ON January 27, the residents of Agartala witnessed the senseless, inhuman barbarities inflicted by police and paramilitary forces on the 10,323 retrenched teachers squatting in front of the City Centre in Melarmath. Police started indiscriminate lathi-charge on the teachers, both men and women, at pre-dawn hours as they were sleeping at their protest site in bone-chilling cold. The police demolished their temporary structure for their night-stay, took away their three donation boxes with approximately Rs 2.5 lakh, food and even warm clothes and vanity bags of women. Policemen dragged women teachers into police vans. The retrenched teachers have been peacefully squatting there since December 7 last year, demanding reinstatement in their job.

As the news spread another group of teachers in a prescheduled programme tried to approach the chief minister’s official residence, they were meted with another round of torture with water-canon, teargas and ruthless lathi charge at the IGM Hospital in Chowmohani. In both spots, more than 100 teachers were injured and 50 of them had to be hospitalised. Grievously wounded 17 teachers with multiple fractures were admitted to the hospital. Inside the hospital when the injured were under treatment, cruelty crossed all limits. BJP MLA Dilip Das reached the hospital in the evening and started mounting pressure on the attending doctors and hospital staff to release all the patients though some of whom were either administered oxygen or saline at that time and groaning in pain.

The barbarous police action was severely criticised in most of the state media. CPI(M) State Secretary Goutam Das and Manik Sarkar, Leader of Opposition severely condemned the police action.

These 10,323 teachers were appointed in various academic stages by the Left Front government in 2010. The appointment of teachers in primary and higher levels of schools was long due. These 10,323 teachers were given appointment in three categories -- post-graduate teachers, graduate teachers and undergraduate teachers. The appointments were made according to the recruitment policy of the government.

CUNNING ROLE OF CONGRESS    
Congress, the then opposition party in the state, had always opposed every pro-people measures of the Left Front government, in case of recruitment of teachers also, left no stone unturned to thwart these appointments. The then leader of opposition in a letter to the union education minister requested to stop these recruitments alleging that only CPI(M) cadres would be given the appointment. But the union education ministry did not give any cognisance to his allegation. After the release of appointments, Congress provoked some of the aggrieved candidates to contest in the court claiming themselves to be more qualified than some others who got appointments. They did not contest the recruitment policy pursued by the government. There was neither allegation of corruption nor any nepotism in such a huge number of recruitments. The Bench led by High Court Chief Justice Deepak Gupta in his verdict cancelled the recruitment policy of the government and ordered null and void all the appointments of 10,323 teachers. Apparently, it was a political verdict to embarrass the Left Front government prior to the assembly election. The Left Front government filed an SLP in the Supreme Court to review the High Court verdict which was upheld by the Supreme Court also. In the Supreme Court, Congress provided advocates for opposing these appointments. Both the verdicts were made purely on technical-legal points devoid of humanitarian aspects about the fate of the so many school teachers who already rendered service for several years. While the verdict was passed, the shortage of teachers in the schools of the state was so acute their services were indispensable for the smooth running of the academic function of schools. Considering this ground fact, the Supreme Court extended its service twice up to March 31, 2020. In total, most of the sacked teachers had served about 9-10 years continuously.

Having got no relief from the Supreme Court, the then Left Front government resolutely assured the retrenched teachers that the government would stand by their side. Accordingly, the Left Front government created 13,000 non-teaching posts under education and social welfare and social education departments to absorb these teachers including some other fresh candidates. The government completed the interview for all these posts.

DECEPTIVE ROLE OF BJP
While the Left Front government was preparing for absorbing them in alternative posts, the BJP started their disruptive plan to abort the move of the government. They moved the Supreme Court alleging this effort of the Left Front government is a “contempt of court”. The Supreme Court in an initial order kept these posts in abeyance till the final verdict. By this time, the assembly election was declared by the election commission. Thus, the Left Front government could not solve their problem within its tenure. However, the Supreme Court finally rejected the contempt petition validating these posts.
   
The BJP got this issue of 10,323 retrenched teachers as a sharp weapon to use against the Left Front government. They also allured most of the ill-fated teachers that, the Left Front would not be able to solve their problem. Rather, as the BJP is ruling at the centre, if the same party government is formed in the state, it would render them justice with the united effort of the Centre and the state. In the vision document, the so-called election manifesto of the BJP, they promised that “the government will resolve the problem of 10,323 teachers keeping humanitarian considerations in mind.” A section of retrenched teachers was used as pawns by the BJP in the assembly election campaign against the Left Front.
 
BETRAYAL OF BJP-LED GOVT
Having formed the government in the state, the BJP started demonising the retrenched teachers by calling them ‘unqualified’ and ‘burden of Left Front’s vices’, etc. By this time, some of the teachers having required percentage in their qualifying exam and DEE or B Ed certificate got appointments as regular teachers competing for TET (Teachers Eligibility Test) examination. The others who had no such qualification have fallen in an acute crisis of their survival.

In September last year, the retrenched teachers organised a march to the capital complex to place their issue to the government. There also they were indiscriminately lathi-charged inflicting injury to many of them. Lastly, the chief minister met the representatives of these teachers and assured to redress their problem within two months. Finding no such proactive measures from the government’s end, the teachers started a sit-in at the City Centre in Agartala. Till now, 85 of them have died of various ailments out of utter frustration and some committed suicide finding no means to survive.

The wicked and treacherous game played by both the Congress and the BJP with the innocent teachers should not be seen in isolation to what the Modi government is doing with the entire people of the country.