The clamour to open academic institutions, even if in a staggered way, increased on Thursday with the BJP and its student outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad hitting the streets with this demand.

This comes days after a BJP rebel said the party was hardly seen taking up causes that concerned common people. Sources within the BJP said with Left organisations such as the SFI continuously organising movements to demand reopening of schools, colleges and universities, the attack of the dissidents forced the state leadership to come out of its slumber and take up the cause of students on Thursday.

“Public criticism of the state (BJP) leaders forced them to come out of their slumber. While leader of the Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari led a march to Bikash Bhavan in Salt Lake on Thursday evening, earlier in the day members of the ABVP took out a rally in central Calcutta to raise the demand to reopen educational institutions,” said a senior BJP leader.

As both events ran into resistance put up by the police, the BJP accused the state government of indulging in lawlessness.

“The leader of Opposition and our MLAs went (to Bikash Bhavan) with an appeal. They didn’t mean to organise a protest. There is no point in protesting in this lawless state,” said BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya.

The protests were organised on a day a petition seeking reopening of schools was filed in Calcutta High Court.

The PIL was moved before a division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava by a school teacher seeking an order asking the state to take immediate decision to open educational institutions in Bengal to rein in student dropouts in rural areas.

The petitioner’s advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said difficulty in continuing with online classes was forcing students to opt out of studies. The case is likely to be heard on Friday.

The SFI on Thursday demanded immediate reopening of educational institutions. They held symbolic open-air classes in several places across Bengal to register their protest.

The state government has taken the safety-first stance on the issue of reopening schools amid the pandemic. Education minister Bratya Basu on Monday said chief minister Mamata Banerjee had her eye on the situation and would personally inform people about the resumption of classes.

“We are in favour of reopening schools...but without causing any harm to students, without increasing Covid infection... Only when full vaccination is ensured and students are secure, the respected chief minister will herself inform you all when schools can reopen,” Basu said on Monday.

The government had reopened schools for classes IX-XII twice last year — in February and November — and on both occasions the campuses had to be shut down again because of a rise in Covid infections.

Student organisations like Democratic Students Organisation and civil rights groups like Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and Save Education Committee hit the streets on the same issue.

SUCI leader Ayesha Khatun said: “We will launch month-long protests to demand reopening of schools. Keeping schools closed is disastrous as children are getting addicted to smartphones and many have no money to purchase such a gadget.”

In Siliguri, representatives of Darjeeling district branch of All Bengal India Save Education Committee organised a demonstration at Bagha Jatin Park and also in Rajganj of the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district.

“Due to the closure of schools for the past two years, the number of dropouts has increased and students are deprived from getting proper education. We want the state to immediately re-open all educational institutions,” said Geeta Thakur, secretary of the Darjeeling district branch of the organisation.

In North Dinajpur district, members of Nikhil Banga Prathamik Sikshak Samiti, an association of primary school teachers, blocked NH-12 at Karandighi for 30 minutes demanding reopening of schools.

In Malda, residents spotted Pappu Roy, who is from Baruipur of South 24-Parganas and a teacher in a private school, pedaling across the district. Roy is on a state-wide bicycle tour to urge state and the central governments to reopen education institutions.