Amid election rundown, 350 govt job aspirants on fast-unto-death strike in Kolkata; protest enters 27th day

Kolkata: In between the hustle bustle of political campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as many as 350 government job aspirants are sitting on an indefinite hunger strike since past one month in Kolkata. The protest entered its 28th day today and is been going on in front of the Kolkata Press Club. As per reports, the fast-unto-death strike has made several protesters fall ill and the reported number of people who have fallen ill has reached to 50. Some have even been admitted to hospitals, as reported by Bengali daily. The protesters are among the 5,000 candidates who had applied for the post of assistant teachers and had qualified the School Service Commission (SSC) exams in 2013 and 2017 and are waiting to get recruited. The protesters claim that there has been no recruitment since 2014 and thousands of seats are vacant across several government schools in West Bengal. There have been regular protests to express concern and highlight the issue, but the protesters allege that none of their concerns has been addressed by the state government. This time the protesters are sitting on an indefinite strike demanding immediate filling of the seats. The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has extended no support to the protesters and thus they have refused to stop their strike till the time their demands are not met.

There is an indefinite hunger strike for the SSC candidates. Almost 450 candidates who had applied for the post of assistant teachers. Very terrible situation .The concerned authorities should sit and discuss the issues immediatly. #WeStandWithSscAspirants pic.twitter.com/YCjAXzV57p

— Chowkidar Harsh Pansari (@iamharshpansari) March 25, 2019

However, the State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee visited the protesters on the fourth day of the strike and said said that they need not be worried. “Those qualified will certainly be called for interview in due course of time,” he said. On March 2, Partha had asked the protesters to end the strike and come for discussions with the government Partha also assured the protesters to form a five-member committee to investigate into the matter. However, the protesters stated that as they went to meet the committee at Bikas Bhavan on Tuesday, instead of five there were only two members present. The protesters will be submitting their demands in written format, as requested by the committee members on Wednesday. On the political front, several Opposition parties in the state including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have extended their support to the fast. BJP president Dilip Ghosh, National Secretary Rahul Sinha, actor Soumitra Chatterjee and others have extended their support for the struggle of hundreds protesting for thier recruitment.

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