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Protesting schoolteachers and non-teaching staff who sat overnight outside Acharya Sadan, the School Service Commission (SSC) office in the Kolkata suburb of Salt Lake, were joined by medicos and citizens, reviving memories of the months of protests following the rape and murder of a doctor at the state-run RG Kar medical college and hospital last August.
On Monday afternoon, the teachers and non-teaching staff had gathered outside the SSC office demanding that the commission release the list segregating the tainted and untainted candidates in the cash for jobs scam. As the SSC and the government did not live up to its promise, the protesters decided to remain on the streets.
Debasmita Bhowmik, one of the protesters, had appealed to residents of Karunamoyee, Salt Lake, to allow them to use the toilets and provide drinking water.
“Bio-toilet has been arranged. The junior doctors have helped with drinking water. Some homes were also opened for us. Join us tomorrow at noon,” she wrote
The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) that had spearheaded the RG Kar protests also joined the siege.
“Doctors stand by teachers,” said Aniket Mahato from WBJDF outside Acharya Sadan.
Residents of Salt Lake have opened their doors for the protesters squatting on the street in the April heat.
“Protesters near SSC Bhavan, reach out if you need to use washrooms or require any help” many wrote on their social media accounts.
As it had happened during the RG Kar protests, many residents reached the protest site with bottled water.
A mime artiste posted on her social media account: “The protesters in Salt Lake, especially women, can use the toilets at the National Mime Institute. It is near the tank number 9, block CK 71.”
Thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff were dismissed en masse following a Supreme Court verdict citing “widespread irregularities” in the 2016 SSC recruitment.The Supreme Court later allowed the teachers to resume their duties while instructing the state government to complete the recruitment process by December 31.
The protesters demands include the publishing of a list clearly segregating the “tainted” from the “untainted”, and resignations of the state education minister Bratya Basu and SSC chairman Siddhartha Mazumdar.
The protests, which had begun earlier this month with a hunger strike outside the SSC office, have now swollen into an all-night sit-in.
“The WBSSC must be taught a lesson. We have stayed here under the open sky since last evening and will continue to be here until our demands are met,” one of the teachers told PTI.
The government’s failure to release the segregation list despite repeated assurances has been the last straw. These teachers are among the 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff whose appointments were scrapped by the Supreme Court on April 3.
The apex court had found appointments had been granted post facto the panel’s expiry, one of 17 reasons why the process was declared “vitiated”.
Despite the SSC having conducted 12 rounds of counselling, only the first three (held between December 2017 and August 2018) occurred within the panel’s valid timeframe. The remaining rounds, held post-expiry, are under legal scrutiny.
Yet, as protesters argue, this technicality has cost them their livelihoods.
Twelve male and four female SSC staff members along with chairman Majumdar were reportedly locked inside the premises with other officials, some of whom were denied food or water by angry protestors blocking even tea vendors.
“In respect of the 2016 teacher recruitment matter, it is made clear that SSC will abide by the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court,” Mazumdar said in a statement late Monday night.
But the absence of clarity about the fate of “untainted” candidates angered the protesting crowd.
“Please wait for the government to file a review petition with the Supreme Court. We have to follow the guidelines,” urged education minister Basu late on Monday, appealing for patience.
His appeal failed to pacify and support started coming from various corners.
“It’s no longer just the teachers. Protesters from outside have also joined the movement,” SSC chairman Majumdar told reporters on Tuesday morning.
BJP MP and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay also alleged Basu was attempting to misguide the teachers.
“What the candidates are demanding is transparency in the recruitment process. Differentiating tainted and untainted candidates will not invite any contempt of court charge. I call upon the teachers not to leave the path of peaceful agitation till they get justice,” Gangopadhyay said.
