A dozen members of the civil society have in a statement condemned the “forceful” removal of candidates who had written the Teachers’ Eligibility Test for appointment in government-aided primary schools and been protesting in Salt Lake.
“We have seen in media reports how Bidhannagar police applied force to remove job aspirants who were on a hunger strike in a bid to derail their agitation. We condemn this incident. We consider this an infringement on the democratic rights of citizens in Bengal,” said the statement.
The signatories include doctor-activist Binayak Sen, actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen, doctor Kunal Sarkar, theatre director Bibhas Chakraborty, theatre director Suman Mukhopadhay and actors Sujan Mukhopadhyay, Anirban Bhattacharya, Reshmi Sen, Koushik Sen and Riddhi Sen.
“We appeal to the government to immediately resolve this impasse through dialogue. We also request the government to see to it that no criminal cases are filed against the protesters,” said the note.
Past Thursday midnight, the police started bodily lifting candidates who were protesting in Salt Lake. The TET 2014 examinees, who had failed to make it to the final list for appointment on the basis of scores in each stage of screening (such as written test and interview), are opposed to appearing in another interview.
The earlier recruitments were made during the tenure of now-arrested former board president Manik Bhattacharya.
From Monday to Thursday, only the 2014 batch was protesting. But from Thursday, the 2017 TET batch also started a protest against the demand raised by the 2014 candidates.
The demand of the 2014 candidates that they be allowed to skip the interview has stoked fears among the TET 2017 candidates who want to appear in the interview.
The TET 2017 protesters, too, were forced out of their protest site early on Friday.