Protesting junior doctors said on Wednesday they do not support the demand for chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation, over which a self-styled students’ body organised Tuesday’s march to Nabanna.

On Wednesday, Mamata urged the junior doctors to resume work but the protesters said they would continue with their cease-work, which started after a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee was found raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

“I will not take any action against you because you may be angry and have grievances. You are demanding justice, but please resume work. The Supreme Court has said the state government will now have the power to take action. I do not want to take any action,” Mamata said at the foundation day programme of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad on Wednesday.

“I want them to study. An FIR against the students will harm their future. If we take legal action against anyone, their life will be destroyed. I do not want that. Our government has a human face,” the chief minister said at the Mayo Road programme.

The junior doctors, however, stuck to their demands. “She is the chief minister of the state and has the power to accept most of our demands. We are appealing to her to accept our demands. The moment our demands are met, we will go back to work,” said a junior doctor.

Protesting junior doctors from multiple medical colleges underscored on Wednesday that they have been careful to not allow any political party to influence their protests. They said they are pained to see that their demand for justice for one of their colleagues has turned into a political slugfest.

Anyone can join their protests but without any political banner, said the doctors.

“We want to make it clear that we are not demanding the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Our demands are not the demands made by some other organisations. We are seeking justice for one of our colleagues,” said Kinjal Nanda, a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Aniket Kar, a junior doctor at Medical College Kolkata, said they are not demanding the chief minister’s resignation.

“This is not one of our demands till now, though many political outfits are making this demand. We were hurt when we saw on Tuesday that a march to Nabanna, centred around a call for the chief minister’s resignation, did not demand justice for the raped and murdered doctor,” said Kar.

The doctors said they are demanding the arrest of all persons involved in the rape and murder, suspension of former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh by the health department, resignation of Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal and adequate security measures at all medical colleges.

When asked whether they felt that their cease-work was being used to score political points, the doctors said the political parties doing so should be asked the question.

“We only have a few demands. The parties that are resorting to violent activities or those who are deviating from our demands should be asked this question. Why
are they doing so if they are seeking justice for the doctor?” asked Hassan Mushtaq, a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar.

On Wednesday, junior doctors walked in a rally from Shyambazar to Esplanade.