The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked for two reports from the West Bengal government – one on political clashes in the state and another on the current strike of junior doctors.
The ministry, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah – has asked the Bengal government to brief the officers about the current situation in the state on both fronts that is impacting situations elsewhere in the country as well.
Junior doctors in state-run hospitals have been on strike since Tuesday after one of them was beaten up by relatives of a 75-year-old patient who died at the NRS hospital. The relatives alleged that negligence had led to the death. In a few hours, the strike spread to various state-run hospitals and now, a nation-wide strike by doctors has been called all over the country on Monday. Several doctors have tendered mass resignation from different state-run hospitals.
The state has been on the boil since the results of the Lok Sabha polls were announced in end May and the BJP got almost as much votes as the Trinamool Congress. Last week, two BJP workers and one Trinamool Congress worker were murdered in South 24 Parganas district’s Sandeshkhali that led to huge political repercussions. The BJP top leadership tried to bring the bodies to Kolkata and they were stopped midway. That apart, a number of political murders have taken place in the past two weeks in various parts of the state.
Before the impact of the political unrest died down, the doctors’ agitation has affected normal law and order situation in the state. Trinamool insiders allege that the BJP is instigating agitators to create unrest in the state in a bid to throw the government out of gear.
