News Analysis India

Tag: Bengal elections

  • ‘PM ignored COVID crisis to hide his lack of foresightedness’: Prashant Kishor hits out at Modi

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor who is looking after the Trinamool Congress’ election strategy in West Bengal on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the COVID-19 crisis to hide his lack of understanding and foresightedness.

    Kishor’s statement came after Modi addressed the nation on the coronavirus situation amid a surge in cases.

    He also alleged that the prime minister bluffed people to claim victory in the battle against the pandemic.

    “ModiGovt handling of crisis: #1: ignore problem to hide lack of understanding & foresightedness #2: suddenly take control, use bluff & bluster to claim victory #3: if problem persists, pass it on to others #4: when situation improves, return with Bhakts’ army to take credit,” Kishor tweeted.

    An eight-phase assembly election is being held in West Bengal between March 27 and April 29 and votes will be counted on May 2.

  • ‘Mamata providing misleading information on Centre’s COVID-19 measures’: Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Alleging that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was carrying out a “false propaganda” to belittle the Centre’s measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh urged people to steer clear of all “misleading information” provided by her.

    Trashing Banerjee’s charges that Modi had exported a major chunk of vaccines, Ghosh said, “Our country was working on seven vaccines, of which two has been approved, produced in bulk and administered to at least 12.5 crore so far.”

    “Statesmen from several countries have compared Modijis feat with that of Lord Hanuman who carried mountain on his shoulder (to cure Lord Laxman with medicinal plant). Modiji sent boxes of vaccine to other countries. We catered to our needs as well as those of our global friends.”

    Accusing the TMC government of suppressing COVID-19 figures last year, Ghosh said the state had plunged into a major crisis but the CM skipped several meetings convened by the PM to help tackle the matter, and her government did not respond to missives of the Union health ministry.

    “The TMC government had created confusion in people’s minds by frequently changing lockdown dates. The CM, herself, flouted lockdown guidelines by hitting the road, and encouraging assemblies at places.”

    Slamming Banerjee for christening trains meant for returnee migrants as ‘Corona Express’, the Midnapore MP, during a press meet, said “around 30-40 lakh migrants wanted to return to Bengal but our chief minister was reluctant to give them entry.”

    Claiming that Banerjee has entered into an understanding with the Congress, Ghosh further said, “I don’t know why Rahul Gandhi cancelled his rallies and Adhir Chowdhury is not campaigning anymore.”

    Referring to the TMC supremo’s allegations that the saffron party was “conspiring to create communal disturbances” on Ram Navami, BJP state spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya, who was also present at the meeting, said, “This is the first time a chief minister levelled such charges against a party.

    “She made this remark during a meeting in a minority belt. It only goes on to show that she might be the one trying to foment trouble,” Bhattacharya said.

    BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya, who is in the city, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing four public meetings on April 23 in Bengal, and a limited number of audience would be allowed at the venue.

    Modi is set to address rallies at Malda, Baharampur, Seuri and South Kolkata on Friday.

    “We had followed the same protocol during Bihar assembly polls with strict adherence to all election commission guidelines,” Malviya added.

  • Bengal elections: Poll verdict in Matua bastions crucial for BJP before CAA implementation

    By PTI
    BONGAON/KRISHNANAGAR: With citizenship for refugees having emerged as one of the poll planks of the BJP in its battle for Bengal, Matua bastions and the verdict they present this election will prove to be a test case for the party that had been weighing the pros and cons before implementing a new law enacted for the purpose.

    Assembly seats in the Matua strongholds of Bongaon and Krishnanagar, close to the India-Bangladesh border, are set to go to polls in the sixth phase of elections, on April 22.

    Matuas, who make for a large chunk of the state’s Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal since the 1950s, primarily due to religious persecution in erstwhile East Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

    With an estimated three million members in the state, the community influences result in at least four Lok Sabha seats and 30-40 assembly seats in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.

    Apart from the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), two other aspects — identity politics and regional development — have also surfaced as decisive factors this election, as bitter rivals TMC and the BJP go all out to woo the community with several promises aimed at solving local problems.

    “The TMC and the CPI(M) governments have done nothing for the Matuas. It is the BJP that spared a thought for the community. Hence, it promised citizenship.”

    “The BJP passed the CAA in Parliament. But the TMC has opposed it tooth and nail in Bengal. We will vote against this injustice,” said BJP MP Santanu Thakur, who is also the younger scion of the Matua Thakurbari — an influential socio-religious sect.

    Countering him, Mamatabala Thakur, a former TMC MP and the daughter-in-law of the community’s late matriarch Binapani Devi, said the BJP was fooling the refugees with false promises.

    “Matuas are citizens of this country. They don’t need any other proof of citizenship,” she said.

    The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

    According to sources in the community, the citizenship law has emerged as a major issue among the community members as they are apprehensive that if the NRC exercise is conducted prior to CAA implementation, they might be branded as “foreigners” who had entered India “without valid documents”.

    “Most of them fled religious persecution in Bangladesh and migrated to India. Now, if we don’t give them citizenship, where will they go? CAA, for us, is not a political issue but a core ideological commitment,” Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

    Matuas, with their sheer size of the population and tendency to vote en bloc, just like the minorities, make for an enviable vote bank that all the political parties had tried to secure since the nineties.

    TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had first reached out to the Matuas and other Schedule Caste communities, such as the Rajbanshis, around a decade ago.

    She nominated members of the Matua Thakurbari as candidates in the 2011 elections, and that, in, turn, played a role in paving the way for her victory.

    However, the BJP’s promise to implement the CAA also paid off and the saffron party won all Matua-dominated Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and took the lead in almost 35 assembly segments.

    The TMC quickly went on a course correction drive and regularised all refugee colonies, giving them land rights, besides politically exploiting the delay and confusion over the implementation of CAA.

    “The Matua community knows what Mamata Banerjee government has done for their development. We don’t need advice from the BJP on what needs to be done. I would want to know why, despite tall claims, the Centre has implemented CAA yet?” TMC MLA from Habra and state minister Jyotipriyo Mullick asked.

    Banerjee, who has allotted Rs 10 crore for the Matua development fund, has cautioned Matuas that citizenship law would add to their woes, and the saffron camp may just classify them as foreigners following its implementation.

    Although the BJP is confident of pocketing Matua votes this time, the brewing resentment among a section of the community members over the delay in implementation of CAA may cost the saffron camp dearly in some seats.

    “In 2019, the promise of citizenship did wonders for the BJP in the Matua belt. But this time, the delay may spoil our chances to an extent. It is to be seen whether our message that CAA would be implemented soon still holds water in this region,” a senior saffron camp leader said.

    BJP national vice president Mukul Roy, who is contesting the elections from Krishnanagar Uttar seat, however, is certain that Matuas would favour the BJP over its rivals.

    “Various political parties, including the TMC, have betrayed Matuas from the beginning; it is only the BJP which is fighting for the cause of their citizenship. Matuas are firmly with us,” Roy, who is in the fray after a gap of two decades, said.

  • Mamata roasts EC over not clubbing final-phase Bengal polls amid COVID-19 second wave

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In a direct attack on the Election Commission for not clubbing the last three phases of Bengal Assembly elections in the wake of the second Covid wave, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that it was aimed to give advantage to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    While addressing a rally at Jiaganj, Murshidabad, a region dominated by minorities, Mamata said the poll panel did not listen to Trinamool Congress’s request for conducting the last three phases either in one go or in two phases.

    She also alleged the BJP was hatching a conspiracy to trigger communal discord in Bengal.

    “We requested the Election Commission to reconsider its poll schedule. We requested them to club the last three phases considering the pandemic situation. But the poll panel did not pay any heed to our plea. They decided not to change the schedule of the last three phases. It is to help the BJP and PM Modi so that he could keep visiting the state and address more rallies,’’ Mamata said.

    She said her party had already decided not to organise mega rallies in Kolkata.

    “We will hold only one rally on April 26 in Kolkata. In districts, I have shortened my speeches while addressing rallies,’’ she said.

    Mamata has lambasted the election panel on several occasions in the recent past accusing it of acting at BJP’s behest.

    While addressing the rally, Mamata urged the people of the minority-dominated area to be alert as the BJP was “trying to trigger communal discord”.

    “The BJP is trying to trigger riots in Bengal. Do not fall in their trap. Be alert and do vote,’’ she said.

    In the wake of the second Covid wave, the CPI-M has already announced it would not organise any major rally or road show. It will be more focused on small street corner meetings and using social media platforms to carry out its campaign.

    The TMC shot off a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab on Tuesday, urging him to consider the party’s request amid the steep hike in Covid-19 cases.

  • BJP seeks action against Mamata for statement ‘amounting to incite mutiny in CAPF’

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP on Monday complained to the Chief Electoral Officer accusing Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee of making a statement that amounts to incite “mutiny” in the central armed police force (CAPF) deployed in West Bengal for the assembly elections.

    Alleging that Banerjee, through her comment as published in a vernacular daily on Monday, has also violated provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the BJP called for action to be taken against her by the Election Commission.

    The BJP claimed that at a public meeting in Nadia district, the chief minister appealed to the CAPF personnel “not to shoot on the orders of the BJP. They are today but will not remain tomorrow.”

    In its complaint to the CEO, the saffron party alleged that the statement casts aspersions on the authority of the Election Commission.

    “The CAPF personnel during the election duty remain under the overall supervision of Commission and their superior officials deployed on ground,” the BJP said, adding that political parties who are stakeholders in the elections have no command over the forces deployed.

    “This amounts to incitement to mutiny in barely concealed language,” the complaint by the BJP over Banerjee’s alleged statement said.

    The BJP claimed that Banerjee made the statement on Sunday in reference to the firing by CAPF in Cooch Behar district on April 10 during polling, “violating provisions of Model Code of Conduct and provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951.”

    Four persons were killed in the firing which took place during the fourth phase of polling.

    “The statement deserves to be condemned and much stricter action is to be taken against her,” the BJP demanded in the complaint.

    The Election Commission had banned Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hours last week over her remarks against central forces and a statement that had “religious overtones”.

  • COVID-19: Adhir Chowdhury urges EC to defer last three phases of Bengal polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Amid the steep rise in COVID-19 cases in West Bengal, the Congress on Monday urged the Election Commission (EC) to defer the last three phases of assembly polls in the state.

    In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked him to take a call on what was more important at this juncture – lives of people or polls to choose their representatives.

    “I plead that election, if at all is to be done, should be after ‘Ramjan’ (Ramadan) is over and the present pandemic is diluted,” the senior Congress leader said, reminding the CEC that two candidates in Bengal have died after contracting COVID-19.

    Pradip Kumar Nandi, the Revolutionary Socialist Party candidate from Jangipur, and Rezaul Haque, the Congress nominee from Samserganj, succumbed to the infection last week.

    Chowdhury further said that the disease is spreading fast throughout the nation and election-bound West Bengal is not immune to this “grave situation”.

    “Whatever resources we have should now be utilized in availability of beds for Covid patients, medicines and immunisation. We should take note as to which is most important, lives of people or election of people’s representatives (sic),” he added.

  • Central forces on Bengal poll duty should undergo COVID-19 test, demands Didi

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Her first request to hold the last three phases of Assembly polls together was turned down. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday again urged the Election Commission to truncate the process, suggesting that things be wrapped up in two days, to check the spread of Covid-19.Vocal as usual against Narendra Modi and BJP and accusing them of spreading the disease in Bengal, Mamata also demanded that central security personnel on election duty be subjected to RT-PCR tests.

    Around 1,100 companies of Central forces from CISF, BSF, CAPF and police from other states are on duty in Bengal elections from March 27 to April 19.

    Each company has around 100 personnel.

    This means over one lakh security men from other states, who are moving around in different parts of Bengal.

    Sources in Central forces confirmed that they have not undergone RT-PCR tests.

    Speaking in Malda district, Mamata said considering the Covid-19 situation, the Centre should have advised the Election Commission.

    “Over one lakh personnel of Central forces are roaming from one place to another. I demand RT-PCR tests for them. They have come from other states. How will we know their health condition?”

    Reiterating TMC’s demand to shorten the election process in view of the pandemic, she said: “With folded hands, I request the Commission to hold the next three phases on a single day. If not possible, conduct it in two days and save one day. It will help check the infection to an extent.’’

    Indicating that the Commission may have decided against clubbing the three phases at the behest of BJP, Mamata urged the poll body to pay attention to the larger picture.

    “Please don’t take decisions based on what BJP says.”

    TMC and BJP are locked in a war of words over the increasing Covid cases in Bengal.

    While Mamata is accusing BJP of spreading infection by bringing in outsiders, PM Narendra Modi questioned her seriousness, pointing out that she skipped two meetings of chief ministers convened recently to discuss ways to check the virus.

  • BJP biggest enemy, TMC helped its rise in Bengal: CPM state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra said the BJP is the biggest “enemy and threat to the nation.

    However, Mishra, whose party ruled West Bengal for 34 -long years, also claimed BJPs rise has been helped by the ruling Trinamool Congress, with which the saffron party is locked in a bitter electoral contest in West Bengal.

    Declining to give a direct reply on whether the CPI(M) is open to aligning with the TMC in case of a hung assembly, Mishra said: “only a concrete situation can have a concrete answer”.

    Refuting criticism that the CPI (M)s secular credentials were dented by aligning with Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front (ISF), he said “those who themselves practise communal politics are apprehensive of the Left-ISF-Congress alliance”.

    Accusing the BJP and the TMC of trying to communalise the elections, Mishra speculated the TMC and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) may join hands if both the parties fell short of a majority in the assembly.

    “BJP is our biggest enemy. BJP is not only the biggest enemy but also a threat to the idea of India as also to Bengal. It has to be stopped, and only Left and secular forces can do that. No other bourgeois political party can be compared with the BJP, not even the TMC, said Mishra in an interview to PTI.

    “He added But BJP and communal politics have found a foothold in West Bengal because of the TMC government and its policies.”

    When asked whether CPI(M) would support the TMC in case of a fractured mandate since it has identified the BJP as its biggest enemy, the veteran politician declined to give a direct reply.

    “Many people want us to say something. But we don’t comment on hypothetical questions. Only in case of a concrete situation we can take a concrete decision,” he said.

    On a question on whether refusal by the Congress and Left to support TMC could help BJP, Mishra said: “We are rather apprehensive (that) in such a scenario (fractured mandate), you will see the TMC and the BJP joining hands to form the government.”

    “Both are old alliance partners. That is why we have asked people to ensure that seat tally of both the parties are low enough to ensure the two parties could not join hands to gain a majority, he said. In the 294-member state assembly, 148 is the magic figure to be able to form a government.

    “BJP-RSS didn’t gain ground during the Left or the Congress rule. It is during her (Mamata Banerjees) tenure that RSS gained ground. On various occasions, we have seen how TMC has helped BJP by staging a walkout in parliament,” he said.

    When asked whether a grand opposition alliance can be formed in Bengal without the ruling TMC in it, Mishra referred to the political somersault by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2017 and said, “just like Nitish Kumar, she too lacks credibility in the fight against BJP”.

    “We all know what happened in Bihar after RJD and Congress joined hands with the JD (U) and defeated the BJP in 2015.

    Within two years, Nitish Kumar was back with the BJP. They lack credibility. It is the same for the TMC,” he said.

    Refuting criticism that the CPI (M)-led Left Front compromised its ideology by joining hands with the ISF, Mishra said “The ISF is not a communal force. It is a secular party. He added Go through its candidate list, and you will see it has SCs, STs and Brahmins along with minorities as its nominees.”

    The CPI (M) leader, who is also on the partys politburo, said, ‘The Left parties have performed a historic responsibility in the present circumstances by forming the grand alliance with Congress and ISF.

    It is an irony that those who themselves are communal and pointing fingers at others and are questioning us’.

    Expressing happiness over the “massive response” that the Sanjukta Morcha has received during the campaign, the 71- year-old leader said that despite efforts by TMC and BJP, a triangular contest is being witnessed in the elections and not a bipolar one.

    “This time, the alliance is well-grounded and nicely stitched, unlike 2016 when the Left-Congress alliance was half-hearted.

    I had said then that if we are unable to bring together secular and democratic forces, BJP will gain ground.

    That has happened in Bengal,” he said.

    Speaking of BJP’s electoral rise at the expense of Left’s dwindling vote share, Mihra said it has happened due to sharp communal polarisation.

    “It is a worldwide phenomenon wherever the communal and fascist forces gain ground the Left and the progressive forces lose support.

    Thats why it is necessary to bring all secular and democratic forces together,” he said.

    Replying to a slogan allegedly being given by some: “21 e Ram, 26 e Baam (BJP in 2021 and Left in 2026)”, Mishra said the party doesn’t support such a stand as it would be “akin to jumping from a frying pan to a fire.”

    Mishra also questioned the Election Commission’s impartiality and said “the role of EC is not beyond question.

    The EC is slowly losing credibility as they are not providing a level playing field for all parties,” he said.

  • Bengal polls: Will not hold any major rally amid rise in COVID-19 cases, says TMC’s Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Days after the Left Front said it would not hold any large-scale public meetings in Bengal amid the steep hike in COVID-19 cases, state minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, fielded by the TMC from the prized Bhawanipur seat, said on Sunday that he, too, would desist from organising any major rally.

    Chattopadhyay, who has been entrusted with the job of retaining the Bhawanipur seat after its sitting MLA and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee decided to contest the polls from Nandigram, is the first candidate from the ruling party to have made such a claim.

    “With the rise of Covid cases, I have decided not to hold any Central Rally in Bhawanipur AC for upcoming Election Campaign, which I have always held in previous elections. Requesting everyone to Wear Mask & stay safe,” he tweeted.

    Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also cancelled his public rallies in West Bengal in view of the worsening COVID-19 situation.

    Taking to Twitter, he wrote, “In view of the Covid situation, I am suspending all my public rallies in West Bengal. I would advise all political leaders to think deeply about the consequences of holding large public rallies under the current circumstances.”

    He advised all other politicians to think about the consequences of holding large public rallies.

  • Mamata put future of millions of Bengal’s youth at stake to secure nephew’s; playing politics of vengeance: PM Modi

    By ANI
    DAKSHIN DINAJPUR: Attacking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said she has put the future of millions of youth at stake to secure the future of her ‘Bhaipo’ (nephew).

    Addressing a public meeting at Gangarampur, Prime Minister said, “In the last 10 years, Didi’s government has made old industries shut and forced youths to migrate. Where there is appeasement, there is poverty, there is discrimination and suppression of hope and aspiration. Didi put the future of millions of Bengal’s youth at stake to secure the future of Bhaipo (nephew).”

    “Didi o Didi… Such days would not have to be seen if you had twisted the ears of the tolabaazs (extortionists) who looted the poor people of Bengal and made your favourite bhaipo to do sit-ups,” he said.

    Prime Minister accused Mamata Banerjee of practising appeasement politics.

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    “Appeasement does not lead to better roads, schools-colleges, industry, employment and more. The dilapidated roads in this region, the lack of hospitals and the lack of irrigational facilities is proof enough,” he said.

    He further said, “Mamata Didi hates the names of Maa Ganga and Lord Shri Ram. Her hatred has increased so much that she changed the name ‘Ramdhenu’ to ‘Rongdhenu’. Didi abuses Indians who live on the banks of the Ganges. She insults their faith, food, language and attire.”

    Prime Minister greeted the people of West Bengal for good voter turnouts in the last four phases of the state Assembly elections.

    CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW LIVE ELECTION UPDATES

    “The way the people of Bengal have voted at all stages, I greet the citizens of Bengal by bowing my head. After many decades, they have got the opportunity to vote fearlessly, otherwise, every vote was held amidst hooliganism,” he said.

    ‘Her politics has crossed a dangerous limit of vengeance’

    In a separate rally in Asansol, PM Modi also slammed the Chief Minister after an FIR was registered against Banerjee for allegedly provoking an attack on central forces during the fourth phase of polling, which led to the deaths of four people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed her for crossing the limit of vengeance.

    He said, “Her politics isn’t limited to just protests, but it has crossed a dangerous limit of vengeance.”

    The complainant, named Siddik Ali Miah, said Banerjee makes various provocational statements through media for the “purpose of breaking peace and tranquility in West Bengal”.

    READ MORE | BJP urges EC to form SIT to probe CM Mamata Banerjee’s purported audiotape on Sitalkuchi firing

    “She hatched up a criminal conspiracy and delivered her speech for provoking the general public, especially the women to launch an attack on the paramilitary forces armed with hand made various weapons and in the consequence of such conspiracy the villagers, especially the Muslim community including women in large numbers launched an attack on the paramilitary forces with hand made various weapons on 10.04.2021at 11 pm at Booth No. 5/126,” he stated in his complaint to inspector in-charge, Mathabhanga police station.

    He further stated that the last four phases of voting have left the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in shatters.

    PM Modi said, “Four rounds of voting, TMC is split into pieces. The remaining four rounds of polling, didi-bhaipo will be eliminated. In the fifth phase of voting, polling is underway where the button with the lotus symbol will be pressed in large numbers to form the BJP government.”

    Voting for the fifth phase of West Bengal Assembly polls began at 7 am on Saturday amid tight security.

    Polling is underway in a total of 45 constituencies covering the districts of Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling and a segment of Nadia, North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman in the fifth phase. A total of 319 candidates, including 39 women are in the fray in Phase-V.

    There are 15,789 polling stations designated for this phase. The security for this phase has been beefed up with the deployment of 1,071 companies of central forces for ensuring a peaceful election.

    The voting for the sixth phase will be held on April 22.