The AAP, on Tuesday, March 29, claimed that it was Lt Governor Anil Baijal who vehemently opposed the regularisation of services of Kashmiri migrant teachers in Delhi government schools, despite an approval by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Cabinet.
The statement of the ruling party in Delhi came a day after a teachers' association hit out at Chief Minister Kejriwal for claiming credit for regularisation of the migrant teachers, saying the Delhi government did it because it was left with no choice after the Supreme Court's judgment in the matter.
Addressing a press conference on the premises of the Delhi Assembly, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators Atishi Singh and Saurabh Bharadwaj dismissed the association's claims as "false and misleading" and accused the BJP of doing politics over the matter.
The statement of the Government School Teachers' Association (Migrant), released by its coordinator Dilip Bhan on Monday, March 28, kicked up a political row with the BJP, launching an attack on the AAP.
"After the formation of the AAP government, these Kashmiri teachers came to Kejriwal and also met (deputy chief minister) Manish Sisodia. The Kejriwal government decided that their services should be regularised. Cabinet passed a proposal for this," Atishi said.
But Lt Governor Baijal objected to the regularisation of these 235 teachers, she claimed. "The BJP's L-G writes a note in the file stating that it is a service matter and the Delhi government has no jurisdiction to interfere, and that all decisions have to be taken by the L-G in this matter," Atishi claimed.
She alleged that it was not alone the Delhi L-G's decision to oppose the regularisation of teachers as he had consulted with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the matter. "BJP's L-G never stood by Kashmiri migrant teachers. He openly opposed their regularisation. He even filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the double bench verdict which had favoured the teachers' regularisation," Atishi said.
The AAP leaders also questioned the veracity of the teachers' body, which issued the statement targetting Kejriwal on the issue of regularising Kashmiri migrant teachers. The teachers' association, which was party in the case filed in the court, has issued a clarification, saying Bhan, whose statement is circulating in the name of their organisation, is not known to them.
The association has also stated that the Kejriwal government always stood by Kashmiri migrant contractual teachers and even passed a policy in its Cabinet in 2017 favouring their regularisation, Atishi said.
"The BJP is playing politics over the issue," Atishi said, adding "The Modi government has not done anything for Kashmiri migrants so far, the BJP has only opposed the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits, worked against them, and has done everything to obstruct the regularisation of their jobs."
The AAP posted the teachers association's statement on the party's official Twitter handle. "This is the real face of the BJP and its leaders, they are liars, cunning and worthless," AAP leader Bharadwaj charged.
