A BJP lawyer leader who made it to the protest dais at NRS hospital on Saturday ended his speech chanting “Jai Sri Krishna”.

One of the agitating doctors then reminded Nirmalendu Kumar Ghosh, the leader of the BJP-backed Howrah Youth Bar Association Forum, that their movement was “apolitical and they won’t entertain any religious slogan”.

Ghosh started by saying lawyers had suffered the same way as doctors were suffering now. “Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had refused to meet us the same way she has done to you…. We stand by your movement…. Jai Shri Krishna,” he said.

The doctor asked him not to use “such religious slogans”. “Our movement is apolitical. It has nothing to do with any religion. We appreciate you for supporting us. But this is to remind you again that please don’t bring religion in this movement,” the doctor said.

In his speech, Ghosh had referred to the April 24 clash between lawyers of Howrah court and employees of Howrah Municipal Corporation over parking rights at the civic headquarters.

The clash had triggered a ceasework by lawyers across the state that ended last week.

At least 30 lawyers belonging to the forum were allowed to march to the agitation site, though, carrying a banner with pictures of the injured doctors and of the clash.

They visited the hospital to express their solidarity with the protesting doctors.

Ghosh later told Metro that he was a leader of the BJP’s north Calcutta unit.

The doctors had expressed their opposition when BJP leader Mukul Roy of the BJP, along with party MP Locket Chatterjee, visited NRS hospital on Tuesday and said that “people of a particular community had carried out the attack”. A day later, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had named the community.

Many of the doctors have been activists of the students' wings of the Trinamul Congress, Left and other parties; but after Monday night’s attack at NRS hospital, they had said that any attempt to politicise the attack would be resisted.

“We appreciated the parties for supporting our movement, but we have made it clear…. We don’t want to give any political colour to the agitation,” a doctor had told Metro on Thursday.