3 school teachers, who lost jobs, end fast alleging intimidation by TMC workers

Kolkata: Three school teachers, who were among the 25,753 people whose jobs were invalidated by the Supreme Court in the SSC scam, withdrew their indefinite fast on Sunday, alleging that they were intimidated by TMC members.

The Trinamool Congress rejected the allegation, maintaining that it had extended support to their cause and was in favour of all deserving teachers getting back their jobs.

"We are withdrawing our fast in the face of covert intimidation and threats by TMC activists who are roaming in the area. Though the police are present here, we don't feel safe to sit in the open for hours," Suman Biswas, who was a teacher at Nakashipara High School in Nadia district, told PTI.

The Supreme Court had on April 3 invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools, terming their selection process "vitiated and tainted".

Biswas, along with Pankaj Roy and Pratap Kumar Saha, began the hunger strike outside Acharya Prafulla Chandra Bhavan, the office of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), in Salt Lake on April 10.

"After mobilising more people who have already pledged support to our cause, we will resume the hunger strike. We will also step up protests across the state. We will not rest until the WBSSC publishes the list of candidates who have got the job on the basis of their merit and those who have got appointments by giving bribes," Biswas said.

The teachers ended their indefinite fast with coconut water, which was offered to them by a civil rights activist.

Trinamol Chatra Parishad president Trinankur Bhattacharya said, "The party or its wings are not involved in intimidating or threatening the agitating teachers."

"They are politicising the issue, and blaming the TMC, which has also extended support to their cause. It is to be seen if they are acting at the behest of the CPI(M) or the BJP," he said.