Sravasti Dasgupta 
New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Jawhar Sircar, who resigned from the party on Sunday (September 8) and announced his decision to resign from the Rajya Sabha in protest against the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government’s handling of the R.G. Kar rape and murder case and corruption in the state, has said that his decision to step down was an act of “self-immolation not for a party but to stop communal authoritarian forces from taking power”.
After writing to Banerjee announcing his decision to step down – in which he stated that he had “suffered patiently” for a month after the R.G. Kar rape and murder waiting for Banerjee’s “direct intervention”, Sircar said in an interview with The Wire that the chief minister must take “corruption head on”.
His is the first major resignation in the TMC since the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, which has put the TMC government in the dock with Banerjee facing unprecedented protests against her administration.
Sircar, a former bureaucrat who joined the TMC in 2021 said that former R.G. Kar Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh’s suspension was “too little, too late” and the ongoing protests in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal against the TMC government are “as much about Abhaya as about the system”, referring to the posthumous name given to the August 9 incident’s victim.
“My [act] is just a warning to the only party that can save Bengal from the BJP, a timely, practically suicidal warning that please take corrective action or that party will come to power,” he said.
“I suspect it [the TMC government] is in danger and there is no question of snap polls, but people may do anything to teach them a lesson. There are about one-and-a half to two years left for elections [in the state]. Please do course correction,” he said.
Read edited excerpts of the full interview below:
1. In your letter, you spoke about “open evidence of corruption” in 2022 by the then-education minister Partha Chatterjee (who has since been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate) and the need for it to be tackled. But said you chose to stay in the party, what prompted you to take this decision now?
You see, corruption is getting from bad to worse not only in West Bengal but in the rest of India as well. It is happening in all states and corruption is just increasing by leaps and bounds. Bengal is not able to stand the fact of this corruption. The swagger of corruption may be much smaller than in Uttar Pradesh or Punjab, but it hurts us more. This [the protests] is as much for Abhaya as it is against a system.
My act [of resignation] is just a warning to the only party that can save West Bengal from the BJP, [a] timely practically suicidal warning – that please take corrective action or that party will come to power.
2. In your letter, you said you had not met Banerjee in several months. Did you seek a meeting and try to communicate your concerns to her?
I had passed on my concerns earlier. Today we had a conversation, but that has been private.
3. What was the response from your party colleagues? There was no communication to you that they would try to redress your concerns?
Yes, one or two top leaders have been in touch to understand the concerns I am raising, but I [had] been saying from August 13 or 14 that Sandip Ghosh [the former R.G. Kar Hospital principal] [needed] to be suspended. But you go and suspend him after a month and after the CBI has arrested him – which was too little too late.
4. You speak about course correction by the TMC government in your letter. What kind of steps should be taken at this point?
I have seen Banerjee for a long time and I know that her personal style is very simple. Then why are you allowing your people to become so demonic? If some want to switch to the BJP if you don’t allow corruption, let them.
Now she has to reach out to the doctors directly. She has to call them and talk to them directly and persuade them. It is no longer useful to send a minister now. Maybe three weeks ago, she could have. Every day is a loss, and there is protest every day.
5. The ongoing protests in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal are not just a doctors’ protest anymore. Discontent against the government seems to have bubbled over. So how must this be addressed by the TMC government and the party?
She [Banerjee] must take corruption head-on. In my letter, I have written more on corruption than on R.G. Kar, though the issue is R.G. Kar and that is the root of all the anger.
6. With protests still underway and no sign of abating, in your opinion, is the TMC government in danger at this point?
I suspect it is in danger and there is no question of snap polls, but people may do anything to teach them a lesson. There are about one-and-a-half to two years left for [state assembly] elections. Please do course correction.
7. Earlier, another TMC Rajya Sabha MP, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray had also publicly dissented against the inaction in the R.G. Kar case and announced his protest alongside the Reclaim the Night protests in Kolkata. Is there a growing churn in the party?
Parties are reasonably disciplined when it comes to opinions. [In] forums that I am party to, there are no such reactions overtly. There are people with conscience who take a call.
My intention is not to start an insurrection in the party or topple Banerjee. I repeat that she is the only leader in India who can give Modi a run for his money. That is the only reason that I joined the party. But if that gets diluted in extraneous matters like corruption, dadagiri and syndicates, then everything gets deflected.
8. What are your future plans now that you have announced your decision to resign and leave politics altogether?
I have been an activist and I have had my opinions even when I was an IAS officer. But no more politics.
9. Do you have plans to join the BJP?
No, never. West Bengal has a strong emotional rejection factor. The Congress was rejected about fifty years ago and the Congress has never been able to make a comeback since. The Left, who were in power for 34 years, cannot even retain their security deposit [in elections]. So in Bengal, it is not [the case] that you vote for the BJP once and for the Congress next. I have done self-immolation, not for a party but to stop communal authoritarian forces from taking power.