Keshiary/Tamluk (WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday termed the cancellation of over 25,000 school jobs as “gross injustice” and alleged that it was a ploy by the BJP to stop these job losers from being deployed in poll duty.
Addressing an election rally in Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency in Paschim Medinipur district, Banerjee wondered how the schools could function with so many teachers out of jobs.
Earlier this week, the Calcutta High Court had declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as “null and void,” ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it.
“If someone has committed a mistake, it can be rectified, but snatching 25,000 jobs is gross injustice. How will the schools function, if so many teachers are out of jobs? It is a ploy by the BJP. I have respect for the judiciary but what has happened is gross injustice,” Banerjee said.
“So many jobs have been taken away so that these job losers cannot be deployed in poll duty during elections and central government employees can be engaged, who will work at the behest of the saffron camp,” she added.
The BJP leaders are “taking away jobs” despite the country having the highest unemployment rate since independence, she said.
“We are giving jobs; more than 10 lakhs jobs are ready. But the BJP to pursue its political agenda is taking away jobs. The administration and the teachers have moved the Supreme Court. We will support them,” she said.
The Midnapore Lok Sabha seat was snatched by BJP’s Dilip Ghosh from the TMC in 2019.
However this time, Ghosh has been shifted to Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat, where the party is facing a tough fight. In 2019, the party had won the seat by a slender margin.
“The BJP should answer why it has shifted its sitting MP from this seat. Is it because he was a non-performer that he was shunted out from the area? If so, then BJP must say it in public and apologise before the masses,” she said.
Banerjee also hit out at the RSS for not reigning in the BJP from conducting atrocities across the country.
“I used to think the RSS as ‘tyagi’ (renouncers), but now they seem to have transformed into ‘bhogis’ (pleasure-seekers). This explains their silence amidst the BJP’s perpetration of atrocities across the nation,” she said.
At a second meeting in Tamluk, Banerjee made a scathing attack on BJP candidate former high court judge Abhijit Ganguly, alleging he has “tarnished judiciary.”
“A former judge, who had eaten up jobs of so many young people, now wants me to step down,” she said.
Banerjee threatened that if anything happens to any of the 25,000 jobless SSC candidates, the TMC will take out a rally and head towards the residence of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
“Your confident proclamation of a blast that would shake Bengal two days prior to the court verdict suggests you were already privy to the information,” Banerjee said.
In an implicit reference to the leader of the opposition, Banerjee questioned, “The only explosion that occurred was the abrupt disruption that jeopardised the future of 25,000 youths, endangering their livelihoods and impacting over 9-10 lakh families. Do you not bear responsibility for pushing so many people to the brink of ruin? The blood of those eligible candidates is on your hands. We will exert every effort to safeguard them.”
Banerjee wondered how Adhikari seemed to possess advance knowledge of who will be targeted in raids by central agencies and who will be incarcerated, prompting speculation about his proximity to sensitive information at the highest levels.
She emphasised that during her tenure as Railway Minister, numerous initiatives were launched, ranging from the introduction of multiple trains to the establishment of a DMU coach factory in Purba Medinipur.
Additionally, under the TMC government’s leadership, various development projects were initiated in the district, including the establishment of industrial parks and the development of the Tajpur deep-sea port, particularly focusing on the coastal areas, she added.
“A Jagannath temple, which is equal in height with the existing Jagannath Temple of Puri, will soon be unveiled in Digha where the deity of the Lord will be made of marble. We want to make Digha a global tourist destination,” she said.
Banerjee lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “repeatedly flagging the Sandeshkhali issue while turning a blind eye to the dishonor and insult of women in Gujarat riots, in Hatras of Uttar Pradesh, in Manipur, in other BJP ruled states.”
“You keep talking about Sandeshkhali, but our mothers and sisters are looked after well in Bengal. There might be a few incidents, but we took corrective action the moment these were reported in the media,” she said.
