KOLKATA: Kolkata witnessed blocked roads on Saturday as protesters took out a march against police action on aspiring primary teachers two days ago. While protesters comprising CPM leaders and activists from the Citizens’ Forum took to roads leading to Esplanade, the BJP too took out a similar march in the city on the same issue.
A little after midnight on Friday, Bidhannagar police removed protesting teaching job aspirants from Karunamoyee, close to 90 hours after they began their indefinite fast at the site demanding recruitment for all those who had cleared the 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). Several protesters were dragged into police vehicles and taken to the police station.
Linguist and literacy critic Pabitra Sarkar, who participated in Saturday’s march, said, “The government should have considered the demand of the job aspirants more sympathetically by holdings dialogues with them. Instead, police cracked down on the deprived candidates at midnight.’’
Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen and actor Badsha Moitra were among those who extended their support to the TET candidates and participated in the march. The CPM also stood by Citizens’ Forum, an apolitical platform. Left Front chairman Biman Bose was seen at the back of the group, and when asked why he was not in the front row, he said, “The event was organised by an apolitical platform and our party supported the issue.’’
The BJP alleged that the action on the candidates was taken to guard those who got jobs in schools by bribing the Trinamool Congress functionaries. On the day of police action, CM Mamata Banerjee said, “I will always support protests on reasonable demands. The matter is in court and we have been implementing court orders.’’