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TMC alleges job scams during Left rule in West Bengal
West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu accused Left leaders of running a scam in the education department during their 34-year regime in the state to get their kin into government services
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal on Friday accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), leaders of running a scam in the education department during their 34-year regime in the state to get their kin into government services.
State education minister Bratya Basu said at a press conference that several instances of such suspected irregularities have been brought to his notice.
“We also found that the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) detected 46,000 irregular recruitments in the education department in 2009-2010 when the Left Front was in power. We may have to go through those files. The CPI(M) did not bring Group-C and D jobs in colleges under the purview of the College Service Commission. They bypassed the commission to get their people recruited,” he said.
The attack came at a time when the TMC is drawing flak for the alleged involvement of party leaders in the bribe-for-job scam in the school education department.
Basu specifically alleged that Mili Chakraborty, wife of former CPI(M) legislator Sujan Chakraborty, was appointed as “instrument keeper” in the physics laboratory of a government aided college in Kolkata in 1987 although she did not appear for any selection test.
Basu displayed a copy of the joining letter which was also tweeted by the TMC.
“Till yesterday I was not aware that Sujan Chakraborty’s wife was a college employee. There is no proof yet to show that she appeared for any test. She retired in 2021. It means that between 2011 and 2021 she took salary from the Mamata Banerjee government. We cannot ignore this,” said Basu.
“I have no grudge against her. I don’t even know her. There was lack of transparency in many such recruitments. It is obvious that many eligible candidates were deprived,” Basu added.
Since Chakraborty is one of the vocal leaders in the opposition camp, the TMC’s move was seen in political circles as a new strategy to hit back at the Left whose alliance with the Congress had recently cost the ruling party an assembly seat in Sagardhighi bypoll.
Neither the CPI(M) nor the Congress could win a single assembly seat in the 2021 polls. The scenario changed on March 2 when a Left-backed Congress candidate won the bypoll at Sagardhighi in Murshidabad district, where Muslim comprises 66.28 % of the population, the state’s highest. The defeat exposed an erosion in the TMC’s minority vote bank for the first time, prompting party supremo Mamata Banerjee to order a probe.
Claiming that the TMC was not going for a witch hunt, Basu said: “I have to take permission from the chief minister for conducting a probe. She may ask why do we need an investigation now? She may ask why didn’t I seek her permission.”
“I personally know another CPI(M) leader whose close relatives got jobs. Did we ever say in these 12 years that there was corruption behind these appointments? We have received many complaints against CPI(M) leaders who are very vocal against us today. If a court says these recruitments should be probed, we will have no option,” said Basu.
TMC leaders said that at a March 17 meeting, the chief minister asked Basu to probe irregularities in recruitments during the Left Front era. When the information became public that day, Chakraborty dared the TMC to publish a white paper on all recruitments during the Left regime.
On Friday, the education minister took the CPI(M) head on.
“The CPI(M) is not a party. It is a group of people that does nothing. Their only job is to find faults in others and spread canards,” he said.
Asked why the TMC did not conduct a probe after coming to power 12 years ago, Basu said: “We have lost patience. They are calling each and every leader in the TMC a thief these days. We came to power saying we want change, not revenge. Should Mamata Banerjee’s decency be taken as her weakness?”
“We want to establish a regime where all people, irrespective of political affiliation, get jobs,” Basu said.
Chakraborty and his wife dismissed the allegation.
Mili Chakraborty said she got her job after coming first in the selection test.
“Those who circulated my joining letter should also show the media the results of the selection test. I appeared for interview as well. Let people know the truth,” she said.
