“We haven’t taken anyone’s job; we give jobs,” said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, while launching a scathing attack on the Opposition parties, essentially the CPM (Left Front). She was speaking at a programme to mark Teacher’s Day on Monday.
The comment was made in an oblique reference to the arrest of her party member Partha Chatterjee in the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam that has rocked the state.
During her speech, she pointed out, “We have not taken anyone’s job… There are no papers (documents) from the CPM tenure. We could not find any files. Now, mistakes are being detected because there is documentary evidence.”
The Left Front ruled the state of West Bengal for 34 years before Banerjee’s TMC took over power after the 2011 assembly polls.
“Today one has money, tomorrow one might not have it. How greedy one becomes depends on the individual. Not everyone is the same. There are both good and bad humans in society. But if we begin to see everyone in the same light, it will be incorrect. At times, good people get influenced by the wrong, but not all can be blamed or vilified for that. We have to bring bad people on the right path,” said Banerjee, without naming Chatterjee.
Banerjee also stated that since 2011, 51 colleges have been built and 89,000 teachers will be provided job. “People who have not received justice, will get it during our tenure though the process would take some time,” added the CM.
Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee are behind bars for the SSC recruitment scam. Chatterjee and his close aide Mukherjee were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after recovering a total of Rs 49 crore in liquid cash from Mukherjee’s residence. Several documents were also seized from Chatterjee’s residence.
The scam created a huge uproar across the state with the Opposition demanding justice for the deprived lot, who have been protesting continuously against the SSC recruitments near Gandhi Murti in Kolkata. TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee held a meeting with the protesters a few weeks back.