A statement by Trinamool Congress leader Lovely Maitra has created a ruckus. Maitra had compared the junior doctors protesting against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College to ‘butchers’. BJP has cornered TMC on this issue. BJP national spokesperson Shahzad Poonawala posted a video of Lovely Maitra’s speech on his social media and targeted TMC over his remarks. He has asked whether the ruling TMC in Bengal will sack Maitra or try to save him like RG Kar’s former principal Sandeep Ghosh.
Shehzad Poonawalla wrote on the social media platform X, “TMC MLA Lovely Maitra has compared protesting doctors to butchers. She is also the wife of an IPS in Kolkata Police who is issuing notices and summons to doctors. Why so much hatred against the protesting doctors? Just because they are holding the Mamata government and her police force accountable?”
Doctors are becoming butchers in the name of protest- Lovely Maitra
The TMC leader reportedly made these remarks while speaking at a party event recently. “Doctors are becoming butchers in the name of protest. The poor and deprived people who come to government hospitals from the interiors of Bengal, rural areas, those who cannot afford treatment in private hospitals are suffering. They are not being treated. Are they (doctors) human beings? Is this humanity?” he said in Bangla. In another video from the same event, he was also heard issuing a warning to the CPI(M) in West Bengal. A lawyer associated with the Left party has also filed a complaint against him for his revenge remarks.
TMC leader gave clarification
As the controversy erupted, Maitra was forced to issue a clarification for his remarks. “Doctors are gods. Poor people consider doctors as gods. But the way they are protesting I think they will be called nothing but doctors. Why are they going to Lalbazar and not the CBI?” Maitra was quoted as saying by News18.