MALDA, Apr 23 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal over issues of corruption, including the school jobs scam, and asserted that only the BJP can eradicate corruption and cut money culture of the TMC in the state.
Addressing a rally at Karandighi in the Raiganj constituency, Shah said the party has set a target of winning 35 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal.
“The Calcutta High Court yesterday gave a judgment cancelling thousands of appointments made through the 2016 teacher recruitment test. It is a matter of shame that jobs were sold for lakhs of rupees. They have taken 10 lakhs, and 15 lakhs as bribes for jobs. It means if you do not have 15 lakh rupees, how will you get a job for your brothers and sons?” he said.
The Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered the cancellation of appointments of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff made through the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools, declaring the selection process as “null and void.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had termed the high court order “illegal” and said her government will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Shah said, “Rs 51 crore were recovered from the residence of TMC minister Partha Chatterjee. What action was taken against him?”
Former education minister Partha Chatterjee was suspended from the party and removed from the state cabinet in July 2022, days after his arrest in the school jobs scam.
“This cut-money culture and corruption must end in West Bengal. I want to know whether this should stop or not. The TMC can never stop it; only the BJP can stop it,” he said.
Hitting out at the Congress over remarks by its leaders that the CAA would be repealed if they were voted to power, Shah said, “Neither Congress nor Mamata Banerjee can dare to touch the CAA.”
“Why is Mamata Banerjee opposing CAA? She is supporting infiltration in Bengal but opposes Hindu refugees getting citizenship,” the BJP leader said.
The Congress and Mamata Banerjee are against the CAA because they want to help the infiltrators, he alleged.
The Centre last month implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Earlier, while addressing a roadshow in the Malda South constituency, Shah said that under the Trinamool Congress rule, infiltration is continuing unabated in the state.
Referring to the recent incidents in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, where allegations of sexual abuse against TMC leaders have emerged, Shah said it is a matter of shame that “Mamata Banerjee, despite being a woman chief minister, tried to protect the culprits.”
“For years, atrocities continued right under your (Mamata Banerjee’s) nose. To get some votes through appeasement, you are protecting the criminals of Sandeshkhali. Now these culprits are in jail,” he claimed.
The Union home minister urged the people of West Bengal to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop violence, halt infiltration, ensure citizenship for refugees, and uphold the dignity of women.
“Mamata Didi does not let Modi Ji’s schemes reach the people in Bengal. She is afraid that if Modi Ji’s schemes reach the people of Bengal, they will support him,” Shah said. (PTI)
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