News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Mamata Vs Suvendu: Ahead of high-stake Nandigram battle, Bengal CM holds roadshow

    By ANI
    NANDIGRAM: Ahead of the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a ‘padayatra’ (roadshow) in Nandigram on a wheelchair, marking the first roadshow here after she was injured in an alleged attack earlier this month.

    Nandigram will witness the most high-profile contest in the second phase of the state assembly elections to be held on April 1 with the Chief Minister taking on her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December last year.

    Thousands of people gathered around the Chief Minister waving party flags as Mamata held the rally from Khudiram Mod to Thakur Chowk in Nandigram Block-2, which would be followed by a public meeting in Jansabha Boyal II.

    Another public meeting will take place at 2 pm then at 3:30 pm in the Amdabad High School Ground.

    Suvendu Adhikari had earlier said that BJP will defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes from Nandigram.

    Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take on Mamata in a massive roadshow in Nandigram on Tuesday to bat for Adhikari. Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty is also expected to conduct a roadshow for the BJP in Nandigram ahead of polling.

    Earlier this month, during a two-day visit in Nandigram, Mamata alleged that she was pushed by a few unidentified people during her election campaign.

    Banerjee sustained “severe bony injuries” on her left foot and ankle as well as bruises and injuries on her shoulder, forearm and neck, according to the report of her initial medical examination.

    The Election Commission later said that the injury caused to the CM in Nandigram was not a result of an “attack” and suspended IPS officer Vivek Sahay, acting director of security for the West Bengal Chief Minister, with immediate effect.

    Meanwhile, the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections concluded with an estimated 79.79 per cent voter turnout on Saturday.

    In the first phase, 30 seats covering all assembly constituencies from the districts of Purulia and Jhargram and a segment of Bankura, Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur went to the polls to decide on the electoral fate of 191 candidates, including 21 women.

  • Congress lodges FIR against Sonowal, Nadda, eight Assam newspapers over BJP advertisement

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The Congress has filed a police complaint against Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP chief J P Nadda, state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and eight leading newspapers for “camouflaging an advertisement as news” predicting the party’s victory in all the seats in Upper Assam that went to polls in the first phase on March 27.

    The FIR was lodged with Dispur police station on Sunday night for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), provisions of Section 126A of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and the ECI’s directives issued on March 26, APCC Legal Department Chairman Niran Borah said.

    “This is a blatant violation of MCC, Representation of People Act, 1951 and the ECI’s relevant instructions and media policies by BJP leaders and members, who after realising that their defeat is inevitable have resorted to desperate illegal and unconstitutional methods to influence the voters across the state,” he said.

    “In a pre-planned conspiracy to deceive voters in the second and third phases, CM, BJP national president, state chief and other members of the party have knowingly issued advertisements camouflaged as headlines on front pages of various newspapers claiming that the BJP will win all the constituencies of Upper Assam,” Borah said.

    The advertisements have been presented in a manner to “prejudice the mind of the voters and this deliberate, malicious and malafide set of advertisements are in clear violation of Section 126A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, which is punishable by two years of imprisonment and fine”, he said.

    Moreover, the ECI’s instructions, specific to Assam, had prohibited the dissemination of any form of prediction related to poll results between 7 am of March 27 till 7.30 pm of April 29, Borah said.

    “The publication of large-scale advertisements by the BJP falsely predicting the outcome of the current assembly election in their favour also amounts to direct violation of the instructions,” he said.

    The APCC further urged the police to take “prompt and necessary action” against those named in the complaint, including the newspapers.

    The state Congress had filed a complaint with the Assam Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Khade and the AICC with the Election Commission of India against the publication of the advertisements on Sunday urging immediate action against the BJP and the newspapers.

    An official at the CEO’s office here had said on Sunday that the matter will be examined by the ECI.

    The leading English, Assamese, Hindi and Bengali newspapers which published the advertisements include The Assam Tribune, Asomiya Pratidin, Aamar Asom, Niyomia Barta, Asomiya Khabor, Dainik Asam, Dainik Jugasankha and Dainik Purvodaya.

    An estimated 79.93 per cent of the total 81.09 lakh voters exercised their franchise in 47 assembly constituencies during the first phase of polling in Assam on Saturday.

    Elections to 39 seats will be held in the second phase on April 1 and 40 in the third and final phase on April 6.

  • Bengal polls: Mamata intensifies efforts to win over Nandigram voters before campaigning ends

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee intensified efforts to woo voters before campaigning for the second phase of the assembly poll ends in Nandigram on Tuesday evening.

    Her campaign in the high-stakes constituency will begin at 11 am on Monday with an 8-kilometre roadshow from Khudiram More to Thakurchowk in Nandigram Block 2, followed by a public meeting in Jansabha Boyal II. Another one will take at 2 pm then at 3:30 pm in the Amdabad High School Ground.

    Nandigram will witness the most high-profile contest of the state assembly elections with the Chief Minister taking on her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December last year.

    Adhikari had earlier said that BJP will defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes from Nandigram.

    The BJP will also be bringing in big names to counter the TMC’s top leader. Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take on Mamata in a massive roadshow in Nandigram on Tuesday to bat for Adhikari.

    Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty is also expected to conduct a roadshow in Nandigram ahead of polling.

    PM Narendra Modi had addressed a public rally for Suvendu Adhikari earlier. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath too had come to campaign in the constituency.

    With rallies of Mamata planned for each day till the campaign ends, the Adhikari clan too has focussed its energy on ensuring that polling agents remain alert and that panna pramukhs bring out the voters on April 1.

    The Adhikaris have been working on a strategy to not let the last leg of campaigning sway the voters towards her.

    Sources in the BJP stated that the focus would remain on bringing voters to the polling stations while the candidates would be intensifying campaigning.

    “It’s all about that one day when polling happens. It is all that matters. So, if the Chief Minister campaigns and we do too, voters have largely made up their minds,” said a senior BJP leader.

    Adhikari, a former TMC leader, joined the BJP ahead of Assembly polls. Adhikari is a sitting MLA from Nandigram, a seat where Mamata Banerjee has decided to contest this time instead of Bhawanipur.

    Meanwhile, the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections concluded with an estimated 79.79 per cent voter turnout on Saturday.

    In the first phase, 30 seats covering all assembly constituencies from the districts of Purulia and Jhargram and a segment of Bankura, Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur went to polls to decide on the electoral fate of 191 candidates, including 21 women.

    Now the remaining seven phases for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly polls will be held on different dates with the final round of voting scheduled on April 29. Counting of votes will take place on May 2.

  • INTERVIEW | ‘We could have rebirthed sanskrit’: Subramanian Swamy

    Express News Service
    The new National Education Policy (NEP) is nothing but a khichdi, said veteran BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy. He added that the Indian education system has not changed much since Thomas Babington Macaulay devised the Minute on Education in 1835. Swamy was discussing the Indian education system and what changes it needs to be more ‘Indian’ with Senior Journalist Kaveree Bamzai at The New Indian Express’ ThinkEdu Conclave 2021.

    When asked whether the NEP incites hope for a viable change in the Indian education system, Swamy said, “These are all like khichdi — a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The question is: when you go to a class, does your teacher make you think? Here, whatever the teacher says, you memorise and reproduce in the exam and you will get the marks. The room for original thinking and research is not there,” said Swamy.

    But this begs the question, what needs to change? There are two things, said Swamy.

    “It should not be necessary to get a bachelor’s or master’s degree to get a job which is reasonably decent. I think 75 per cent of our people go to college to get a bachelor’s degree while in the United States, it is 35 per cent, in China, it is 45 per cent. That does not mean China is less literate. They train people for technical things so they get a job. Here the minimum qualification for mechanics is BA. Those who go to higher education must be committed to research,” he said.

    “The second thing is that you need to give a very decent salary to teachers. Maybe in Delhi University you get a decent salary or in JNU you get an even decent salary. But in the primary schools, if you compare with US and China, you’d see the difference. Much of the thinking process is developed in schools and if they go to college, they go straight into writing papers,” he said.

    “This system has not changed much since Macaulay’s time. And had stated his objective quite clearly  he said I want to create people who are Indian in blood and colour and they should dress in British attire, should speak English and not Sanskrit and they should adopt British morals,” he said.

    “Mughals had burned down our libraries but the British were a little smarter about it. They wrote an alternate history while the Mughals just burned down things. The alternative history is that we are not one country or one people. The north is Aryan and the south is Dravidian. These are the words they had taken from us. Dravidian is a word that Adi Shankara introduced. It means a place where the three oceans meet. There is no word called Aryan. There is only the word Arya which means anybody who is a cultured person,” Swamy added.

    “You become an obscurantist if you talk about the past and this is the format in which we have been functioning. We are still struggling, the education system has the same books with the same untruth and nonsense in it. The English language which we are using out of compulsion makes it easier. We could have given a rebirth to Sanskrit as the Jews did with Hebrew,” said Swamy.

    The Chinese have innovated furiously in the past few years while India has been lagging behind as Indians don’t push themselves enough towards innovation, said Swamy.

    “The Chinese have also adopted some of the Sanskritic principles. They gave autonomy for basic research in Physical Sciences. And the Chinese have gone very far ahead. We were ahead of them till 2005. After that, the decline started and during Narendra Modi’s period, the gap has widened,” added Swamy.

  • TMC hints at role of BJP insider in leaking ‘Mukul Roy-Shishir Bajoria audio clip’

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday hinted that the audio tape in which BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy purportedly told another leader Shishir Bajoria about how to influence the Election Commission was leaked by someone in the saffron camp.

    Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegation that the release of the audio clip by the Mamata Banerjee-led party proved that phones of opposition leaders were being tapped in the state, the TMC’s national spokesperson Derek OBrien said that it was up to the BJP to find out who had leaked it.

    “If there is a conversation between A and B, logic demands that either A or B has leaked the information,” O’Brien told a press conference in Kolkata.

    “We were so far thinking that Khela Hobe (game will happen) means the battle between the TMC and the BJP. Now there seems to be another group. Let them (BJP) figure it out by themselves,” he said indicating that there is a disgruntled camp in the saffron party which has leaked the audio clip.

    O’Brien also asked the members of the media to find out who was behind the leaking of the audio tape.

    The TMC on Saturday released to the media an audio clip of the purported conversation between Roy and Bajoria, who is also an industrialist.

    In the audio clip, Roy is heard telling Bajoria to convince the EC to allow polling agents, even from outside a given constituency, to function at all polling stations.

    “See, we have to include this point while meeting the EC. We have to say that this rule that polling agents can only be deputed in their localities should be changed. The only criteria should be that the person is a citizen of the state. The BJP won’t be able to have its agents in a large number of booths otherwise,” Roy purportedly told Bajoria.

    Polling agents of parties, under the existent rules, are allowed only at booths in localities where they normally reside.

    The rule had been relaxed last week to allow agents to be appointed from any part of an assembly constituency.

    At a press conference in New Delhi, the Union home minister hit out at the TMC claiming that the release of the audio shows that phones of opposition leaders were being tapped in West Bengal.

    The TMC claimed that the audio clip had “blown the lid off” the nexus between the BJP and the Election Commission.

    O’Brien said that the poll panel apparently changed the time tested provision at the behest of the BJP which doesn’t have enough people to deploy as agents in every booth and the TMC opposed this alteration.

    “The BJP is literally desperate. They (BJP) have got together all agencies. They are doing this to counter Mamata Banerjee and her development initiatives,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

    However, no such ploy will be able to stop Banerjee’s victory and “the gas balloon of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and Shah will be deflated on May 2” when votes will be counted, he said.

    Referring to Shah’s assertion that the BJP will win over 200 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly, O’Brien said that the senior BJP leader has a poor track record in making such predictions.

    “Shah had predicted a landslide victory for the BJP in Bihar in 2015 assembly polls and his party got much fewer seats. In Delhi, the BJP had got a few seats in 2015 and 2020 assembly polls. Similar is the case with Jharkhand and Maharashtra in recent times,” he said.

  • NCP’s Nawab Malik debunks Sharad Pawar-Amit Shah meet speculation, attacks BJP

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra minister and NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik on Sunday rubbished talk of a meeting between his party chief Sharad Pawar and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

    He further alleged that such talk was the BJP’s way of creating “confusion”.

    “It is a completely false information deliberately pushed by some people to create confusion. It is something that BJP wants to create some confusion. Such a meeting has not taken place. There is no reason that Pawar should meet Shah,” Malik said.

    There has been speculation in political circles that Shah met Pawar and Praful Patel at a top industrialist’s residence in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

    At a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday, Shah parried a query on the purported meeting, saying everything cannot be made public.

  • Assam polls a struggle to save people from BJP’s misrule: Congress leader Sachin Pilot

    By PTI
    SILCHAR/KARIMGANJ: Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday claimed that the assembly election in Assam is a struggle to save the people of the state from the “misrule” of the BJP.

    The BJP government never stood by the people during the hour of crisis, Pilot alleged while addressing two election meetings at Silchar and Karimganj in Barak Valley region.

    “We are not fighting to come to power, but to save the people of Assam from the misrule of the BJP,” he said.

    The BJP is dividing people on religious lines and they need to remain united in Assam and India, the former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan said.

    “When people were in crisis during the demonetisation, GST and lockdown, the BJP government was nowhere to be seen. So, it is time that we remove the party from power,” he added.

    The Congress will form the next government in Assam, Pilot asserted.

    “In five years, the BJP gave CAA, NRC, autocracy, inflation and communalism, but not jobs. The biggest challenge today in front of the country and Assam is unemployment. The Congress has guaranteed that it will give five lakh government jobs (in five years),” he said.

    The Congress, once voted to power, will also implement 50 per cent reservation for women in all government jobs, Pilot said.

    In an apparent reference to rumours of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma acting as rival power centres in the outgoing government, he said, “In Assam, nobody knows who is the CM.

    Is he the person who took the oath or the one who wants to be the CM?” The BJP has not announced its chief ministerial candidate before the polls and said that a decision in this regard will be taken by its Parliamentary Board at the time of forming the next government.

    Pilot along with All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev also led a procession in Karimganj town in support of Congress candidates.

  • Assam assembly elections: Congress lodges complaint with EC over BJP’s ‘deceptive’ ad

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The Congress has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission demanding action after a BJP advertisement in several local dailies allegedly suggested the party’s victory in all seats of Upper Assam, which voted in the first phase of assembly polls on Saturday.

    Assam Congress alleged that BJP carried a misleading advertisement in multiple dailies, suggesting its victory in these constituencies.

    “… The advertisement has been published in the form of a news report for canvassing in favour of BJP to influence and deceive the public/voters for the remaining two phases of polls across the state,” Niran Borah, who is the chairman of the Congress’ legal department, wrote to Assam chief electoral officer Nitin Khade.

    ALSO READ | Congress urges EC to register FIRs against JP Nadda, Sarbananda Sonowal for ads predicting outcome of Assam polls

    Congress has demanded strict action against the BJP, as well as the newspapers in question, for publishing the ad, in a news format, which is in violation of the model code of conduct, and requested for assurance that the remaining two phases of elections are conducted in a free and fair manner.

    “Further, till the conclusion of polling of present election, the circulation of the said news items/advertisement is to be stopped for publication in all forms of electronic media, social media, etc. for the holding of the present election in a fair and impartial manner,” the complaint further read.

    The stakes appeared high for ruling BJP and its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in the first phase of polling.

    In the 2016 elections, 35 of the 47 seats, which went to polls in the first phase, were bagged by the BJP (27) and AGP (8).

    The Congress had won nine, All India United Democratic Front – two and there was an independent victor.

  • 2021 Assembly polls Phase-I: Stray incidents of violence reported in West Bengal

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA/GUWAHATI: Amid stray incidents of violence and trading of barbs over electoral malpractices, nearly 80 per cent polling was reported in the 30 constituencies of West Bengal that voted in the first phase of the eight-phase assembly election on Saturday.

    In Assam 72.14 per cent turnout was recorded for 47 of the total 126 seats that went to polls.

    The voting percentage in Bengal is around 3 per cent less than the previous assembly elections. The 30 constituencies that went to polls on Saturday included all the 18 constituencies that had voted in the first phase in 2016, too.

    The rising cases of COVID-19 and absence of a large number of migrant workers, who had left the state following the lockdown, are believed to be the reason behind the slight drop in turnout.

    Polling was held under tight security blanket with 730 companies of central forces guarding 10,288 polling booths in Junglemahal’s Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura districts. However, violence was reported from pockets in Midnapore.

    Two police officers were injured in Bhagawanpur in East Midnapore when goons hurled crude bombs. Attack on political rivals also took place in West and East Midnapore districts. CPM candidate in Junglemahal’s Shalboni, Sushanta Ghosh, was manhandled when he was visiting a polling booth.

    He was pushed, allegedly by the Trinamool Congress supporters and his vehicle was vandalised. Soumendu Adhikari, brother of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s challenger in Nandigram constituency Suvendu Adhikari, was attacked, booth allegedly by TMC supporters, when he was on his way to a polling in Contai South constituency.

    Windshields of his vehicle were smashed. Three persons were arrested in connection with the attack. “I came to know the TMC supporters were casting bogus votes at a booth and was heading there. A group of TMC men waylaid me and attacked my car,” alleged Soumendu, who joined the BJP recently.

    The TMC, however, denied the allegation and said the incident was a fall out of common people’s anger as Soumendu was roaming with outsiders. In Assam, the polling was largely peaceful.

    Unlike the three-phase elections this time, the 2016 polls were held in two phases with 65 constituencies voting in the first phase, which had recorded 82.41 per cent turnout. An election official died as his health deteriorated at a polling station in Sonari.

  • INTERVIEW| We will ride to power on development: BJP Assam election in-charge Jay Panda

    Express News Service
    Bhartiya Janata Party national vice-president Jay Panda, who is also the party’s Assam election in-charge, tells  that  there is a positive mood in their favour because of the massive development works in the northeastern state

    Good governance and the commitment of national leaders to treat Assam as priority are among the factors the BJP is banking on to retain power in the state. According to Jay Panda, there are other reasons also, why he thinks the people of Assam would vote for the saffron party. Excerpts from an interview…

    What is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s main election plank?

    I don’t think the northeast has got the kind of attention it is getting now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come here at least 50 times, before him if you add the number of visits by all other PMs in the past, this should be more. The people see this.

    Just compare the number of bridges constructed over the Brahmaputra over the previous 70 years and how many have been built or are under construction now. Similarly, roads and medical colleges. (Home minister) Amit Shah keeps pointing out the 20,000 kms of both highways and panchayat roads.

    There have been no communal riots and the recent Bodo accord has brought peace, as the last of the militants has surrendered and joined the political process.

    The politics of Assam was dominated by illegal immigration and the need to protect the indigenous culture. But except for 7-8 kms, the border fencing is complete. So all these things contribute and that’s why I get this very positive feeling.

    Is development enough to win the elections?

    Look at our track record in administration. The kind of corruption there was before is over now. Everyone knows about the Assam Public Service Commission scandal. The APSC chairman and other officials who used to take Rs 30-40 lakh bribe have been jailed.

    There is also no leakage of money as funds are deposited directly to bank accounts. There are roughly 20 lakh beneficiaries of the Orunoday scheme (where people get Rs 843 every month) and there is no leakage.

    The Congress and the All-India United Democratic Front alliance is expected to dent BJP’s performance…

    I think Congress has made a huge mistake by aligning with AIUDF. The late Tarun Gogoi never aligned with AIUDF. Maybe they had some secret understanding or some adjustment, but it was never official. Everybody associates AIUDF with illegal immigration and this repulses the majority of the people in Assam.

    Congress leaders are telling me privately it was a mistake. AIUDF may get some 2-3 seats extra, but Congress will end up winning fewer seats. Congress leaders are disconnected from the people. They go to tea gardens and pluck tea leaves for photo ops.

    They were in power for so many years, yet wages of tea garden labourers was only about Rs 100. It has been more than doubled now.

    Do you think the Congress will lose Hindu votes?

    There are indigenous Muslims in Assam who are also unhappy with illegal immigration. Congress had lost supporters after losing power. Now, the remaining supporters are also moving away. Everyday, many Congress leaders are joining us because of the alliance with the AIUDF.

    Will the Citizenship Amendment Act be an issue in the polls?

    I have spent three months here and gone all over the state. Whatever the situation was 14 months ago because of the CAA is no longer relevant. The opposition spread two lies about CAA. One, Indian Muslims will be expelled, but this is complete falsehood. Second, they said from a neighbouring country 1.5 crore Hindus will be brought in but not a single one has come.

    What is the government’s plan on attracting industries?

    The base of any progress and development is good infrastructure. That is why there is a massive drive to develop this. International cargo flights have started and this will boost value added products. The airport is being upgraded and expanded. Once this is done, the attractiveness of Assam as an investment destination for companies such as ITC or agro-based businesses will increase.

    Some ethnic-based militant groups are still present in the state…

    The biggest was the Bodo issue but that has been comprehensively resolved. This was 80% of the ethnic based issue. They have laid down their arms and now there is new party in power in the Bodoland Territorial Council. The rest 20% will also be dealt with in the future.

    How will you view your contribution if the BJP retains power?

    For me any reward or post is only a byproduct. I am grateful the party gave me this responsibility. But my job was only to coordinate and manage. Here the biggest factor is Modi’s image, then it is the BJP government’s performance. Our third biggest asset is our state leaders such as Chief Minister Sarabanda Sonowal, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and party chief Ranjit Dass.