The Opposition parties on Monday held Mamata Banerjee responsible for the dismissal of 25,753 schoolteachers and non-teaching staff following the Supreme Court’s April 3 verdict and accused her of making false promises while terming her speech at Netaji Indoor Stadium as a fraud on the job losers.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar asked the affected individuals not to be swayed by the chief minister’s “lollipop,” stating that any action by the state government without the Supreme Court’s approval could lead to a fresh crisis.

While addressing the job losers at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Mamata assured them that no one would lose their jobs and urged them to resume work at their respective schools.

“I request those teachers not to be misled by the chief minister’s lollipop, as doing so may push them into a deeper crisis,” said Majumdar.

He also asked the government to proceed only with the Supreme Court’s approval.

“I urge the state government to follow the Supreme Court’s order. They may appeal if allowed, but taking steps without the apex court’s consent would be tantamount to jeopardising the future of those innocent teachers,” he added.

After Mamata asked the teachers to rejoin schools as part of “volunteer services” and promised to “take care” of their concerns, many affected teachers expressed willingness to comply.

However, several teachers insisted that a formal government order was necessary to rejoin schools to avoid further legal complications.

Senior CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty also demanded that the government issue an official notification to back Mamata’s verbal announcement, warning that it could otherwise be a ploy to shift the risk of violating the Supreme Court’s verdict onto the
job losers.

“The teachers should rejoin their schools only after receiving a written notification. I urge them not to rely on the chief minister’s verbal commitment. Instead of issuing an order, the chief minister is trying to shift the responsibility of violating the Supreme Court’s order onto the job losers,” said Chakraborty.

“If anyone is responsible for this crisis affecting thousands of teachers, it is none other than the chief minister,” he added.

Chakraborty claimed that Mamata, during her Monday speech, admitted that a scam had taken place in the teacher recruitment process.

“She had previously claimed there was no fraud or scam. Today, she said her government would appeal to the Supreme Court to obtain a list of eligible candidates, which implies that ineligible candidates were appointed and corruption did occur,” he stated.

In her speech, Mamata came down heavily on CPM MP and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and blamed him for the loss of jobs of nearly 26,000 youths.

“Bikash Bhattacharya should be isolated,” the chief minister thundered, making obvious her anger against the CPM MP, who has been heading the legal fight in the
SSC scam.

Reacting to the criticism, Bhattacharya told ABP Ananda: “What she has said is right. She is for corruption. I am against corruption. Does the call to isolate me politically mean that she is asking the people to decide whether they should side with corruption or take a stand against it? She speaks a lot but hardly understands the significance of what she says...”

The BJP has already chalked out a plan to continue its movement to corner the Mamata government on an issue that has upset lakhs of educated youths affected by the dismissal of their fellow teachers.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the BJP leaders and MLAs would participate in the Nabanna Abhijan (March to Nabanna), called by multiple groups of affected teachers and similar outfits on April 21, if the Mamata government failed to
find a solution.

“If the government truly cares about the eligible teachers, why hasn’t it submitted the list of eligible candidates to the Supreme Court?” asked Adhikari while welcoming the state’s decision to move the apex court on Monday.

On Monday, the BJP’s youth wing, Yuva Morcha, organised a Kalighat Cholo (March to Kalighat) protest over the termination of services of thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff. Senior leaders like Locket Chatterjee and Yuva Morcha state president Indranil Khan, along with other party workers, were arrested by police at Exide More before they could begin the demonstration.