25k+ jobs gone, who will teach thousands of schoolkids, BJP or RSS?: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA/BHATAR: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday wondered who would teach the thousands of children - "BJP or RSS?" - now that close to 26,000 school staff had lost their jobs, report Dwaipayan Ghosh & Mohammad Asif.
"Where will the teachers come from?" Banerjee said, addressing an election rally in Bhatar, East Burdwan, on Tuesday. "Will BJP or RSS people go there and teach?...Modiji said he would provide jobs to two crore people. He did not provide a job to a single person. And when we give jobs in Bengal, you get the courts to take them away. The reason is because they are not under us, they are under you."
Banerjee's comments came a day after Calcutta HC, passing judgment in the cash-for-jobs scam case, scrapped the West Bengal School Service Commission's 2016 selection process - all 25,757 appointments. On Monday, the CM had slammed the verdict as "illegal and one-sided". On Tuesday, she said she was not talking about judges, but the judgment.
CM: Mistakes can happen, we would've fixed them
I am talking about the judgment, not naming the judge, I don't need to," CM Mamata Banerjee said at an election rally in Bhatar, East Burdwan, on Tuesday.
"Mistakes" could happen, the CM conceded. "If they'd said there was an issue, that a mistake was made and rectification was required, we would have done it. Mistakes can happen... I don't run everything. The education department is independent. SSC is independent, so is the Madhyamik board."
Banerjee said: "(To) those who unilaterally passed judgment and took away the jobs of 26,000 teachers and said eight years' salary, with interest, has to be returned within a month - can they return it? What if it was a family member of someone who passed this judgment who lost a job?"
The CM questioned who would take responsibility for any "drastic step" taken by any job-loser. "Don't worry, we are trying our best. We will appeal in SC," she said, adding she was also worried about social stigma on the ex-teachers. "Those who taught for six years, don't they have any prestige?"
Without naming state opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari, Banerjee said: "He had said (on Saturday) that a bomb would explode on Monday. Who sold the jobs in Purulia?.... How did you know the court would pass this judgment? He is dancing after taking away so many people's jobs."
Banerjee said he was enjoying court protection, but that would "not last forever". "No FIR can be lodged against him. A cop died and his wife lodged a complaint against him. He went to court and (got it) stayed... People can vote and show him who ultimately matters in a democracy," she said.