The brutal police assault on dismissed teachers staging a demonstration at the office of the district inspector in Kasba on Wednesday has given Opposition parties a new handle to attack the Mamata Banerjee government.

The teachers, among the 25,773 teaching and non-teaching staff in Bengal dismissed after an April 3 ruling of the Supreme Court over a tainted School Service Commission recruitment process, were kicked, punched, and beaten with batons by the police.

Even if not on the scale of the mass protests following the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar hospital on August 9 last year, collective outrage has been reignited by the police assault.

The BJP on Thursday launched statewide protests at police stations. This drive, party leaders said, would continue.

The CPM held a rally from Rashbehari to Gariahat to condemn police brutality and the “large-scale corruption” that cost 25,773 jobs.

The Congress also took out marches in Calcutta and several districts to condemn the police attack.

CPM leader Alakesh Das said the corruption that victimised genuine teachers and their brutal assault by cops left a major impact on the people's psyche.

“Just like the RG Kar issue, there is now a tendency among people to step out of their comfort zones to raise their voices, even if it hasn’t taken its full shape yet. As a political activist, we are on the streets and will continue to support the aggrieved teachers,” Das added.

Frontal wings of the CPM staged demonstrations across the state.

In Howrah, SFI activists clashed with police during one such protest rally when police prevented them from entering the office of the district inspector of schools.

“The police should understand the anger of teachers whose hard-earned jobs have been snatched because of corruption of the ruling party,” CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said at the end of the rally on Thursday.

BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said: “People across the state should raise their voice against humiliation of the teachers.”

On Thursday, BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay and former party MP Roopa Ganguly visited the protesting teachers who have begun a hunger strike near the SSC office in Salt Lake to express their support for the job losers.

Speaking to media persons, Bhattacharya added that Mamata was playing with their emotions and the “real attitude of the government was reflected in the policeman’s act of kicking a protesting teacher at the DI office in Kasba".

In the face of the Opposition attack, the Trinamool Congress tried to put up a brave face and urged teachers to stay away from the “trap” of political parties.

However, when senior leaders like Firhad Hakim and Kunal Ghosh spoke in defence of the government, Jadavpur MP Saayoni Ghosh’s criticism of the police assault left the TMC red-faced.

Describing Wednesday’s incident as “unfortunate”, Ghosh said: “Police should have handled the situation in a sensitive manner.”

Ghosh’s statement was in sharp contrast to Hakim’s criticism of protesting teachers and the advice to them to stay away from CPM’s Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

Hakim said: “Why did they (teachers) go there to damage government property?”

Reacting sharply to Hakim’s remarks, BJP Bengal president and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar urged him not to “insult” teachers unless he was in a position to help them in any way.