KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has been playing on the ‘Bengali’ sentiment over the past two years to counter the growing influence of the Sangh Parivar. But it backfired against the government when the appointment of Urdu teachers at Darivit High School in Uttar Dinajpur district sparked protests, resulting in two youths’ death.
Tensions began at Darivit on September 18 when students protested the appointment of Urdu teacher, arguing that there was no Urdu student in the school. They instead demanded Bengali, English, Science, Mathematics and Computer teachers. The block development officer and the district inspector of schools visited the school and promised in writing that Urdu teachers won’t be appointed. But two teachers reached the school on September 20 and all hell broke loose. Students blockaded the school and allegedly attacked the police. The subsequent police firing at protesters led to the death of two youths.
Education minister Partha Chatterjee claimed his department was in the dark over the appointment. But the BJP grabbed the opportunity to turn the tables on the state government. “Does Didi (Mamata) want to make Urdu the state language over Bengali? Look what happened in our eastern neighbourhood when Pakistan tried to impose Urdu over Bengalis,” state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.
The government handed over the probe to CID. But Mamata may visit the affected families to calm the simmering tension and deny the BJP an opportunity to take political milegae from the whole episode.