With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arresting state cabinet minister Partha Chatterjee, under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) due to his alleged role in SSC recruitment corruption, the CPM has demanded the stepping down of the Trinamul Congress-led-state government, while the victims of the corruption demanded that state government begin immediate recruitment.

Even though the minister was arrested today, the SSC recruitment scam victims, who are on the 496th day of their protest on Mayo Road, refused to call it a silver lining and demanded that the state government should immediately begin the recruitment process. The CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty visited the protest venue and said that the arrest brought shame upon West Bengal due to a “corrupt state government”.

“Crores of money, jewellery and property have been unearthed from the residence of Partha Chatterjee’s aide. The chief minister cannot shrug off her responsibility. She and her government must step down. Massive corruption by her ministers and MLAs has been unearthed. Will the chief minister now dare to organise a sit-in protest outside the CGO complex as she did on the streets when the CBI came to arrest the former Kolkata Police commissioner Rajiv Kumar in the Sarada chit fund case?” questioned Mr Chakraborty, adding, “TMC has no right to stay in government anymore.”

“Mamata Banerjee’s government must immediately start giving jobs to these victims. She has repeatedly lied in public, including at Martyrs’ Day events, that there are many vacancies for recruitment. She has no right to stay as chief minister anymore. Even after so much evidence against her corrupt MLAs, none of them has ever been asked to step down or expelled from the party,” he said.

The CPM state secretary Md Salim said, whatever amount of money has been unearthed, is just the tip of the iceberg. “Had the investigations not been delayed, the ED would have been able to discover more cash which by now have already been laundered to Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok and other foreign countries by the corrupt TMC leaders in the state government.”

He said that one cannot set aside the fact that Partha Chatterjee, other than being a cabinet minister, is also the chairman of TMC’s disciplinary committee which allegedly shows the lack of moral character in the members of TMC.