During Left Front rule, job appointments were made through chits of paper, will disclose all: Mamata Banerjee

The ongoing School Service Commission (SSC) jobs appointment scam has taken the state by storm, with Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for over three hours on Wednesday.

Though chief minister Mamata Banerjee has not directly commented on the matter, on Thursday, at a public meeting in Jhargram, she made an all out attack at the former Left Front government on its “method of job appointments”, indicating that perhaps her comments were directed at the ongoing controversy. She said that during the former Left Front rule, job appointments were made through “chits of paper”. “I have inquired about it, and learnt that earlier during the 34 years of Left rule, job appointments used to be made through chits of paper. I will gradually disclose all of it. I have not done it so far,” she said.

At the same time, she also attacked the Centre for ruling the country with whims and force by using the Central probe agencies. Apart from Partha Chatterjee, the CBI also questioned another senior Trinamool leader Paresh Pal on Wednesday. Questioning another minister Paresh Adhikary still remains to be done as the minister from north Bengal has not appeared before the Central agency officers yet despite the Calcutta High Court’s order. Trinamool’s Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal too faced the CBI on Thursday on a case regarding cattle smuggling. Under this backdrop, Mamata Banerjee’s comments appear to be significant as she mentioned “the way in which the BJP is ruling the country by taking away the freedom of people and ‘taking over’ all important institutions across the country”.

“There may be mistakes while working, and the person should be given opportunity to rectify. But if the BJP thinks it can throttle us, let me be clear that it won’t be possible to silence Trinamool Congress,” she said. She said that the BJP was not ashamed despite losing in the 2021 Assembly elections, and was trying to project the Trinamool in bad light by spreading lies, in order to win the coming 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

She also warned leaders of her own party. “Remember that no one is above the party. The party is above everyone, and people are above everything. We are cadres and the ones sitting before us are the real leaders,” she said, indicating the people. “And it is for them that our party is called Trinamool Congress. Let no one in our party think we are big shots,” Banerjee said.