BJP demands Mamata Banerjee's resignation, claims law and order deteriorating in Bengal

Bhopal, Aug 16 (PTI) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday demanded the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in light of the rape and murder of a woman doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata and the deteriorating law and order situation.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP office here, the party's national spokesperson, Shazia Ilmi, said the competent authorities should decide on imposing the President's rule in West Bengal.

"Women's safety is under threat, and the law and order situation in West Bengal has deteriorated. The competent authorities should decide on imposing the President's rule in the state," she said.

There is no justification for Mamata Banerjee to continue as chief minister, and she should resign immediately, Ilmi said.

She questioned the silence of women MPs of the ruling TMC and INDIA bloc partners, even as doctors were striking work and protests were being staged across the country.

On the demand by doctors for the implementation of the Central Protection Act for Doctors, Ilmi said if there is such a bill, then it must become a law.

The Prevention of Violence Against Healthcare Professionals and Clinical Establishments Bill, 2022, also known as the Central Protection Act for Doctors, was introduced in the lower house of Parliament in 2022, but it has not been enacted.

Doctors across the country are demanding its enactment and implementation.

Resident doctors have launched an indefinite strike to express solidarity with the nationwide agitation against the rape-murder of a post-graduate trainee in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

The emergency ward, nursing station, medicine store and parts of the outpatient department of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital were vandalised by miscreants on Thursday amid midnight protests by women across West Bengal condemning the alleged rape and murder. PTI MAS ARU