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Trinamool instigating violence: Buddhadeb

Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday accused the Trinamool Congress of instigating violence in educational institutions across the State, and trying to create obstacles in all development initiatives of the government.

“We are faced with an Opposition party that is trying to obstruct any development….We can overcome this obstacle if we have the support of the people,” asserted Mr. Bhattacharjee.

The Trinamool is trying to halt the development process, be it is industry, power or roads, and when it is unsuccessful in doing so, it resorts to violence, he said at a gathering of teachers of schools run by the Department of Panchayat and Rural Development.

Referring to a two-month-old incident, when suspected Maoists killed a teacher in front of his students in the Paschim Medinipur district, the Chief Minister said that “violence had gripped educational institutions in several parts of the State,” but the Left Front government was committed to “getting rid of this violence,” and “bringing peace to every school and college.”

Pivotal role

If this anarchy in education spreads, everything will be destroyed, he said.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said teachers had played a pivotal role in the Left movement when the Congress was in power in the State — “a time when teachers were neither paid nor respected.”

Speaking of Tuesday's incident at the University of Burdwan in Bardhaman where Trinamool and Communist Party of India (Marxist) supporters clashed over allegations of irregularity in recruitment process, Left Front Committee chairman Biman Bose said it was reminiscent of the 1970s, when there had been widespread violence in schools and colleges across West Bengal.

“Students had been deprived of their right to education and teachers had been under attack,” Mr. Bose said.

Stating that a similar situation was looming over the State at present, Mr. Bose said: “Even if the Government abides by its responsibility towards the education sector, and even if you put in your best efforts, in these turbulent political times, the educational set-up in under threat.”

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