Stay humble and sympathetic, advises Abhishek Banerjee to party during public anger.

The message on X comes amid multiple ugly comments by party leaders since his aunt and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had apparently urged them to “hiss”. The Chief Minister has denied making any such comment, but that has apparently not convinced any of her party leaders. “Public representatives across party lines need to be more HUMBLE and SYMPATHETIC.

I urge everyone in @AITCofficial not to speak ill of anyone from the MEDICAL FRATERNITY OR CIVIL SOCIETY,” the Diamond Harbour MP said. “Everyone has the right to protest and express themselves. This is what sets West Bengal apart from other BJP-ruled states,” he added.

On Sunday, Atish Sarkar, husband of a TMC councillor at Habra, had lashed out at protestors. “I will make a distorted picture of your mother and sister and hang it on the door of your house. You will not be able to leave your house,” he said.

“Remember, our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee advised us to hiss at times. If we start hissing, you will not be able to come out of your houses,” he was heard saying at a public meeting in his locality. After the video was widely circulated, the party had suspended him.

The same day, four-time Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is also a medical practitioner, issued a statement apologizing for her recent derogatory remarks about women doctors that infuriated the medical community. The comments by the party leaders, though, have infuriated the medical community as well as the civil society, who have been on a massive protest over the rape-murder. Despite the Supreme Court’s request to stop the protest and return to work, the doctors have stuck to their course of action.