Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 4: As the academic world in West Bengal was drowned in chaos over the Supreme Court verdict cancelling the recruitment of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in the government and government-aided schools, the BJP on Friday renewed its frontal attack on the chief minister Mamata Banerjee demanding her resignation and threatening that she would be send to jail for the scam if the saffron party comes to power in the state.
The controversial recruitment process has been marred by allegations of corruption, leading to widespread political fallout.
Union Minister and West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar called for Banerjee’s resignation, suggesting that the Chief Minister would follow in the footsteps of former Haryana Chief Minister O.P. Chautala in facing legal consequences over the recruitment scandal. “Mamata Banerjee will be the second CM to go to jail in the recruitment of teachers,” Majumdar stated.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Sambit Patra said the rule of law would prevail and assured that if the BJP were to come to power in the state, Mamata Banerjee would be held accountable.
“Didi jail jayengi, albat jayengi. Hindustan mai kanoon ka shasan hai. (Didi will go to jail, definitely she will. There is a rule of law in India.) The day BJP forms a government in Bengal, the full force of the law will be brought upon Mamata Banerjee,” Mr Patra said.
Mr Patra accused Banerjee’s government of “institutionalising corruption” and stifling investigations into the school recruitment scam. “A few days ago, Mamata Banerjee went to Oxford and called herself a tigress. But no tigress engages in corruption. The way her government has allowed corruption to flourish in Bengal, lakhs of people have suffered,” he said.
He pointed to the SC’s recent ruling validating the Calcutta High Court’s earlier order invalidating the entire selection process, Mr Patra accused the Trinamool Congress government of blocking the probe and questioned the silence of opposition parties. “Had such serious allegations been made against any NDA Chief Minister, Rahul Gandhi would have raised a storm in Parliament, calling it the ‘murder of democracy.’ Where is he now? Where are the INDI Alliance leaders?” he asked.
The apex court verdict came in response to a petition by the West Bengal government challenging the Calcutta High Court’s April 2022 order that had scrapped the recruitment process. The Supreme Court had reserved its judgment in February this year.
The court also ruled that even the candidates not found guilty of wrongdoing (“untainted”) must be dismissed, as the entire process was flawed. However, they won’t be asked to return any payments already made to them.
The Supreme Court allowed these untainted candidates to reapply for their earlier positions in government departments. If they do, they will be reinstated in their previous roles. The court also said that those whose jobs were terminated but who had previously worked in state departments or autonomous bodies could apply to return to their former posts.
The case has severely damaged the credibility of Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, according to BJP leaders. With the Supreme Court’s verdict, the fate of thousands of teachers and staffers in West Bengal hangs in the balance, and political tensions in the state are set to escalate in the coming days.
But away from this din of the political barbs is the silence of uncertainty that faces 25,753 sacked employees, who are wondering how to pay bills and put food on the table. They are worried how to handle the EMI burden, ailing parents, school going children and how the Supreme Court judgment had turned their world upside down. “If a man loses his job, you can imagine how it impacts his family. There are home loans, EMIs and many people are dependent on him. Everything will be finished,” one of the sacked teachers’ said.
Many of them held the state government responsible for what they are going through. Asked if they expected any help from the state government, they said, “This government engineered this scam. What can we expect from them?”
One of the sacked teachers said, “We studied, cracked a competitive exam and got a job. Some people resorted to corruption. It would not have been possible without the state government’s support. But those untainted like us were expecting that we would be able to continue in our jobs. This judgment has destroyed our lives. I have a nine-year-old daughter, my wife and my mother. There are EMIs, how will we look for new jobs now,” he said.
They said the state government could not escape responsibility for the damage they have done. “Why so much corruption? The state government is responsible. But the Supreme Court should have given relief to those not involved in corruption. Why did I lose my job?”
Another teacher in distress while screaming and crying said, “Please give me capital punishment. They committed the corruption, not us. What will we do now? It would have been better if they had killed us. Where will we go? Political parties are using us for their votes, nothing else.”
