Suvendu Adhikari
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, said on Sunday that protests by junior doctors over the rape and murder of a doctor at R. G. Kar Hospital died a premature death because protesting medics trusted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Mr. Adhikari said the doctors should have sought the intervention of the State Governor and senior officials of the State government, including the Medical Council of India (MCI), but instead they met the Chief Minister, which turned out to be a damp squid.

“The start of the movement by the junior doctors was good, but it ended in a mess. The protest movement, I think, died a premature death. The BJP, however, will not let go of the issue, and after Diwali there will be a massive protest over the incident,” the BJP MLA from Nandigram said.

The Leader of Opposition was joined by West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who said that it was the “system” headed by the Chief Minister that was responsible for the doctor’s murder.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors Front (WBJDF) called off their 17-day long hunger strike on October 21, after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. On Saturday, another body called the West Bengal Junior Doctors Association (WBJDA) alleged that they had been victimised by protesting doctors under the banner of WBJDF.

Mr. Majumdar claimed that WBJDA was a front promoted by the Trinamool Congress.

BJP sees an opening

Later in the day, the State BJP president said that a 3 to 4% increase in his party’s vote share will be enough to turn the tables on the ruling Trinamool Congress in the 2026 assembly polls in the state. “If we can increase our vote share by 3 to 4%, Bharatiya Janata Party will form the government in Bengal in 2026,” he said at an event to mark the party’s new membership drive in the State at Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC)

In the Lok Sabha polls the TMC secured 45.76% votes while the BJP received 38.73% votes. The TMC won 29 seats, the BJP 12 and Congress one of the 42 seats in the state.

The BJP membership drive was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at EZCC. Mr. Shah also added that the next big target for the BJP was to win the Assembly polls in 2026.

At the event, Mr. Adhikari called for the consolidation of Hindu votes to win the next assembly polls. The Leader of Opposition said that the BJP received 2.33 crore votes in the 2021 Assembly polls. It won 77 seats out of 294.