in the old style of Mamata Banerjee."

"It has not happened, and whatever punitive steps that the government is taking now are too little and quite late."