News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Sacrifices have to be made if one chooses to be in BJP, says Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: With several TMC turncoats making a beeline to return to the party, post BJP’s drubbing in the assembly polls, state unit chief of the saffron camp, Dilip Ghosh, said on Sunday that the ones who wish to enjoy power without making sacrifices would be asked to leave.

    Ghosh, who had said on Friday that party national vice president Mukul Roy’s departure won’t make much of a difference, wrote on Twitter that “some people are in the habit of switching parties”.

    “If one has to stay in the BJP, he/she will have to make sacrifices. Those who only wish to enjoy power cannot stay in the BJP. We won’t keep them,” he tweeted in Bengali.

    Echoing Ghosh, BJP national secretary and former MP Anupam Hazra said members who are not willing to stand by the party at this hour, when “several of its workers are facing attacks by the TMC and going homeless, are free to leave”.

    Hitting out at former state minister Rajib Banerjee, who had joined the BJP ahead of the elections, Hazra maintained that “leaders like him have started singing paeans for the TMC immediately after its landslide victory. They are not required in the party.”

    Shortly after Roy rejoined the TMC, Rajib Banerjee met the party’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, but both described it as a “courtesy visit”.

    “Dilipda said the right thing. Those who crossed over to the BJP before polls only for power and are now sending SOS to Mamata Banerjee expressing their wish to return should leave forthwith. The party does not need them,” he said.

    Hazra had earlier said lobby politics was at play in the BJP state unit during polls, and just one or two leaders were given responsibilities with the rest feeling “ignored”.

    ALSO READ: Mukul Roy exit a setback for BJP’s expansion outside core base of Hindi heartland

    He had, however, asserted that he would continue to support his party.

    Calling Roy a “Trojan horse”, BJP veteran Tathagata Roy tweeted, “After having been welcomed into the BJP, he gained access to its all-India leaders, hobnobbed with state BJP’s gullible. Learnt all about the party and its innermost detail, he went back and leaked everything to Mamata.

    “But what’s done is done. Now the big question is, did Mukul leave back Trojan Horses within this Trojan Horse? BTW I used to wonder why Mukul always avoided meeting me. Now it all figures,” Roy added, indicating there could be agents planted by Roy in the BJP.

    Kunal Ghosh, who is also the spokesperson of the TMC, said many have expressed their wish to return, but our supremo Mamata Banerjee will take the final decision.

    His party colleague and senior leader Sougata Roy said, “Had Dilip Ghosh any modicum of self respect and accountability, he would have resigned from the post (of state BJP president) after the poor performance of his party.”

    A group of five BJP workers in Birbhum district on June 8 took to the streets to announce that they have decided to quit the party and return to the TMC “to get a chance to work for ‘maa mati manush’ (mother, motherland, and people) under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee.”

    District TMC leaders said their pleas would be considered after holding talks with local party members who worked for the party during the polls.

    Earlier, several other TMC turncoats, including former MLAs Sonali Guhaa nd Dipendu Biswas, had appealed to Banerjee to take her back under her wings.

    The TMC supremo, during a recent press meet, said she will not accept requests of leaders, who had abandoned her ship just ahead of the April-May elections.

  • Congress should explain stand on Article 370, says Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad after Digvijay’s remarks

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday asked the Congress leadership to make its stand clear on the purported remarks of Digvijay Singh that his party will have a “relook” at Article 370 revocation if it returns to power, saying “time of silence is over”.

    A row erupted on Saturday over Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s comments in an audio chat on social media that his party will have a “relook” at Article 370 revocation and Jammu and Kashmir’s lost statehood if it returns to power, with the BJP accusing him of spewing venom against India in “collaboration” with Pakistan.

    “It is now more than a day when the central leadership of the Congress is maintaining a conspicuous silence on its stand about Article 370. Does the Congress want restoration of Article 370 as Digvijay Singh has indicated? Time of silence is over. Please explain your clear stand,” Prasad wrote on Twitter.

    Singh had said, “The decision of revoking Article 370 and reducing the statehood of J&K is extremely, I would say, sad decision, and the Congress party would certainly have a relook on the issue.

    ALSO READ: Even Ambedkar would have been slandered as pro-Pakistan by BJP, says ex-J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti

    Singh was responding to a question about the “way forward” on the issue “once the Modi government is gone” .

    While abrogating Article 370, good governance was promised both in J&K and Ladakh.

    The speed with which vaccination against COVID-19 is going on even in the remotest parts of J&K and Ladakh is a sign of pro-people good governance in the region, Prasad said in another tweet.

    Singh’s remarks to a person, who the BJP said was a journalist of Pakistani origin, were seized by its leaders on Saturday to unleash a torrent of criticism against the opposition party and demand statements from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi on the issue.

  • Yogi govt caught in caste-based matrix; has not delivered jobs, growth: RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary ahead of UP polls

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Asserting that the BJP’s alleged “apathy” towards protesting farmers will hurt it in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday said artificial issues such as “love jihad” and “cow terror” will not work as issues of development will win in the elections.

    As the focus shifts from the West Bengal polls earlier this year to the high-stakes election battle in Uttar Pradesh in 2022, newly-appointed Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Chaudhary asserted that his party will not allow a communally polarised campaign to ruin the Hindi heartland state in the run up to the assembly polls.

    In an interview with PTI, Chaudhary, who took over as RLD chief after his father Chaudhary Ajit Singh’s demise last month, said his party and the Samajwadi Party have a good rapport and a strong working relationship.

    He said details need to be worked out for a formal alliance for the polls.

    Asked if a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ or a grand alliance is needed in UP to take on the BJP and whether the BSP and the Congress would be part of such an alliance, Chaudhary said, for him, issues come first and an understanding of those needs to be built between all alliance partners.

    “Who can be accommodated depends on who is honestly open to working together on the common framework,” the 42-year-old leader said.

    ALSO READ: MLAs feel CM Yogi Adityanath aloof, relies more on babus

    On whether the Congress would play a significant role in the assembly polls despite its poor showing in the panchayat elections, Chaudhary said he would not like to comment on the Congress’ plans and chances.

    Asked about the speculation over UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s political future as CM and reports about Cabinet reshuffle in the state, Chaudhary said the BJP is just trying to divert attention and create an illusion of dialogue to manage the disgruntled elements in the party.

    “Social engineering doesn’t come about by tinkering with one or two leaders at the top. The fact is that BJP’s Uttar Pradesh government has been caught in a caste-based matrix and has not delivered jobs, economic growth, and efficient governance to people,” he alleged.

    The state government’s Covid response has been atrocious and no one can forget the scenes of dead bodies in the Ganga, he added.

    “Now, after four-and-a-half years to create rumours of change in leadership is a poor attempt to shift focus from failures,” Chaudhary said.

    Talking about the farm laws protests and whether they would be a key issue in the polls, he said farmers will and should be the biggest poll issue in our country, and asserted that as a class they have been denied their rights for far too long.

    ASLO READ: Uttar Pradesh’s health services in bad shape, CM Yogi only concerned about power, says SP chief Akhilesh Yadav

    “The Centre’s new laws are prescribing a takeover of the entire market and value chain by the private sector and the withdrawal of the government from procurement and subsequent monopolisation will hurt producer and consumer interests,” the RLD chief said.

    The “apathy and insensitive” attitude towards the protesting farmers will continue to haunt and hurt the BJP in polls, he claimed.

    Chaudhary has participated in a number of ‘kisaan panchayats’ in western Uttar Pradesh, where his party has had a significant presence over the years, and campaigned aggressively against the Centre’s farm laws.

    Farmers from various parts of the country are protesting at Delhi’s borders against the three farm laws brought by the Centre last year, alleging that the legislations will hamper farming.

    Asked about the electoral chances of the Opposition against the BJP in UP, Chaudhary said “when the nation is grieving and hurting, the Hindi heartland also will respond appropriately”.

    “Love jihad, cow terror, Kairana exodus and other useless artificial issues will be rejected; healthcare, education and balanced development will win (in the polls),” he asserted.

    The Opposition in UP has been alleging that cow vigilante violence is on the rise in the state, a charge denied by the BJP.

    The ‘Kairana exodus’ was a reference to a BJP MP’s claim in 2016 that close to 350 Hindus had left Kairana over alleged threats and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community.

    Asked how he plans to turnaround the fortunes of the party which drew a blank in the last assembly polls, Jayant Chaudhary said, “I am humbled by the opportunity and the faith reposed in me by the Party at this critical juncture.”

    “Chaudhary Saheb’s untimely passing has been a jolt for all of us. Just as any family copes with stress responds by coming together, the office bearers and workers of Rashtriya Lok Dal will need to work cohesively and look to the future,” Chaudhary said.

    For reviving the party, Chaudhary said, as a first step he wants to engage with people who have worked at the grassroots and have political experience.

    He said the party is also in conversation with a lot of leaders from other parties who want to join the RLD and work with us, Chaudhary said.

    Asked if a fragmented opposition will be able to pose a challenge to the BJP in UP, the RLD chief said poll arithmetic has its own rhythms and rules and it’s not as easy to combine different parties and fight elections and assume a “2+2=4 result”.

    “It is not as if the multiplicity of players is helping the incumbent. Some of the parties could also be taking away votes which might otherwise shift to the BJP,” he argued.

    Asserting that it is most important to pick the right issues, Chaudhary said social developmental deficits need to be addressed aggressively if we want the state to progress.

  • BJP leader Rajib Banerjee meets Trinamool ranks over possible return to parent party

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Less than 24 hours after Mukul Roy returned to the TMC, the saffron camp received another jolt on Saturday evening as BJP leader Rajib Banerjee, a former minister in Mamata’s cabinet, met TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. The organizational foundation of the Bengal BJP, which largely rested on the shoulders of the turncoats from the Trinamool Congress, has been shaken to the core with many of them expressing a desire to return to their old party and a few even snapping all contacts with the saffron camp. 

    Some of the former TMC MLAs who joined the BJP have tendered their apologies to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.  According to sources, many of them have started skipping organizational meetings called by state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.  Rajib was among the state BJP members who criticized the demand from some in the party for the imposition of the president’s rule in West Bengal.

    After meeting Ghosh, Rajib said, “I oppose the demand for imposing presidential rule in Bengal. Because the ruling party has come to power with massive support. At the same time, I do not support the party’s Hindutva rhetoric.’’ 

    The crack in the saffron camp started widening rapidly after the party’s poor show in the recent Assembly elections. The BJP bagged 77 seats out of 292, far less than the 200 predicted by the big guns in the party.Soon after the election, former TMC MLAs Dipendu Biswas and Sonali Guha resigned from the BJP and said they wanted to return to the TMC. 

    With Roy’s returning to the TMC, the ruling party is expecting an exodus from the BJP When Roy was in Trinamool Bhavan on Friday, BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh convened an organisation meeting in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, which was skipped by three local MLAs and a local MP.

  • India couldn’t become Hindu Rashtra due to ‘coward’ Nehru: BJP MLA

    Alleging that it was the Congress #39; quot;dirty thinking quot; that led to the Partition, Surendra Singh said had Nehru not been the prime minister, India would have been declared a Hindu nation.

  • Sisodia alleges ‘secret’ friendship between Modi, Amarinder ahead of Punjab polls

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday alleged a “solid” friendship between Prime Minister Narenda Modi and Punjab CM Amarinder Singh ahead of the Punjab elections, after the state was ranked number one in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 by the Centre in terms of school education.

    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in opposition in the Congress-governed Punjab where Assembly polls are slated for early next year.

    Modi’s BJP is another opposition party in the state.

    “This report claims that government schools in Punjab have emerged to be the best, while pointing that government schools in Delhi are not up to the mark. This report is just another way to show the blessings Modiji has showered on Captain Amarinder Singh, extending a hand of friendship similar to the previous election.”

    “Strangely enough, this report has been released at a time when people have been raising questions regarding the performance and inadequacies of the Punjab government in education,” Sisodia said during an online briefing.

    The AAP leader alleged that the report points towards the “solid friendship” between the PM and the Punjab chief minister, in lieu of the upcoming Punjab polls.

    Crediting the Punjab government with the best government schools in the country at a time when the state has seen the closure of more than 800 schools, and several schools have been found to be functioning as alcohol factories is a farce, Sisodia said.

    “It is crystal clear that Captain Amarinder Singh has the blessings of Modiji and central government for the upcoming elections and we can consider this report as a gift to Captain Singh,” he added.

    The AAP leader claimed that quality education and learning have become a “joke” in Punjab government schools.

    Alleging that the report has been released to hide the “inadequacies” in quality education of Punjab, he claimed many government school students have had to suffer due to “gross negligence” of the state government.

    “In the last three to four years, almost 800 government schools have shut down in Punjab, and have been given to NGOs or other institutions to function. Many children had to bear the brunt and parents had to transfer their children to private schools.”

    “In a few days, Modiji will release another report claiming that Punjab government’s hospitals are the best in the country. This is just a collaborative tactic for the upcoming elections; it is a strategy of the state government to hide behind the garb of false reports and cover up for their negligence,” he said.

    Accusing the Punjab chief minister of making a “joke” out of the whole education system in the state, he said the report has been released to “ridicule” the system further.

    “Modiji has released this report to hide his (Singh’s) inadequacies and bless him for the upcoming elections. Following the release of this report, all that the Punjab government has done is release advertisements and hide behind this farce to cover up its inadequacies,” he said.

  • Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s comment on ‘relook’ at Article 370 revocation in J&K draws ire of BJP

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s comments in a clubhouse conversation that the revocation of Article 370 and stripping Jammu and Kashmir of statehood was an “extremely sad” decision and his party will have a “relook” at the issue have triggered a row, with the BJP accusing him of speaking against India and in agreement with Pakistan.

    Singh’s remarks to a person, who the BJP said was a journalist of Pakistani origin, was seized by the saffron party leaders to hit out at the opposition party with its spokesperson Sambit Patra demanding statements from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi on the issue.

    “The decision of revoking Article 370 and reducing the statehood of J&K is extremely, I would say, sad decision, and the Congress party would certainly have a relook on the issue,” Singh said, according to bits of conversation available on social media.

    He was responding to a question about the “way forward” on the issue once the Modi government is gone.

    As the BJP attacked him, Singh posted a tweet in Hindi in an apparent jibe at the ruling party.

    “This bunch of illiterate people cannot probably differentiate between ‘shall’ and ‘consider’,” the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.

    Attacking him, Patra told reporters, “We have all seen how Digvijay Singh is spitting venom on India and speaking in agreement with Pakistan. This is the same person who had dubbed the Pulwama attack as an accident and described the 26/11 Mumabi attack as RSS conspiracy.”

    The BJP leader cited old comments of other Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Mani Shankar Aiyar, to allege that Singh’s remarks were part of a larger pattern of the party being “hand in glove” with Pakistan.

    “This is all part of the toolkit which the BJP had exposed,” Patra said in a reference to a controversial document rejected as fake by the Congress.

    The Congress would go to the extent of collaborating with China and Pakistan to spread “hate” against Modi and India, he alleged.

    “The Congress should change its name from INC (Indian National Congress) to ANC, Anti-national Clubhouse. This is such a clubhouse whose members have begun hating India while hating Modi,” he alleged.

    Patra asked Sonia Gandhi and Rahul to make their party’s stand clear on the issue.

    He claimed that Rahul Gandhi is the leader of these Congress politicians, adding that Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan had used his criticism of Article 370 as part of his country’s dossier against India on the issue in the UN.

    Union ministers Giriraj Singh and Kiren Rijiju were among other BJP leaders who targeted the Congress in their tweets over the issue.

    Singh alleged, “Congress’s first love is Pakistan. Digvijay Singh conveyed Rahul Gandhi’s message to Pakistan. Congress will help Pakistan in grabbing Kashmir.”

  • 800 govt schools in Punjab have been shut down in last five years, claims AAP leader Manish Sisodia

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday alleged a “secret” friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, after Punjab was ranked number one in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 by the Centre.

    “Captain (Amarinder Singh) has got the blessings of Modiji. Delhi’s schools have been ranked much below. Nearly 800 government schools in Punjab have been shut down in the last five years and many schools have been handed over to private entities but Punjab has been ranked on the top,” he said.

    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in opposition in the Congress-governed Punjab where Assembly polls is slated for early next year.

    ALSO READ: Akali Dal announces alliance with BSP for Punjab Assembly elections 2022

    Modi’s BJP is another opposition party in Punjab.

    Sisodia alleged that Punjab’s government schools have poor educational facilities for students and parents prefer to send their children to private schools.

    The index is an effort to hide the incompetence of the Punjab government in the field of school education, he alleged.

    “Maybe later, the government might release a report saying Punjab’s hospitals are best. There is a secret friendship between Modiji and Captain,” he said.

  • BJP attacks Gupkar Alliance, calls it group of opportunists  

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: BJP on Friday called the six-party Gupkar Alliance seeking restoration of special status for J&K as an “alliance of opportunists”. 

    “Gupkar leaders remained dormant from public service during the Covid-19 and met after six months only for political gains,” BJP general secretary Vibodh Gupta told reporters.

    He was referring to a meeting of Gupkar Alliance a few days back in which the leaders of the six alliance members reiterated that they stand for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A and statehood to J&K and said doors are open for talks.

    “The Gupkar Alliance was not visible during the Covid-19 pandemic. They had made zero contributions during the pandemic. It is an alliance of opportunist leaders and the same is palpable by their conduct,” Gupta said.

    Referring to the speculations on changes to J&K status, he said, “These are all rumours and nothing else. Some people want to again create an atmosphere of fear and terror in the Valley.” ​He said nothing big is going to happen except delimitation. 

    “The delimitation commission will carry out a delimitation exercise. There is no political interference. We are associate members, but we have no role in the delimitation exercise. There will be no injustice in any district.”

  • Jolt to West Bengal BJP after Mukul Roy’s ‘ghar wapsi’ to TMC

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The BJP, which is still smarting from the poor show in the recently held Assembly election in West Bengal, on Friday received another jolt as its national vice-president Mukul Roy and his son Subhrangshu deserted the saffron party to rejoin the Trinamool Congress. Roy met West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek, the party’s national general secretary, at the party’s headquarters Trinamool Bhavan. 

    “Mukul is an old member of the TMC family and old is gold. The BJP had threatened and tortured him using central agencies. After coming back to the TMC, mental peace has returned to him. No one in Bengal can survive in the BJP. Mukul’s return is a reflection of the BJP’s intra-party oppression,’’ said Mamata.

    Roy was TMC’s national secretary and the second-in-command when he switched over to the BJP in 2017 after he was interrogated by the CBI and the ED in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada sting operation case. 

    Roy’s return to the TMC was not entirely unexpected. Mamata’s soft stance on Roy during the election campaign had triggered speculation. While addressing a rally in Nandigram, from where Mamata contested and lost to Suvendu Adhikari, she said Roy was much better than Suvendu. Roy, too, refrained from launching a frontal attack against the TMC. 

    Endorsing the speculations, Mamata said, “Many others attacked the TMC and showed their cheap mentality, but Mukul was not like them.’’  After he was welcomed back to the TMC fold, Roy said, “I am happy to be in my old place. I could not continue in the BJP, so I decided to join the TMC.” 

    BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, however, sought to downplay Roy’s departure, saying, “With his presence, we did not get any dividend. What damage will be caused because of his defection?’’ TMC sources told this newspaper Roy’s old rivalry with Mamata’s nephew could dent his position in the party. “He was the second-in-command in the party. But later, he became unhappy with the rise of the CM’s nephew Abhishek. Now Abhishek is much more powerful as the national general secretary, which indicates the party’s line of succession.”