Bengal: BJP sees poll prospects in supporting para teachers’ protest

Mukul Roy, in his letter, has urged Amit Shah to let the party announce a raised pay-scale and perks for the para teachers if the BJP comes to power in the state in 2021

With para teachers intensifying their protests against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal just ahead of the crucial assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeing poll prospects in showing solidarity with the 63,000-strong work force.

There are around 150,000 contractual staff, including around 63,000 para teachers, who support around 800,000 family members in Bengal. Para teachers have been sitting on a demonstration since December 8 last year. (PTI)

BJP’s national vice-president Mukul Roy has sent a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah suggesting that the party should take up the matter ahead of the polls.

“Since West Bengal is a poll-bound state and the citizens are vociferous for a change in the regime, the state BJP should take up the matter seriously for the welfare of the para-teachers [sic],” Roy wrote in the letter.

There are around 150,000 contractual staff, including around 63,000 para teachers, who support around 800,000 family members in Bengal. Para teachers have been sitting on a demonstration since December 8 last year.

On Wednesday, a few para teachers, carrying placards, jumped into the murky and heavily polluted waters of the Adi Ganga, a canal that passes close to the residence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, to press for their demands.

“We have a set of 26 demands. Our demands of equal pay and pension, among others, have not been met so far. We are only getting assurances. If we protest peacefully, police is arresting us. What are we going to do?” said Maidul Islam, one of the para teachers, adding that they have been protesting over the past four months.

In January, dozens of protesting para teachers, all of them women, tried to barge inside the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in Kolkata ahead of the two-day special assembly session. Earlier, they clashed with the police during a protest march.

The education department had increased the salary of para teachers at the primary level from ₹5,954 to ₹10,000 a month, and for those at the higher secondary level from ₹8,500 to ₹13,000. Banerjee had recently announced a 3% annual pay hike for para teachers in the state budget, but they asserted the raise is not enough.

Roy, in his letter, has also urged Shah to let the party announce a raised pay-scale and perks for the para teachers if the BJP comes to power in the state in 2021.

“I am willing to visit their agitation and assure them of our solidarity towards them. However, I would urge you to inform me about the pay-scale and perks that I on behalf of the party can assure them once we form the government in west Bengal [sic],” Roy wrote in the letter.