Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at the protesting para teachers, who had gathered during her dharna in central Kolkata, asking them “to do politics at some other place”.

The CM launched the dharna on Friday against the large-scale deletions of names in the state’s voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise carried out by the Election Commission in West Bengal.

During the dharna, the situation became tense when some para teachers, under the aegis of Para Teacher Unity Manch, started agitating in front of her dharna stage. The protesting para teachers demanded a salary increase stating that the state government had promised them a hike.

Annoyed, the CM asked the teachers to stay away from the dharna stage while accusing them of working “on BJP’s advice”.

“Don’t do these things (here) as per the BJP’s advice. If you people want to do politics, do it at some other place. Here, we are protesting against harassment of people.”

“If you want to protest and show so much courage, show it in front of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah,” she said. Later, she asked the police to remove the agitating teachers from the spot and arrange any other place for them to protest. Following the Chief Minister’s order, police detained the agitators, however, they were released within a few hours.