Faced by a damning High Court verdict indicting the Trinamool Congress Government for illegal appointments in Government-run schools and cancelling 26,000 such appointments, Mamata Banerjee put up a defiant face and called the High Court order “illegal”. She said that the High Court Bench was working at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Minutes after the High Court bench read out the operative portions in its 282-page order, the BJP was first off the block in this war of words. The BJP mounted pressure on the Chief Minister, seeking her resignation.
“If she has any shame, she should resign,” said Abhijit Gangopadhyay, the BJP candidate from Tamluk, who during his days as a judge in the Calcutta High Court had played a key role in pushing for a probe by the Central agencies into the irregularities in school teacher appointments.
BJP’s Gangopadhyay made no bones about his role in unearthing the scam, something the ruling Trinamool has often cited to accuse the former judge of being biased. “The deserving candidates were deprived and cheated by the liar Chief Minister and her party,” said Gangopadhyay soon after the verdict was announced on Monday, adding that he felt proud to have served the judiciary.
Mamata Banerjee put up a brave front, vowing to challenge the “illegal verdict”. “This is an illegal order. I am not speaking against the judges. I can speak on the verdict. We challenge this verdict, we will go to a higher court,” Mamata said at an election campaign in North Dinajpur’s Chakulia under the Raigunj Lok Sabha seat where the Trinamool has fielded BJP turncoat Krishna Kalyani.
On Monday, the special bench of the high court comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi ordered the School Service Commission to begin the appointment process afresh. It declared “null and void” the appointments of 25,753 individuals made in 2016 – teachers and group-C and group-D category staff – while instructing the CBI to continue with the probe into the alleged irregularities that occurred under the Mamata Banerjee Government.
Mamata, however, remained aggressive in her tone, promising to stand by those who had been affected. “Jobs of 26,000 teachers have been snatched, but we will keep fighting for them. I am telling them not to worry, not to take any drastic steps. We are there for you and we will be with you,” she said in an attempt to assure those who lost their jobs following the court verdict.
“They have been asked to return their salaries. Is it possible? How can they return the money? You get salaries from the Government; the security is provided by the Government. If you are asked to return the salaries, will you be able to do it?” she said, referring to the judges.
Leaders from Mamata Banerjee’s I.N.D.I.A. bloc partners, the Congress and the Left Front, also criticised the Trinamool Congress.
CPM central committee member and Dum Dum candidate Sujan Chakraborty said the Trinamool would have to return the money its leaders and functionaries took as bribe from the candidates, he maintained.
“The Trinamool raised Rs 1,600 crore from electoral bonds. The bribes that they took can be returned from there. All those who gave money to these leaders should file complaints with the police against them. We will join their legal battle,” said Chakraborty.
“Those candidates who lost their jobs today have been instructed to return their salaries, I don’t know from where they will make the arrangements. They gave money to the Trinamool imagining a better future for themselves. The Trinamool cannot go unpunished for destroying a generation,” said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, senior Congress leader.
The CPM’s Calcutta South candidate, Saira Shah Halim, said the verdict has exposed the Trinamool Congress’ role in destroying the education system in Bengal. “They have been playing around with the education system, completely destroying it,” she said.
