Opposition slams Mamata Banerjee for the loss of 24,000 teachers‘ jobs in Bengal

Opposition blames Mamata Banerjee for 24,000 job cancellations in school teacher recruitment scam, sparking protests and demands for justice.

Opposition parties blamed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for cancellation of appointment of almost 24,000 people in the school teacher recruitment scam case on April 3.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that the crisis was escalated because there was no way to determine the genuine candidates from the tainted ones since the whole recruitment process was “rotten”. 

This came as a reaction to the Supreme Court order to scrap the jobs of almost 24,000 people, including teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016. The Calcutta High Court in 2024 had determined the same. 

Multiple Opposition party leaders have said that the Trinamool Congress government had over a year’s time to determine and distinguish the deserving and undeserving candidates, but the failure to do so has led to the uncertain career of thousands of candidates. 

“A lot of genuine candidates got dragged into this scam without their knowledge. If there is no democratic transparency in the recruitment process then it is hard to determine who is part of the scam and who is clean,” Mr. Bhattacharya added. He also stated that the only way to clean up the process is to start fresh. He added that the candidates are now suffering from hopelessness are all due to the government’s corruption and they should resist and protest against it. 

Soon after the Supreme Court order, teachers gathered at Shahid Minar grounds in Kolkata and many of them broke into tears. 

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed Mr. Bhattacharya and said, “The case was lodged by Bikash Babu. He is such a great lawyer. I wonder why he has not been awarded the Nobel Prize.”