The Mamata Banerjee government told the protesting junior doctors in no uncertain terms on Wednesday that it was ready to hold “free and frank discussions” over their demands but without any pre-conditions.

During an unscheduled news conference at Nabanna, junior health minister Chandrima Bhattacharya also reminded the doctors of the September 9 Supreme Court deadline for them to return to work by 5pm the next day and requested them to end their cease-work.

“We want to hold free and frank discussions with the junior doctors with an open mind, but they have set some pre-conditions for the meeting. No meeting can be held with an open mind if conditions are set beforehand. This is the reason why the meeting proposed by the state government on Wednesday could not be held,” she said.

At 3.23pm on Wednesday, chief secretary Manoj Pant sent an email to the junior doctors, protesting the August 9 rape and murder of the junior doctor at RG Kar, inviting them to Nabanna to hold discussions over their demands.

More than two hours after the proposal was conveyed, the junior doctors iterated in an email response the five pre-conditions they had set for a meeting and added a few more, like the presence of the chief minister during the discussions, that the event be telecast live and that a 30-member delegation be allowed to go to Nabanna.

A source said that the chief secretary briefed Mamata, who was busy in another meeting, about the doctors’ email. “The chief minister was upset with the contents of the email,” the source said. “She told the chief secretary not to respond to the pre-conditions of the junior doctors as she felt that dialogues cannot be held on terms set in advance,” the source added.

Junior doctors during the demonstration in front of Swasthya Bhavan on Wednesday.  Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Bhattacharya conveyed the government’s standpoint during the news conference. “We are disheartened with the response (of the protesters),” she said.

Bhattacharya gave out the details of the email exchanges between the government and the protesting doctors over the last 24 hours. According to Bhattacharya, the chief minister was eager to hold discussions with the junior doctors and that’s why the health secretary had sent an email to them.

“She waited in her Nabanna chamber till 7.30pm (on Tuesday) expecting that the junior doctors would come. But we did not get any positive and proactive response from them,” said the junior health minister.

“The return email (to the one sent by the health secretary) came at 3.45am (on Wednesday).... I want to know whether there is any politics behind it,” Bhattacharya asked.

Giving details of what transpired on Wednesday, she said that Pant sent an email at 3.23pm, again inviting the junior doctors to a meeting at Nabanna at 6pm.

“More than two hours after that email, a response reached us with several conditions,” she said, stressing that the government’s attempts at engaging in a discussion with the doctors were not reciprocated in a positive and a proactive manner.

While Bhattacharya — who was accompanied by Pant and DGP Rajeev Kumar at the news conference — made it clear that the government was loathe to preconditions, she took care to articulate that Nabanna was sympathetic towards the junior doctors.

“The chief minister did not initiate any stern measures despite the Supreme Court direction to the junior doctors to return to duty by 5pm on Tuesday,” Bhattacharya said.

During a brief Q&A, the junior health minister was asked whether the government was mulling any action against the doctors, but she didn’t offer a clear answer. “You will get to know if any such action is taken,” she said.

Sources in the administration said that the government was likely to form a five-member committee headed by the chief secretary to decide on how to deal with the stalemate.

“The government is not ready to take stern steps against the junior doctors as it feels public sentiment is with the protesters,” said a source.

A senior bureaucrat said visible attempts to hold talks would continue as the government was keen to let the people of the state and the Supreme Court know that it has been earnest in finding a solution.

“The government can always take strict actions, but such measures are unlikely before the apex court is informed about the denial of the doctors to come for a dialogue,” said the source.