CM Mamata Banerjee keeps up job-loss heat, calls former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Ganguly 'a blot on judiciary'
Times of India | 26 April 2024
KOLKATA/MAHISHADAL: CM Mamata Banerjee, in her first campaign rally in Tamluk where former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly is the BJP candidate, linked him directly to the current crisis involving the loss of nearly 26,000 jobs and called him "a blot on the judiciary".
Banerjee traced Mon-day's Calcutta HC ruling - scrapping 25,757 teaching and non-teaching staff appointments - to Ganguly's tenure in the court and said he was the first judge who signed an order leading to loss of jobs for people of Bengal."You (Ganguly) are a blot on the judicial system. You have denigrated the status of the court," Banerjee said in Mahishadal, a part of the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in East Midnapore district.
"He takes away jobs at the drop of a hat. That great persona is the BJP's candidate here. Do you think you can get justice from someone who was talking to BJP while he was sitting on a judge's chair? He was already a BJP worker and openly abused other parties on live television," she added.
Ganguly had ordered a CBI probe into the teachers' recruitment scam and ordered job terminations. Some of his decisions were later turned down by Supreme Court. Ganguly resigned from the high court in March and joined BJP formally soon after. He lauded Monday's court order as "appropriate" and demanded the CM's "immediate resignation".
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee played on the words "padatyag" and "dehatyag" in her speech. "He (Ganguly) asks for my resignation (padatyag), I say you give up your body first (dehatyag). The contestant here is next to God or may be even greater than God. You were (former KMC mayor and CPM senior) Bikash Bhattacharya's junior in court.
I don't know if you are now junior or senior to the Gaddar (BJP assembly leader Suvendu Adhikari). I don't know how I should address you. Let the people decide your designation," she said, asking the electorate to "throw him out" and urging them to vote in favour of TMC candidate Debangshu Bhattacharya. She then asked the young TMC leader to bring up to the dais the families of some of those who lost their jobs because of the HC order.
"I challenge the BJP candidate here to first fight Debangshu before abusing Mamata Banerjee. I have chosen Debangshu because he represents the youth and Ganguly has snatched away jobs of 26,000 young men and women," Banerjee added. "The administration is taking the fight to the court in accordance with the law," she assured the gathering.