TMC throws dirt, tries to divide junior doctors to regain ground lost in agitation

KOLKATA West Bengal's ruling party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee, has launched a desperate effort to regain the ground it lost in state-run medical colleges and hospitals after the brutal rapemurder of a postgraduate intern at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College Hospital in early August.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

Late last week, a message landed in the WhatsApp accounts of a few select journalists in Kolkata, containing details of a few bank accounts and the balances in each. Soon enough, these journalists, all working with media outlets who side with the TMC, started giving out the details in their private social media pages and handles.

These were allegedly bank accounts of those entities that were leading the protracted protests against the state government. The collective balance of the eight bank accounts was about Rs 4 crore.

All the journalists posed questions about how so much money was there in these accounts: 1. West Bengal Junior Doctors Front, HDFC, Rs 1.7 crore.

2. M/S West Bengal Doctors Forum, BOI, Rs 95 lakh.

3. Medical College Kolkata Resident Doctor's Association, SBI, Rs 31 lakh.

4. Central Kolkata United Doctors Welfare Association, Axis, Rs 31 lakh.

5. Shramajibi Swasthya Udyog, PNB, Rs 7.5 lakh.

6. Service Doctors Forum, PNB. Rs 17 lakh.

7. Association Of Health Service Doctors, Indian Bank, Rs 20.5 lakh.

8. Priya Lakra/Riya Bera/ Shivam Garodia, SBI, Rs 28 lakh.

The total figure stands at Rs 40,000,000, that is Rupees 4 crores.

The message also said: "NB: The last account has an interesting name. Dr Riya Bera. She is one among those five junior doctors who were present inside the Post Mortem room during autopsy conduct on the victim doctor's body." Within minutes, the message was picked up and amplified by the TMC ecosystem. From known members of the TMC's IT cell to spokespersons on various TV channel talk-shows, everybody tried to highlight how the "huge amounts of money were being collected by the protesting doctors in the name of fighting for justice for Abhaya".