Kolkata, Oct 21 (IANS): The Indian Medical Association's (IMA) West Bengal unit on Monday demanded an unconditional apology from youth Trinamool Congress leader and chief of the party’s Information Technology cell Debangshu Bhattacharya over his statement describing the junior doctors protesting against the ghastly rape and murder of a fellow junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital as equivalent to left-wing extremists.

In a statement, a copy of which is available with IANS, IMA’s state President Dilip Kumar Datta said that the association strongly condoms the statement made by Bhattacharya in which he has compared the junior doctors, who are on indefinite hunger strike and who are protesting for justice for the victim and demanding reform in health system, with Maoists.

"IMA demands Mr Debangshu Bhattacharya must apologise for the same as he has compared the saviours of the society with the killers," the statement read.

At the time the report was filed there was no reaction either from Bhattacharya or from any other Trinamool Congress leader in the matter.

Besides being the Information Technology cell chief of Trinamool Congress Bhattacharya is also the party’s social media face and is seen participating in different television debates defending his party on various issues including the latest flashpoint of the R.G. Kar tragedy.

Trinamool fielded him as its candidate from the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency from East Midnapore district in the Parliamentary elections this year. However, he was defeated by the BJP candidate and the former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

Since the junior doctors started their protest demonstration and hunger strike on the rape and murder issue, a number of Trinamool leaders have made negative statements about the protesting junior doctors. However, the most scathing among them had been Bhattacharya and his colleague in the party Kunal Ghosh.