Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that he asked the West Bengal BJP unit to roll out a separate legal cell to extend help to ‘genuine teachers’ who lost jobs due to the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) scam.

Addressing an election rally at Bardhaman, the Prime Minister asserted that although he wants those involved in corruption by the TMC to be punished but doesn't want the innocent to suffer. 

"The corruption that the TMC has done in Bengal in school recruitment is shameful. Due to this scam, several genuine candidates have suffered. I have asked the Bengal BJP unit on behalf of the party to create a separate legal cell and social media platform to provide help to the genuine candidates and teachers," he said.

"BJP will support such honest candidates and will provide them legal help and will fight for them. This is Modi's guarantee," he added.

SSC Scam: Calcutta HC Order 

PM Modi's statement came a week after the Calcutta High Court declared the recruitment in the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as "null and void." 

The court also ordered the cancellation of all appointments of teachers made through it. Around 26,000 teachers lost jobs following the court verdict.