Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Arundhati Maitra, who is popularly known as Lovely Maitra, landed in controversy after allegedly calling doctors protesting against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital ‘butchers’, citing the impact of the strike on poor seeking healthcare.
The BJP slammed the Trinamool Congress leader for her alleged comments comparing junior doctors protesting the alleged rape and murder of a female medic inside a medical college in Kolkata to “butchers”.
Taking to social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala raised the matter with Maitra's statements, writing, “TMC MLA Lovely Maitra compares protesting Doctors to butchers. She also happens to be wife of an IPS in Kolkata Police who have been issuing notices and summons to doctors.”
In the post on social media, he asked whether the ruling TMC in Bengal would sack the leader or allegedly defend her like the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh.
“TMC MLA Lovely Maitra compares protesting Doctors to butchers. She also happens to be wife of an IPS in Kolkata Police who have been issuing notices and summons to doctors. Why so much hate against protesting doctors? Just because they are holding Mamata Govt and her police force accountable?” Poonwala wrote.
Notably, Maitra purportedly made these remarks while speaking at a party programme recently. “Doctors are turning into butchers in the name of protests. The poor and underprivileged people who come from interior parts, rural areas of Bengal seeking medical treatment at government hospitals. Those who cannot afford treatment at private hospitals, they are suffering. They are not being treated. Are they (doctors) human? Is this humane?” she said in Bangla.
In a similar video from the same event, she was heard issuing a veiled threat to the CPI(M) in West Bengal, warning the party of revenge in 2024. After her comment quickly landed in a controversy, Maitra was forced to issue a clarification for her comment.
