“Not One Vote”: Mamata Banerjee’s Big Message After 26,000 Teachers Lose Jobs

Mamata Banerjee said, “They have bought the High Court. They have bought the CBI”.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s response to the Calcutta High Court order scrapping the job of 26,000 teachers, was a resounding election message. “Not one vote for the BJP or CPM or Congress, not from teachers, not from any government worker,” the Chief Minister thundered today.

The BJP, she added, has purchased the court — the High Court, not the Supreme Court, she hastily clarified, “I still hope for justice from the Supreme Court”.

Then she expanded on it. “They (the BJP) have bought the High Court. They have bought the CBI. They have bought the NIA. They have bought the BSF. They have bought the CAPF. They have turned the colour of Doordarshan saffron — they will only talk about the BJP and Modi ka baat. Don’t watch it. Boycott it,” Ms Banerjee said.

Earlier this week, the Calcutta High Court cancelled the 2016 recruitment process for government-sponsored and aided schools, saying some of the candidates had bribed to get jobs. Several Trinamool leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, and former officials are in jail in connection with the teacher recruitment case.

But the move, at one stroke, made 26,000 teachers unemployed. They were asked to return their salaries with 12% interest. The state has challenged the order in the Supreme Court.

The court order could be a gamechanger in the state where the BJP, which won 18 of the state’s 42 seats in 2019, is hoping to expand its footprint. Mamata Banerjee’s party — pushed on the backfoot with the row in Sandeshkhali — is expecting to reap the benefits of public anger.

Kolkata has already seen huge protests against the court order to nullify all appointment. The protesters have argued that for a few who indulged in corruption, thousands of innocent teachers, their families, as well as students, are suffering.