TMC leader Santanu Sen resigns as national spokesperson, slams party over RG Kar row
Former Rajya Sabha MP and TMC leader Santanu Sen on Thursday resigned as the party’s national spokesperson and slammed the outfit over the controversy surrounding the R G Kar rape and murder case and described the poll defeat as a public rejection of “unethical practices”.
The resignation comes at a time the TMC is battling open dissent, public recriminations and an erosion of organisational cohesion following its rout in the assembly elections.
Sen, a doctor-turned-politician and councillor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, submitted his resignation to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, saying he could no longer continue defending issues that had alienated ordinary people.
“Accepting the people’s verdict, I have decided to resign from the post of national spokesperson,” Sen wrote in his letter. He, however, has not quit the party.
In the letter, Sen said that despite being a “loyal soldier” of the TMC since its inception, he was no longer morally comfortable in publicly defending controversies linked to the party.
“In several difficult situations, even when my conscience did not agree, I fought publicly for the party in television debates and media platforms and had to face criticism from common people,” he wrote. “But now, when people have rejected us over the RG Kar incident, job scam and various unethical acts and corruption, my conscience no longer permits me to support these as a spokesperson,” he said.
The RG Kar Medical College and Hospital controversy has remained one of the most politically damaging episodes for the TMC in recent years.
The rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run hospital last year triggered massive protests across Bengal and sparked sustained outrage among sections of civil society, doctors and students.
Allegations of institutional corruption and attempts to suppress dissent further intensified the backlash.
Sen, himself a former student and doctor associated with RG Kar, had emerged as one of the few TMC leaders to publicly raise questions over alleged irregularities at the institution following the incident.
His remarks had embarrassed the party leadership at the time. He was suspended for “anti-party activities” and removed from the post of spokesperson before being reinstated months later.
Soon after the change of guard in Bengal, Sen congratulated the new BJP government and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on social media, which caused considerable discomfort within TMC circles.
