Kolkata: Hours after the Calcutta High Court allowed section 144 to be imposed in the area, police used allegedly used force to disperse Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualified candidates who were on an indefinite hunger strike outside the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) office in the wee hours on Friday. The almost 84-hour hunger strike was stopped by police around 1 am on Friday.
TET qualified candidates of 2014 had stepped up the heat on the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government and went on an indefinite hunger strike. They demanded the immediate empanelment for recruitments.
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After their discussion with the WBBPE president over the issue did not yield any result, the protesters pent the whole night around 150 metres away from WBBPE head office at Saltlake's Karunamoyee and then went on hunger strike from Tuesday morning.
The WBBPE recently submitted a petition in the Calcutta High Court seeking the immediate removal of the protesters from the WBBPE premises. But the court has refused to pass any order in favor of the board. Former education minister Partha Chatterjee besides half a dozen officials, including the ex-chairperson of WBBPE Manik Bhattacharya have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the teacher recruitment scam.
Leaders across political lines have visited the protest venue on Thursday. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar was the first to join the protesters on Thursday afternoon. CPI(M) leader Meenakshi Mukherjee also visited later in Thursday evening.
Lashing out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the issue senior BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani said that even as those protesting against her are not political workers but ordinary job seekers, she is using the police to take action against them.
Questioning the Chief Minister's recent claim that it was not the Tinamool Congress (TMC) but the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CIPIM) which forced Tata Motors to shift their Nano car factory from Singur in West Bengal, the Union Minister said it was "a lie" and showed an old paper cutting. "Even students of class VIII in the state know what kind of politics the TMC resorted to did to drive the Tatas out of the state," said Irani.
