News Analysis India

Tag: Bhakta Charan Das

  • In poll-bound Manipur, “is the govt listening?” is Congress’ answer to BJP govt’s “let’s speak with the CM” campaign

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: In election-bound Manipur, the Congress party launched “Sarkar Taribra”, a digital platform, to counter the BJP-led government’s “Chief Ministerda Haisi” programme.

    The terminology ‘Sarkar Taribra’ translates to “is the government listening”. The ‘Chief Ministerda Haisi’, launched on October 12 this year, means “let’s speak with the chief minister”.

    The Chief Ministerda Haisi is a platform where the citizens can share their grievances besides views and suggestions on any matter directly to the CM.

    However, the Congress’s Manipur in-charge Bhakta Charan Das alleged instead of addressing the genuine problems of the citizens under the programme, the government was undermining their liberty, rights and freedom. He charged it with silencing the media and threatening the social activists.

    Das said the Chief Ministerda Haisi was launched to try and warm up to the voters given that the Assembly elections are just months away. He asked the government what made it launch the programme just ahead of elections.

    Seeking clarity on several other programmes launched by the government for the benefit of people, state Congress leader K Devbrata said the party would check the effectiveness of the Chief Ministerda Haisi programme through its Sarkar Taribra. He said the party would maintain the privacy of complainants.

    The Congress also launched “INC YouTube Channel” where public grievances will be uploaded and if people are indeed getting the benefits of the Chief Ministerda Haisi programme highlighted.

    A bipolar contest is expected between the BJP and the Congress when the state goes to elections, possibly in February. The BJP is in alliance with regional parties Naga People’s Front and National People’s Party and their partnership is likely to continue.

    In the 2017 polls, the Congress had won 28 of the 60 seats as against the BJP’s 21, yet the saffron party managed to form the government with support from the regional parties after the Congress had failed to cobble up the numbers.

    After many years, Manipur is likely to witness a real contest in the upcoming polls. The previous elections used to be a one-sided affair in the absence of a formidable opposition.

    While the BJP will have to overcome anti-incumbency, the polls will be an acid test for the Congress to regain the lost ground after having ruled the state for most part. The party suffered several setbacks over the past five years when the MLAs, one after another, deserted it to wear saffron.

  • Manipur Congress leaders meet party chief Sonia Gandhi, discuss political situation in state

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI:: Ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, a meeting of Manipur Congress leaders with party interim President Sonia Gandhi is underway at her residence in the national capital on Tuesday, informed sources.

    CLP Leader, Shri Ibobi; PCC President Shri N. Loken and Shri @Gaikhangam2 along with other delegates of CLP – Shri @meghachandra_k, Km. @MirabaiAkoijam and Md. @fajur_rahim met Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi to discuss political scenario of Manipur at New Delhi today pic.twitter.com/lN4r2Q2DjM
    — INC Manipur (@INCManipur) November 9, 2021
    All India Congress Committee (AICC) Manipur incharge Bhakta Charan Das, senior observer Jairam Ramesh along with other party leaders met Sonia Gandhi. Former Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Gaikhangam Gangmei are also present in the meeting.

    The meeting is crucial as elections are due in early next year and Manipur is an important state in the north east region. Manipur has 60 assembly seats wherein BJP is currently in power.

  • Lalu’s ‘derogatory’ comment on Congress leader has hurt self-respect of Dalits: Meira Kumar

    By PTI

    PATNA: Senior Congress leader Meira Kumar on Monday slammed RJD president Lalu Prasad for allegedly making a derogatory comment on party leader Bhakta Charan Das, claiming that it has hurt the self-respect of the entire Dalit community.

    Prasad on Sunday mocked Das, a Dalit leader and the Congress’ in-charge of Bihar, who has been targeting the RJD after the Prasad-led party fielded candidates for two by-polls in the state without consulting the Congress, an alliance partner.

    “A respected leader has used objectionable language against Bihar Congress in-charge Bhakta Charan Das, hurting self-respect of the Dalit community of Bihar and the country. It (the language) qualifies as an offence under the SC/ST Act,” Kumar, a former Lok Sabha Speaker and a Dalit herself, said at Patna airport.

    Such comments against the Congress leader have exposed the mindset of the RJD, she claimed.

    Kumar arrived in Patna to campaign for Congress candidates in Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats where by-elections will be held on October 30.

    By-polls to the two seats have been necessitated by deaths of the respective MLAs, both belonging to the JD(U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Prasad’s arch-rival.

    Prasad on Sunday questioned the Congress’ usefulness as an ally and wondered if his party should have left an assembly bypoll seat in the state for the national party so that it could lose even its deposit.

    The RJD has the largest number of MLAs in the 243-strong assembly and it has been claiming that it will wrest the two seats from the ruling NDA and trigger a “khela” (upheaval) in the state’s politics.

    Prasad, who returned to Patna after three years on Sunday, is expected to campaign for RJD candidates in the two seats.

    He was last seen here in September 2018, after which he returned to Ranchi to serve his sentences upon expiry of the period of his bail, granted to attend elder son Tej Pratap’s wedding and extended a number of times to help him avail medical treatment.

  • ‘Kya hota hai gathbandhan?’ Home after three years, Lalu fires salvo at Congress

    By Express News Service

    Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday questioned Congress’ usefulness as an ally. As expected, the former Bihar chief minister drew flak for his comment on Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das. 

    He wondered if his party should have left an assembly by-poll seat in the state for the national party so that it could lose even its deposit.

    “Kya hota hai Congress ka gathbandhan? (What is this thing about an alliance with the Congress?),” he shot back when asked about a virtual breakup of their alliance in the by-polls to two assembly constituencies over the RJD’s refusal to concede a seat to the national party.

    “Should we have given one seat (to Congress) for it to lose? So that it could lose even its deposit?” he said disdainfully.  

    The Congress’ poor show in the assembly polls compared to a much better strike rate of the RJD has prompted a section of the leaders of the Bihar party to question the national party’s role in the alliance.

    Lalu also mocked Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das, the party’s in-charge for Bihar who had been targeting the RJD.

    Das had recently said the Congress was no longer part of the RJD-led alliance in the state and even alleged that the RJD had an understanding with the BJP behind the scene.

    “Does he (Das) know anything?” Lalu asked.Lalu’s comments on Das drew strong condemnation from a close aide of Nitish who called the RJD supremo “anti-Dalit.” Ashok Choudhary, a powerful member of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA Cabinet, deplored the RJD leader’s use of a Bihari slang to berate Das, a Dalit, while replying to questions from journalists in the national capital.

    Choudhary said: “The RJD has always been anti-Dalit. This has been reflected in the type of language Lalu has used against Bhakt Charan Das. Recently, Tejashwi Yadav skipped a function which was addressed by no less a person than President Ram Nath Kovind. That, too, was indicative of the party’s disregard for Dalit.” 

    Yadav’s comments came before he was scheduled to leave for Bihar where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is in a direct contest with the RJD to retain the two seats where the bypolls have been necessitated due to the death of their incumbent MLAs.

    Yadav has been receiving treatment in the national capital after he was relieved from the AIIMS, and will be landing in Bihar after a long interval during which his son Tejashwi Yadav has led the party for all practical purposes and steered it creditably in the assembly polls.

    The former Bihar chief minister said a decision on whether he will campaign for the RJD in the bypolls, scheduled for October 30, will be taken after consultation with doctors.

    The RJD’s decision to field its candidate from Kusheshwar Asthan, a seat from where the Congress had contested in the 2020 assembly polls, has rankled the Congress.

    The Congress’ poor show in the assembly polls compared to a much better strike rate of the RJD has prompted a section of the leaders of the Bihar party to question the national party’s role in the alliance.

    The RJD believes that the Congress had been given more number of seats than its real strength in the state.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Congress blames Bihar govt for poor condition of cultivators, says will launch farmers’ stir soon

    By PTI
    PATNA: The Congress in Bihar on Saturday blamed the NDA government in the state for deplorable condition of farmers due to low procurement of paddy and wheat besides denying them fair price for their produce.

    Bihar Congress in-charge and former union minister Bhakta Charan Das, who undertook padyatara in 14 districts and met party workers and common men, asserted that the party would launch a big farmers movement in the state in days to come to tell them about the ill impact of the new farm laws.

    The Nitish Kumar government, which had abolished the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act way back in 2006 and also ended the mandi system, has strongly backed the new agri legislations of the centre.

    “Farmners are neither getting fair price for their crops nor their produce are being procured adequatelythe state government could lift only one per cent of wheat in the state.

    “There is no takers of maizethe state governments own target is to procure only 30-40 per cent of paddy from the farmers,while the Chhattisgarh govt has procured 90 per cent and other state governments procurement target is 70-80 per cent, Das told reporters.

    He,however,did not cite any source in support of the data he was highlighting.

    Congress which is a part of the RJD-led Grand Alliance in Bihar, performed badly in the recently concluded state polls and the new party in-charge battling anger of sections of party workers over ticket distribution is trying to recharge the organisation by raking up farmers issue.

    Das said MSP of sugarcane has not been revised in Bihar for the past four years.

    “Farmers are getting Rs 310 per quintal for sugarcane as its support price has not been increased in the past four years by the state government. When the input cost is rising, why there MSP cant be hiked?” he asked.

    The sugarmills have been closed in the state and the government did not take any initiative to revive them, he added.

    Das was accompanied by Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha, Congress legislature party leader Ajeet Sharma, former Bihar Congress chief Anil Sharma, MLC Prem Chandra Mishra, senior party leaders Harkhu Jha, H K Verma, Rajesh Rathore and others at the press meet here.

    The former union minister said 5000 food processing units could have come up had the state government taken proper steps.

    The Congress leader said that the central government should withdraw the three farm laws as doing so will not lower its dignity at all.

    Asked why farmers in Bihar have not come out on roads to protest against the three farm laws,Das said that cultivators in the state are not aware of their rights, and the party will create awareness among them.

    On violence in the Red Fort on Republic Day, Das mockingly said, If the government is so weak that it cannot protect the Red Fort, then what it is the meaning of claiming to have 56 inch chest.”