Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) passed students who qualified to become teachers with Magahi and Bhojpuri languages may take a sigh of relief with the Congress clearing its stand. Disowning its own Minister Geetashree Oraon's stand, the party made it squarely clear that there would be no adverse effect on the qualified aspirant with any regional language.
The decision in this regard was taken after a meeting of party representatives in the Hemant Soren Government and MlAs with Congress in-charge of party affairs in Jharkhand BK Hariprasad and newly formed Coordination Committee Chairman Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday. "Our in-charge BK Hariprasad and Coordination Committee Chairman Jairam Ramesh held a long meeting with leaders.
On Bhojpuri and Magahi issue that has been highlighted by the media prominently and lots of confusion was there, Congress has clear opinion that the decision taken by the Government would remain as it is. Welfare of the TET qualified students with Bhojpuri-Magahi would not be compromised with," said Pradesh Congress Committee president Sukhdeo Bhagat after the meeting.
The stand can be considered a big humiliation for the HRD Minister who has been advocating the removal of the languages from TET and even cited constitutional provisions to question legality behind recognising Magahi and Bhojpuri as languages in Jharkhand. Oraon, besides Chandrashekhar Dubey, Mannan Mallick and Rajendra Singh were present in the meeting.
The drubbing was inevitable as the Minister was left alone with her stand within her party itself. Most of the Ministers and MlAs of the Congress had opposed the stand in public citing its repercussion on their respective constituencies and vote base of the national party. lots of adverse reporting against the Minister to party high command has also been made that followed the meeting.
"The leaders present in the meeting were told to decide a party line on the issue firstly. Soon she was sidelined and there was no one who bought her arguments. She was told in clear terms to mend her ways or be ready to leave," said a legislator present in the meeting that also saw review of the performance of some other Ministers including Dubey and Mallick. The controversy may have rested as of now but the PCC chief had no definite answers when asked about the pattern the TET examination would follow in future.
The party at the same time also issued a final warning against those who have been behaving like loose cannons. "It has also been decided that any Minister or MlA would express their opinion on policy matters in public only after it is deliberated at the legislative body forum. Failing to this would be treated as a matter of indiscipline," said Bhagat. Though he did not buy the assumption there was any gap between the party and the Government but at the same time also stressed over national face the party presented. This meeting happened in the backdrop of the last meeting of Ministers with Hariprasad that had seen similar gag orders being issued.
On the subject of coalition before the lok Sabha polls, Bhagat said that Hariprasad and Jairam Ramesh would discuss the matter with central party leadership before taking any decision. "A crucial meeting of all our coalition partners and those extending support to the Government would take place on January 4 that would underline the priorities of the Government, how to make coordinated effort and how the pace of development can be expedited besides how to implement the announcements made by us," he said.