In a letter that has now gone viral on social media, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) backed West Bengal State Electricity Board Employees’ Union (WBSEBEU) was seen demanding the cancellation of the job appointment of a man because of his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
The trade union as objecting to the appointment of a man by Cosyn Ltd, a private company, at the Customer Care Centre of WBSEB in Sarenga in Bankura district in West Bengal. It may be noted that Cosyn is a Hyderabad IT services company. The company provides IT solutions to the power sector clients in distribution and transmission sector, including providing meter reading services to several power distribution companies in the country. The company employs the meter readers who collect the power consumption data of consumers by reading the meters.
The letter, dated April 8 this year, is addressed to the Project Manager of M/S Cosyn Limited in Kolkata. “It has been reported that one Aniket Banerjee is going to be recruited as reader at Sarenga CCC. We strongly object about his appointment as he directly belongs to RSS,” the letter warned.
The contentious letter further recommended the name of Amit Roy, the son of Apurba Roy, as a replacement for the RSS worker Aniket Banerjee. In its defence, WBSEBEU cited ‘political controversy’ to demand the cancellation of Banerjee’s appointment.
“We always are co-operating with your company for the smooth running of the reading job by our followers,” the letter issued by the Bankura District Committee of WBSEBEU issued veiled threats to M/S Cosyn Ltd. It also bore the name and phone number of Secretary AN Mallik.
It must be mentioned that the West Bengal State Electricity Board Employees’ Union is affiliated with the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC).
Opindia reached out to AN Mallik to learn more about the matter. During our brief telephonic conversation, he conceded that the letter in question is genuine.
A reluctant Mallik initially demanded a face-to-face in-person conversation. “Apni samne samne kotha bolun (Let’s talk face to face about it),” he had suggested. The Secretary of the TMC-backed employee’s union wanted to know about the source of the letter, and wanted to know how OpIndia obtained his phone number, which is printed on the letter.
“Aisob kotha ke boleche apnake (Who informed you about this letter)”, he had pressed. On informing AN Mallik that his contentious letter was all over the internet, he agreed to speak about it.
“Oke na neuwar jonno bola hoyeche, o RSS kore. Ami jehatu INTTUC kori tai ami boltai pari (I directed to not recruit him. He works for the RSS. Since I am affiliated with the Trinamool Congress’ trade union, I have the right to say it/ issue such diktats),” he said.
During our conversation, AN Mallik had also claimed that the individual recommended in place of the RSS worker is not affiliated with any party.