Kolkata: The last four days of Durga Puja were just like other days of struggle for the deprived eligible candidates protesting against West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam on the streets of Kolkata for 570 days.
However, on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami, the Left Front chairman in West Bengal, Biman Bose on Wednesday reached the agitation dais under the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Mayo Road in central Kolkata, greeted them with sweets as per Bengali rituals and expressed solidarity towards their movement.
Although the state education minister, Bratya Basu issued an appeal to the protesters to refrain from the agitation during the festival days, they refused and continued with these demonstrations.
A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court too upheld their rights to continue with their protests during the festival days and turned down the plea of the police that agitation on the streets should not continue during Puja days to prevent traffic congestion.
Bose is not the first politician from the opposition wing in the state to reach the dais during the festival days and express solidarity to the protesters.
On Tuesday evening, on Maha Navami, the leader of the opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari went to the agitation dais and assured them of taking up the matter to the highest level of the Union government.
“Education is the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution and hence the Union government will be involved in the matter. This will be done since the state government is showing no positive move to ensure jobs for all eligible candidates who have been illegally deprived,” Adhikari said..
The CPI(M) state secretary in West Bengal and the party politburo member, Md Salim also went to the agitation dais on October 3, on Maha Asthami, and from there he launched a scathing attack against the state government.
“The eligible candidates have been protesting here for over 550 days and the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is busy attending Puja pandals,” Salim said. The CPI(M) activists also arranged food for the agitators on that day.
(IANS)
