Teachers should have trusted govt., fought legally, worked beyond politics, says Mamata

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee urges protesting teachers to trust government, fight legally; Supreme Court upholds 2024 order on appointments.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the protesting teachers should have trusted the Trinamool government and fought the situation legally.

“Nobody’s salaries have been withheld till now. The Group-C and Group-D workers, who will not be paid, will get an allowance through a scheme we formed… They should have trusted the State government. I, myself, held a meeting with them. We expect minimum courtesy and dignity from the teachers. They should work for the society beyond politics,” Ms. Banerjee said on Monday.

The Supreme Court on April 3 upheld the Calcutta High Court’s 2024 order cancelling appointments of nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff citing ‘irregularities’ in the 2016 recruitment. Since then, the affected candidates have been agitating, demanding a segregated list flagging ‘tainted’ ones.

While the Supreme Court later granted them relief, saying that those of the 2016 panel can continue their jobs till the government initiates a fresh hiring process by December 31 this year, they have been staging protest.

“I had and will always have extensive sympathy for the teachers. I held a meeting and said that we will file for a review. We have to follow the law in matters of the court, and there are some obligations… We have filed a review petition from our end. Our lawyers will try to ensure that their jobs remain intact. However, we cannot ignore the court orders. We are compelled to abide by court orders,” the CM said.

Her ‘only grouse’, she stressed, is that common people “should not be blocked by force or harmed through road blockades.” A few days ago, on May 15, a protest by the Deserving Teachers Rights’ Forum outside the West Bengal Education Department headquarters at Bikash Bhawan turned violent when protesters clashed with the police. The police baton-charged protesters, injuring several. The police later justified their use of ‘minimal force’, alleging that the protesters broke barricades and locked over 500 Bikash Bhawan employees inside the premises. Shortly, the police issued summons to teachers allegedly involved in the clash.

“There are more outsiders in the protest than the teachers,” she alleged, adding that there should be a ‘lakshman rekha’ (strict boundary). “I would suggest that instead of doing this, they should fight the issue legally. We will help them. We are already doing it as well. We are not against it,” the Chief Minister said.