Kolkata : Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Jawhar Sircar on Sunday resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and active politics, citing his protest against the Mamata Banerjee-led Bengal government’s handling of the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case.
In a letter addressed to the Trinamool Congress supremo, Sircar voiced his concerns over the ruling TMC government’s “lack of decisive action” against corruption.
“I must inform you that I have decided to resign from parliament and also from politics altogether,” Sircar’s letter to Banerjee read.
Sircar, in his letter, highlighted that after publicly urging the TMC to address corruption scandals prevailing in the party, he faced resistance from senior leaders. He further referred to the ongoing public outrage over the RG Kar case and said, “I have not seen such angst and total no-confidence against the government.”
Jawhar’s decision came days after the Trinamool Congress leadership sent a stern message to him over his remarks regarding the corruption in the party, asking him to “step down honourably if he thinks he is not compatible with the party”.
Here’s the full text of Jawhar Sircar’s resignation letter to Mamata Banerjee:
On lack of action against corruption
In the letter to the CM, Sircar cited numerous instances, highlighting his frustrations over the lack of action against corruption.
“In 2022, a year after I joined, I was quite shocked to see on TV and print the open evidence of corruption that the former education minister had indulged in. I made A public statement that corruption must be tackled by the party and government, but I was heckled by senior leaders in the party. I did not resign then as I had hoped that you would carry on your public campaign against ‘cut money’ and corruption that you had started a year earlier. Besides, everyone knows that there is no party anywhere that does not have a corrupt section. I was also persuaded by well-wishers to remain as MP in order to carry on the battle against a regime that is the greatest ever threat to Indian democracy and civil liberties,” he wrote.Festive offerSircar added: “Though I carried on my task in parliament with fervor, I became increasingly disillusioned as the state government seemed quite unconcerned about corruption and the increasing strong-arm tactics of a section of leaders. As you know. I was the only prominent officer who was not given any plot in Salt Lake or anywhere by the previous regime — for speaking out too critically. I have grown up in a middle-class family in Kolkata and in my youth, I have travelled in suffocating public transport, hanging on to the footboards of buses. So, after 41 years in the IAS, I can live without embarrassment in a small middle class flat, next to a big slum and drive a very ordinary 9 year old car. But I get amazed to see that several elected panchayat and municipal leaders have acquired big properties and move around in expensive vehicles. This hurts not only me, but the people of West Bengal.”
Expressing that he “just cannot accept some things, like corrupt officers (or doctors) getting prime and top postings”, he further stated: “It is also true that leaders in other parties and other states have amassed much more wealth, But West Bengal is unable to accept this extravagant corruption and domination. I know that the present Central regime thrives on the multi-billionaires that it has enriched, and not a day goes when I do not accuse it of dirty crony-capitalism. I just cannot accept some things, like corrupt officers (or doctors) getting prime and top postings. No.”
On the protests against R G Kar incident
Highlighting how the recent protests that have engulfed Bengal is “outpouring of public anger against this unchecked overbearing attitude of the favoured few and the corrupt”, Sircar 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. 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. 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: “It is my belief that the mainstream of the agitation is non-political and a spontaneous one and it is not correct to take a confrontational stand, by labelling it political. Of course, the opposition parties are trying to fish in troubled waters, but the mass of the youth and the common people who are out agitating on the streets every second day do not encourage them. They want no politics: they want justice and punishment. Let us analyse frankly and realise that the movement is as much for Abhaya as it is against the state government and the party. This calls for course correction immediately or else communal forces will capture this state.”
He further said, “I had to say all this in writing as I have not had the opportunity to speak privately with you in several months. I express my gratitude again for the opportunity you gave me to raise Bengal’s issues in parliament for 3 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. I shall go to Delhi soon and offer my resignation to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and will also disassociate myself totally from politics.”
However, Sircar, in the letter thanked Mamata Banerjee for giving him the “opportunity to represent the problems of West Bengal as an MP in the Rajya Sabha.”
“While thanking you sincerely for giving me such a great opportunity to represent the problems of West Bengal as an MP in the Rajya Sabha, I must inform you that I have decided to resign from parliament and also from politics altogether,” he wrote.
He added: “Thanks to you, I had the unique benefit of understanding the political process of the nation at the highest level for 3 years, which is a rare privilege. I did not seek any further reward or party post, as no one who has any political ambition joins politics so late, at 69/70 years. The primary purpose of joining as an MP, without any direct involvement in party politics, was that it offered an excellent forum to carry on the struggle against the autocratic and communal politics of the BJP and its Prime Minister. To that extent, I have some satisfaction and my several interventions in parliament, that are available on YouTube or on Sansad TV archives, will prove how hard and effectively I have fought against the authoritarian, divisive, discriminatory and anti-federal policies of the Modi regime.”
