Pandey mum, does not visit the teacher’s residence

Two days after the State Education Minister Arvind Pandey had called up Uttara Bahuguna- the 57-year-old primary Government school teacher who triggered a festering row at the Chief Minister’s Janta Darbar resulting in her prompt suspension at the behest of the CM- to mollify her, he refused to take any question on the matter on Tuesday.

On July 1, the State Education Minister had called up the teacher over phone and assured her that he would meet her on his return to Dehradun. Pandey was supposed to visit the aggrieved teacher at her residence on Tuesday and try to soothe her into falling in line. It was even speculated that he would suggest revocation of the   suspension order to end the row once and for all. However, as the lady teacher with her family members were waiting for the Minister to arrive on Tuesday the Minister did not turn up. 

When the Minister arrived at the State secretariat to take review meetings on sports and education on the day the curious media persons quizzed him over his failure to act on his assurance. However, the otherwise voluble Minister chose to maintain a stony silence on the matter. He refused to take any query on the Uttara Bahuguna suspension episode. When contacted, Uttara Bahuguna told The Pioneer that she and her family  had waited for the Minister as he had promised her on phone. “But he failed to turn up,” she said.

She, further, said that she was not upset over the Minister backtracking on his assurance. “He is probably under some kind of pressure,” she said. 

Observers say that the flip-flop on the part of the Minister might have been caused by some pressure mounted on him from the higher level. “Perhaps, they thought he was going too much in mollifying the lady. It might have been counter-productive from the point of view of the self-esteem of the chief minister who triggered the row by his supposedly rude demeanour towards the teacher who went to the Janta Darbar to seek compassionate transfer.

It is to be seen how the beleaguered CM and his government would wriggle out of the row which is assuming national proportions with the BJP high command too monitoring things with anxiety in anticipation of its fallout on the  2019 general election,” said a state watcher.