Bengal’s recruitment protests fizzle out post polls, but aspirants pin hopes on SC verdict

Teachers recruitment scam: In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Kolkata’s Mayo Road was the site of massive demonstrations.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Kolkata’s Mayo Road was the site of massive demonstrations against alleged irregularities in the teachers’ recruitment by the School Service Commission (SSC) in West Bengal.

Dubbed the ‘SSC scam’ by the Opposition, it was one of the poll planks on which the Bharatiya Janata Party fought the election in the State. But the Trinamool Congress’s performance in the polls, extreme heat and dwindling finances of the job aspirants have driven the once-vociferous protesters away. The venue, abuzz with TV crew and police personnel, now bears a deserted look.

Abhishek Sen, 37, a waitlisted aspirant is among the handful of protesters holding fort. “The fight has been going on since 2019. It is not possible for most people to keep their spirits high and continue fighting amid increasing expenses,” said Mr. Sen. He said most job aspirants spend a lot to travel to Kolkata from other districts to take part in the protest.

“There are candidates from Uttar Dinajpur, Malda and North 24 Parganas who have been coming here daily to protest against the recruitment process. We have spent years fighting for our jobs with zero alternative income,” he said.

Many job aspirants from the districts had rented rooms in the southern fringes of the city to commute to the protest venue. Till recently, Kudrat-e-Kabir, 34, a resident of Chanchal in Malda district, had been living with 40 candidates from North Bengal in Narendrapur and Baruipur. “We have no income. Our responsibilities towards our families are increasing. We can no longer afford this. So many of us have come back home for good,” Mr. Kabir said. He said some aspirants still travel to Kolkata from faraway districts to attend the protest once a week.

For two years, the State’s politics had revolved around the recruitment ‘scam’, especially after the arrest of former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in July 2022. Since then, several Trinamool leaders have been arrested in connection with the case that involves the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in State-run schools. But the Trinamool’s resounding victory in 29 Lok Sabha seats indicates that the issue has not resonated with the people.

On April 22, the Calcutta High Court ordered the cancellation of the 2016 recruitment panel that hired 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff. The bench said OMR sheets were manipulated that year. However, the Supreme Court, on May 7, stayed the high court order, saying “it would be unfair to set aside all the appointments if the tainted and untainted ones can be segregated”.