The BJP on Wednesday launched a portal to extend legal support to those teachers whose appointments had been cancelled earlier by Calcutta High Court even though they claimed to have got the jobs in a fair way.
While the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the order of the high court bringing temporary relief for those school teachers and non-teaching staff, the BJP has decided to keep with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise to stand by the genuine victims of the verdict.
"Although Trinamool Congress leaders are overwhelmed by the Supreme Court judgement, the legal process will not likely be over soon. As our Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced help for those teachers legally, today we launched the portal," said state BJP's chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya following the portal's launch in Burdwan.
On May 3, at his election campaign rally in Burdwan, Modi said he had suggested the Bengal BJP to set up a legal cell and a social media platform to assist genuine teachers who lost their jobs.
The teachers can log on to www.bjplegalsupport.org to register themselves. They have to open an account on the portal, before furnishing their details and documents. The BJP has also launched a helpline number — 9150056618 — where teachers can call for technical help or other queries related to the functioning of the portal.
After the Calcutta High Court's verdict to scrap jobs of around 26,000 teachers came in the middle of the polls, several mass organizations of the Left got into the task to protect the genuine teacher.
The CPM-affiliated All Bengal Teachers' Association took the lead and held camps in all the districts to provide legal aid to those who had got jobs in a fair manner. The ABTA has hence moved the Supreme Court on the issue.
After the HC gave its verdict, ABTA general secretary Sukumar Pyne had blamed the Mamata Banerjee government for the plight of genuine teachers and said: "If the state government had acted at the right time this situation would not have evolved. All along the government had wanted to protect those who had got the jobs through illegal means. Those who had got their jobs in a fair way have become victims of the government's misdeed. We will stand by the genuine teachers and will fight for them in the Supreme Court with our own funds."
Though the BJP and the Left have pledged to stand by the genuine victims, Trinamool celebrated the SC's Tuesday order.
"There is no reason for Trinamool leaders to cheer following the Supreme Court order because the apex court has said that the scam was a systematic fraud," added Bhattacharya, who is also the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP.
The top court, however, said that those whose appointments were found to be illegal will have to refund their salaries.
Trinamool has been accusing the BJP of eating the jobs of thousands of youths.
