Won't change my mind: TMC MP Jawhar Sircar on quitting Rajya Sabha, politics

TMC (Trinamool Congress) MP Jawhar Sircar on Sunday wrote to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the chief of his party, stating that he has decided to resign from the Rajya Sabha and leave politics.

Speaking to NH during a brief phone call, Sircar said he was not going to reconsider his decision, though it was a "painful" one, and that he was willing to do whatever it took to see it through. "Once my mind is made up, I'm a pretty stubborn person" he added.

In his letter, the former IAS officer and Prasar Bharati CEO claimed that corruption by a section of leaders of his party and lack of action against them was one of the reasons for his decision. This comes in the wake of the Bengal government's handling of the murder and alleged rape of a junior doctor at Kolkata's R.G. Kar Hospital, and the mass outrage that has followed, including a cease-work protest by the hospital's junior doctors.

"I have suffered patiently for a month since the terrible incident at RG Kar Hospital, and was hoping for your direct intervention with the agitating junior doctors, in the old style of Mamata Banerjee. It has not happened and whatever punitive steps that government is taking now are too little and quite late," he said in his letter.

"I think normalcy may have been restored in this state much earlier, if the caucus of the corrupt doctors was smashed and those guilty of taking improper administrative actions punished immediately after the scandalous incident happened," he added.

In his letter, Sircar also pointed to the "unchecked overbearing attitude of the favoured few and the corrupt" in his party, and expressed disappointment at not having been able to speak to Banerjee privately for several months. 

About the public outrage, he wrote, “In all my years, I have not seen such angst and total no-confidence against the government, even when it says something correct or factual,” he said.

As parting advice, Sircar has urged the party to take a non-confrontational approach, implying that a majority of the protests are primarily driven by the ordinary citizens' desire for justice and punishment rather than political motives. He warned that if the party does not correct its course, "communal forces will capture this state".

In his letter, Sircar also announced his intention to take a step back from politics.

"I express my gratitude again for the opportunity you gave me to raise Bengal's issues in Parliament for three years, but I do not wish to continue as MP at all. My commitment to fight corruption, communalism, and authoritarianism in the Centre and the States is simply non-negotiable," he added."