CPM, BJP vie to lead teacher job protest

Alleged scams related to TET and School Service Commission have kept the state on the boil for over a year

Police remove protesting SFI supporters near City Centre 1 at Salt Lake on Friday: Bishwarup Dutta

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   Calcutta   |    22.10.22  : Supporters of the CPM and the BJP hit the streets on Friday as the two parties started vying with each other to capitalise on a possible opportunity to corner the Mamata Banerjee government in the wake of the forceful eviction of agitators, who had cleared the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014, from their protest site at Salt Lake.

The alleged scams related to TET and the School Service Commission (SSC) have kept the state on the boil for over a year. Sensing an opportunity to embarrass the Mamata Banerjee government, the CPM — primarily its student and youth organisations — had been giving tactical support to the agitation by teachers ever since the first sign of discontent with the recruitment process had been noticed.

Observers think the crisis has had its genesis in the joblessness among educated youths in the state. The phenomenon of unemployment since the heyday of the Left Front made teaching the most sought-after profession in Bengal in the absence of alternative avenues for livelihood. The joblessness had been the main reason behind Bengal becoming a net out-migrant state.

“In Bengal, it would be difficult to find households where someone or the other is not associated with the teaching profession. Discontent with appointments related to teaching is likely to leave a widespread impact on society and it is not unnatural for political parties opposed to the government to side with the protesters,” said a CPM leader while explaining the party’s decision to throw its might behind the agitators.

The Left parties clearly had the first mover advantage as its leaders rallied around the struggles of the job aspirants from the early days. The protesters, who had moved the court on several occasions, received support from senior advocate and CPM’s Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya.

He not only fought the TET cases, along with those pertaining to alleged irregularities in the SSC recruitment, but also worked to create an opinion in civil society in favour of the job seekers. Alongside CPM leaders, Indrajit Ghosh, a member of the CPM’s labour arm Citu, is touted as a driving force behind the TET and SSC movements.

As the BJP didn’t want to be left behind, its leaders — and of late the Congress — have also been seen expressing their solidarity with the protesters, who have started giving sleepless nights to the state administration. “This could well turn out to be Mamata Banerjee’s Waterloo and we cannot possibly allow the Left to run away with the advantage,” said a BJP state functionary.

During the crackdown early on Friday on the TET protesters at Salt Lake, leaders of the SFI and the DYFI, including Minakshi Mukherjee, as well as BJP office-bearers reached the spot. The presence of the Opposition leaders, sources in the administration admitted, gave the protests a much-needed big push, more importantly, visibility, which resulted in large-scale condemnation, including from some prominent members of Bengal’s culture clan, of the forceful eviction of the agitators.

With the scale and the scope of the protests growing and the possibility of the fiasco becoming an issue in the upcoming panchayat polls, the two main Opposition parties have got engaged in a fight of one-upmanship.

The BJP’s eagerness to seize advantage from the Left on the issue was palpable on Friday. BJP leaders went into a huddle on how to derive maximum political gain by snatching away the leadership position from the young brigade of the Left. On record, however, the BJP leaders claimed that the CPM was inconsequential in Bengal’s scheme of things.

“The CPM doesn’t exist in the state anymore. They neither have an MLA nor do they have the people’s trust. Thus, there is no questioning of us competing with the CPM,” claimed the BJP’s state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar.

On the BJP’s newfound interest in the agitation, CPM state secretary Mohammad Salim asked why none of the members of the BJP’s fairly large legal cell had stood by the job aspirants.

“How can they even try to show solidarity with the job seekers here when they do the same thing across the nation. They have so many lawyers but it was Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya who fought for these boys and girls,” said Salim.

Not to be left behind, the Congress leadership, led by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — its leader in the Lok Sabha – conducted a march on Mayo Road in Calcutta on Friday.

The Trinamul Congress accused the Opposition of politicising the issue and coming in the way of a resolution to the crisis.

“The BJP, CPM and the Congress have all joined forces to try and obstruct Trinamul. But they forget that the people are with Trinamul, which is what makes it an unstoppable force,” said senior Trinamul leader Firhad Hakim.

“The Opposition is trying its best to politicise the issue so that it works to the advantage of these self-centered parties. But the people can see through it all,” he added.