“We welcome the Calcutta High Court order. We have nothing to say about those who have lost their jobs. But this verdict proves that the TMC government was indeed involved in corruption. We condemn this corrupt government, where jobs were sold by ministers and party leaders,” said Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.

“The High Court’s judgement is massive… It bares open the brazen corruption of Mamata Banerjee’s government,” BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya posted on X.
The BJP leader also alleged that it was “undoubtedly” the biggest government-sponsored recruitment scam in which “lives of millions of youth” were ruined.

“Over 51 crore rupees and gold were recovered from former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee’s house. He mentioned Mamata Banerjee as his primary contact in the jail documents… TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya, Jiban Krishna Saha, TMC Youth Wing leaders Kuntal Ghosh, Shantanu Bandyopadhyay and life bird of Pisi-Bhaipo duo, Kalighat er Kaku aka Sujay Krishna Bhadra, have also been arrested,” he added.

At a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam alleged that Mamata Banerjee was the “kingpin of the recruitment scam” and demanded her resignation. “The High Court’s judgment has completely exposed her. She should resign,” Islam said.

Meanwhile, former High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who had previously ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment process, termed the order “appropriate” and demanded“immediate resignation” of Mamata Banerjee. “The entire group of fraudsters in the state administration responsible for perpetrating the scam should be hanged,” said Gangopadhyay, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket.

“The real culprits are sitting in top positions of state administration and hiding behind their security bubble. If they have the courage and any shame left in them, they should quit their positions of power, shred their protective cover and face investigations… The chief minister deprived the qualified candidates for years and left them under unspeakable distress,” he said and added, “I would have dragged her down from her chair myself if I had that kind of power,” he said.

Earlier, Gangopadhyay had also ordered the termination of a number of jobs of the teaching and non-teaching staffers after finding irregularities.

Gangopadhyay, however, refused to consider Monday’s judgment his “personal victory”. “I feel sad today that the High Court vindicated my findings for a scam of such proportions. I feel distressed that we have to tolerate the governance of a corrupt and lying dispensation even after such developments,” he said.

Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who fought the case from the onset, termed Monday’s order “historical”. “This is a very important and historical order. It proves that if the court wants, they can uphold the equality right of the Constitution and unmask a corrupt government. For those who lost their job, it is unfortunate but they should realise what is the result of supporting a corrupt party,” said the lawyer.

— With PTI Inputs