MEET WITH JUNIOR DOCTORS A DISASTER FOR MAMATA

Mamata Banerjee's meeting with junior doctors highlighted tensions and her unpredictable approach to corruption issues.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

Monday's meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the junior doctors, who had been agitating for more than 70 days after the brutal rape and murder of their colleague at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, paved the way for the withdrawal of a 17-day hunger-strike. It also brought out in public the shrewdness of the veteran politician. From the start, it was a David versus Goliath contest when the group of junior doctors squared off against one of the country's smartest politicians. On one side were young men and women whose colleagues had been on hunger strike for 17 days. On the other side was the veteran Chief Minister confronting perhaps the biggest crisis of her tenure in full public view.

After all, the government's sudden decision to live stream the meeting meant that for the first time since assuming office, the Chief Minister had to, in full public view, handle a situation which was not totally within her control, nor was it carefully planned. Observers say that what transpired also exposed the way in which Banerjee runs her government.

The protest against the trainee doctor's rape and murder at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital had become a battle of nerves. It had become a battle between an astute politician and a few thousand junior doctors supported by a large section of the society in Bengal. Thirteen years into power, Banerjee was facing a crisis that is largely apolitical, despite her and her party's efforts to make it political.

This was the sixth meeting between the administration and the doctors in the course of the agitation.