In a social media post, Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari wrote, “The year comes to an end but sadly there’s no light at the end of the tunnel for the meritorious & eligible job seekers of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee’s promise of ‘Double Double Jobs’ sounds like a Cruel Joke, made at the expense of the future of the Youth of Bengal.”
“The ‘Double Double Jobs’ are reserved only for a special category of people who have been wilfully subservient in carrying out Mamata Banerjee’s whims & fancies by playing along as acquiescent subordinates during their tenure, placing Mamata Banerjee’s personal interests over the interests of the State of West Bengal. So they are offered ‘Double Double Jobs’ post-retirement,” the Nandigram MLA said.
Adhikari also shared a list of names who were retained by the state government after their retirement. According to the list, IPS Manoj Malviya, who retired as the state director general of police (DGP), was made the statec police adviser.
Former state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay was made Chief Adviser to CM Banerjee. IAS officer Ram Das Meena, who retired as resident commissioner, was made OSD & Principal Adviser (public relations) and principal resident commissioner, New Delhi, and principal advisor (industry).
On Sunday, HK Dwivedi, who retired as the state chief secretary, was made the chief advisor (finance) to the Chief Minister.
Besides IAS and IPS officers, the BJP leader pointed out that former state finance minister Amit Mitra was retained as Principal Chief Economic Adviser (with the rank of a Cabinet minister) to the CM.
Senior CPM leader Samik Lahiri said that a section of bureaucrats in Bengal have been turned into a party cadre. “In Bengal, the ruling party has turned bureaucrats into party cadres. Unfortunately, some of the officers in exchange for fat paychecks have forgotten their duty to the people and are getting embroiled in corrupt practices of the state government,” said Lahiri.
Reacting to the criticism, the TMC slammed the Opposition for making such statements against the state government. “There are thousands of examples where retired officers were retained in new posts by the central government. Suvendu Adhikari must have forgotten that Ajit Doval was one of such officers who was retained by the Narendra Modi government. Therefore, before making such statements, the Opposition must look into the conduct of the Central government,” said the party’s state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar.