News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • ‘Maharashtra govt has no right to continue’: BJP after bribery charges against Anil Deshmukh

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday demanded an independent probe into former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s corruption allegations against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and said such a “criminally-minded” government has no right to continue even for a minute.

    After Singh made an explosive allegation that Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said it is “one of the darkest moments” in Indian democracy when a dispensation duty-bound to protect people has indulged in “government-monitored and controlled extortion racket”.

    Bhatia demanded the immediate resignation of Deshmukh and a probe by a central agency or one monitored by a court.

    The BJP also asked Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to speak on the issue, and alleged that he ran a “corrupt and criminally-minded government”.

    Nothing can be more shameful for a government that these allegations, and still Thackeray has not spoken on the matter, Bhatia said.

    The continuation of such a government amounted to throttling democracy, he said.

    Singh has claimed that Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect at least Rs 100 crore from bars and hotels every month, a charge which Deshmukh has denied.

    Senior IPS officer Singh, who was transferred to the low-key Home Guards earlier this week following the arrest of police officer Sachin Waze in the case related to the bomb scare near Mukesh Ambani’s house, claimed that he was made a scapegoat.

  • The game is over: PM Modi, BJP lash out at Mamata Banerjee in Bengal

    By Online Desk
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday launched a frontal attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging her lawmaker nephew Abhishek was the only “single window” in the state without crossing which no work gets done.

    He also accused the TMC supremo of presiding over an administration full of ‘tolabaj’ (extortionists) and corrupt people.

    The PM blamed both the Congress and the Left front as well for being an impediment to development in the state during their political reign.

    “Yesterday WhatsApp, Instagram & Facebook were down for 50-55 min, everybody got worried. But in Bengal, development, & dreams have been down for 50-55 years. First, it was Congress, then Left, and now TMC, who’ve blocked state’s development,” Modi said at the poll rally. 

    West Bengal supports BJP! Watch from Kharagpur. https://t.co/y0tHE5HvhJ
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 20, 2021

    Attending his second rally in the election-bound state in three days, the prime minister alleged Banerjee was engaged in “khela” (game) of appeasement for vote bank politics.

    “Industrial units are getting shuttered. You know, a single-window system is created for speedy clearances for industries. In Bengal, too, exists a single window. The single window of ‘Bhaipo’ (nephew) without crossing which no work gets done,” he said without naming Banerjee’s nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee.

    “You have seen destruction by Congress & the Left. TMC ruined your dreams. In the last 70 years, you gave opportunities to everyone but give us 5 years, we will free Bengal from the 70 years of destruction, we will sacrifice our lives for you,” he said.

    Single Window System by the Department of Policy for Industry and Internal Trade’s supports the ease of business policy by allowing a single window system to provide clearances to investors and bringing together all stakeholders.

    The accusations come just a day before the Bharatiya Janata Party is set to unveil its manifesto for West Bengal polls.

    The BJP has often accused Abhishek of running syndicates that extort money from common people.

    In local parlance, syndicates refer to gangs run by TMC toughs who sell substandard construction material to people at exorbitant rates.

    Rejecting the outsider tag Mamata Banerjee has given to his party, the prime minister said,”The BJP is the only real party of Bengal. Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded Jana Sangh, the BJP’s forerunner. He was the son of Bengal.”

    Ridiculing Banerjee over the “khela hobe” (game will happen) slogan, Modi said “Didir khela shesh hobe, vikas aarambh” (Didi’s game will be over and development will start).

    Referring to the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ health insurance scheme, the prime minister said the TMC government has not implemented it as it thought the Centre will get credit for the measure.

    “Mamata Didi stands like a wall to block central schemes,” he alleged.

    He claimed the previous Congress, Left and the current TMC governments had all stalled West Bengal’s development.

    Modi also spoke about the alleged killing of around 130 BJP workers by TMC activists since the 2018 panchayat elections.

    “Mamata Didi runs a school of brutality where ‘tolabaji’ (extortion), cut money, syndicate and anarchy are part of the syllabus,” he alleged.

    Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh also lashed out at Mamata.

    “Those who said Khela Hobe, have broken their leg and left the field. ‘Khela hobena, khela shesh hoye geche’ (the game is not on, the game is finished). It’s time for development,” he said.

    “Today the state government is on a wheelchair. The government has lost the ability to stand on its own legs. You cannot fool the people of Bengal by showing them plaster, broken leg or a wheelchair,” Ghosh added further.

    Elections to the 294-member West Bengal state Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

    (With inputs from PTI, ANI)

  • Unemployment, inflation, earnings of ‘friends’ increased under Modi government: Rahul

    quot;What did this government increase? Unemployment, inflation and poverty. And, only the earnings of friends, quot; he said in a tweet in Hindi.

  • UP emerged as India’s growth engine in last four years: Yogi Adityanath

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW:  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the mantra of “reform, perform and transform” in the last four years helped his government make the state the second biggest economy in the country.

    Addressing the media in Lucknow on completing four years in office, the CM said Uttar Pradesh has emerged as an “engine of growth” for the country under the BJP government and accused the previous regimes of not taking the initiative to improve the state’s condition.

    He added that it was the same UP where earlier, no festival could be celebrated peacefully.

    “On the contrary, there have been noriots in the state in the last four years,” he said.

    He also claimed that the perception about the state had changed during his tenure and that it had emerged as one of the most sought after destinations for investment, adding that UP had logged an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore of the proposals worth Rs 4.6 lakh crore promised during the investor’s summit in February 2018. 

    “While earlier, no one wanted to come to the state because of a sense of insecurity, there is no fear now,”  he said.

     Rebutting the Opposition’s charge of deterioration in law and order situation in the state, the CM said his government’s zero-tolerance policy towards crime and criminals had shown positive results in the past four years.

    “The result of the zero-tolerance policy has been that as compared to the figures of 2016-2017, there has been a fall of 65.72 per cent in cases of dacoity, 66.15 per cent in loot, 19.80 in murder and 45.43 per cent in rape in the state,” Adityanath claimed.

  • Bengal polls 2021: BJP old-timers shedding tears as party fielded TMC turncoats, says Mamata at rally

    By PTI
    EGRA: Branding TMC turncoats as “traitors”, party supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said it was good riddance that they have left her camp, but the “switch over has left BJP old-timers sulking” as the saffron party has chosen to field the defectors over its loyalists.

    Addressing a poll rally at Egra in Purba Medinipur, the West Bengal chief minister accused the BJP of practising “politics of riot, loot and murder”, and urged everyone “to be on guard against outsiders appearing in their localities”.

    The TMC, which has made ‘Bengali pride’ its core poll plank, has called the BJP a ‘party of outsiders’, as its top leaders hail from outside the state.

    In an obvious reference to Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee who had shifted allegiance to the BJP along with other leaders like Mukul Roy, the TMC supremo said “Gaddars, Mirjafars (traitors) have now become BJP candidates, to the dismay of old-timers of the saffron party.”

    Noting that “these turncoats” had been given many responsibilities in the past, Banerjee said, “I will be monitoring every project so that its benefit reaches everyone.”

    Slamming the saffron party for chanting “Hari Hari in front and stabbing from behind”, the TMC chief claimed, “Chewing panparag and putting tilak on forehead, the BJP carries on attack on people.”

    ALSO READ | BJP leaders only arrive during polls with cash, remain absent during crisis: Mamata

    Coining the slogan “No vote to BJP”, Banerjee also asked the crowd not to vote for the CPI-M and the Congress either “as they are friends of the BJP.”

    The CPI-M, Congress and the fledgling ISF have formed an alliance in West Bengal. Banerjee asked the people to maintain vigil outside the counting centres where the EVMs will be kept after polling, saying “Do not leave the place even if central security and state police ask you to do so.”

    Also if an EVM malfunctions, ensure that the machine replacing it is tested properly.”

    About her decision to contest from Nandigram, she said, “Many people had asked me why I decided to contest from faraway Nandigram rather than a constituency in Kolkata. I replied I chose it since the movement against land acquisition in Nandigram (in 2007-2008) and Singur had played a significant role. Also I consider every corner of West Bengal as my own place.”

    Alleging that women are not secure in BJP-ruled states, she said, “In Uttar Pradesh, women are raped and murdered. The father of a rape victim was killed recently. If a poor man steals Rs 500 we pounce on him. What about the BJP stealing lakhs of rupees in jumla, what about lakhs of cash being plundered in the name of selling of PSUs? These thefts by BJP leaders are never known publicly.”

    ” The chief minister said, ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at the doorstep) camps will be set up again in August-September and will be held twice a year from now on.

    Asserting that the victory of the TMC in the assembly polls “will be the precursor to dislodging the BJP in Delhi, Banerjee said “If you want me to be at the helm again, make every TMC candidate a winner.”

    The TMC leader chanted ‘chandi’ sloka while wrapping up her speech and also wished Muslims, Christians and members of different tribes and castes.

    “We are all united and together. None can rupture our unity. This is Bengal”, she said.

  • Female BJP worker alleges sexual harassment inside library of party office in Bhopal, probe ordered

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: A video showing a young female BJP worker alleging sexual harassment inside the Nanaji Deshmukh Library in the state party office in Bhopal has left the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh embarrassed. In the video, which has gone viral over social media, the young girl is seen narrating what allegedly happened to her recently at the library.

    “I hail from a small town and have come to Bhopal out of commitment to the country and the BJP organisation and daily spend 18 out of 24 hours to deeply understand the party. As part of it, I spend considerable time at the Nanaji Deshmukh Library at the BJP office in Bhopal reading books on our party’s ideology,” the young female BJP worker is seen saying in the video.

    “But since last few months, I’ve been regularly facing harassment, which is condemnable. On March 12, an elderly man in the library molested me and even asked me many times to come to his house. He has also been repeatedly asking me to drop him home on my mobike,” the girl alleged in the video.

    But it’s not the young female BJP worker alone who has alleged harassment by the elderly man at the library at the state party HQ, as her friend also alleged that the same elderly man has been troubling her over phone regularly, owing to which she was forced to block his phone number.

    “Instead of helping us, the library in-charge threw my bag (which contained cell-phone and some other important things) out of the library on Tuesday and isn’t allowing me at the library anymore.”

    The female BJP worker has appealed to the national and state BJP leaders, including CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to get the video footage of March 12 and March 15 of BJP office checked, which will reveal what happened with her.

    The young party worker has also alleged that a male party worker had been recently stalking her.

    The opposition Congress’s state spokesperson Narendra Saluja demanded that the police immediately record the statements of two girls seen in the video and conduct a thorough probe in the matter, before acting against those responsible.

    Saluja also questioned that the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan needs to explain how safe women and girls are at the BJP office, since the entire matter pertains to BJP office only.

    The state BJP general secretary Bhagwandas Sabnani confirmed to The New Indian Express, that the one of the girls was associated with the party and the entire matter is very serious. “The state BJP president VD Sharma has asked me to probe the entire episode and act accordingly,” Sabnani said.

  • West Bengal elections 2021: BJP axes turncoats in fresh candidate list

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Taking a lesson from the unexpected intra-party rebellion over triggered by the candidature of scores of Trinamool Congress (TMC) turncoats, the BJP high-command, in its latest list of 157 candidates, decided not to include the ruling party’s faces in the fray.

    When the previous lists included more than 70 TMC turncoats, the Thursday’s list included only three ruling party’s defectors other than 10 MLAs.

    “The large-scale demonstrations in front of the party’s election headquarters at Hastings in Kolkata and other parts of South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly districts were triggered by the party’s decision to field the TMC turncoats who joined our party very recently. This party high-command was not happy with the intra-party rebellion and decided to give the party’s old workers priority,” said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.

    Irked by the party’ internal feud that surfaced publicly, Union Home minister Amit Shah, who was visiting Bengal and Assam on Monday and scheduled to fly to Delhi on the same day, landed in Kolkata and held an unscheduled overnight meeting with the Bengal functionaries and national leaders, who were camping in the state. The meeting continued till dawn on Tuesday. Before leaving for Delhi, Shah asked Bengal functionaries with the list of candidates for next phases to attend an emergency meeting in the national capital.    

    Though the Thursday’s candidate list axed many TMC turncoats, incidents of ransacking and protests took place at least three places in the state shortly after the announcement. Roadblocks were put up at Jagaddal in protest of turncoat TMC MLA from Nadia’s Shantipur Arindam Bhattacharya’s candidature from the North 24 Parganas district constituency.

    Similarly, agitation was staged in Durgapur after the BJP announced TMC MLA Jitendra Tiwari’s candidature in Pandeveshwar constituency. Senior BJP functionaries, including Union minister Babul Supriyo, had opposed Tiwari’s inclusion in the BJP.

    In Jalpaiguri, angry BJP supporters ransacked the district party office as they were not happy with the candidates announced on Thursday.  “It was a rift between the party’s old workers. There many aspirants who wanted to contest in the upcoming Assembly elections but denied ticket,” said a BJP leader.

  • BJP announces candidate list for last 4 phases of Bengal polls, fields Mukul Roy to contest from Krishnanagar

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The BJP, after holding a marathon meeting with the party’s Bengal functionaries in New Delhi in the wake of sporadic demonstrations over the issue of previous list of candidates, announces candidate list for 157 seats fielding the party’s national vice-president Mukul Roy, one sitting MP and 10 Trinamool Congress turncoat MLAs.

    The list also includes the wife of former state Congress president Somen Mitra, two actors and four Bengal functionaries.

    The candidate list pertains to Assembly seats where voting will be held in last four phases. The BJP is yet to announce the names of candidates in 14 seats out of total 294.

    The saffron camp pitted Roy in Krishnagar Uttar Assembly constituency from where the party had bagged a lead of more than 55,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Roy’s son, an MLA who defected to the BJP last year, is contesting from his own Bijpur constituency.  

    Shortly after the candidate list was announced, Sikha Mitra Chowdhury, wife of the former state Congress president, said she would not contest. ‘’I have not joined the BJP yet and no one from the BJP consulted me before Including my name in the list of candidates. I belong to a family belongs to Congress background. Previously, I joined the TMC but there is no question of contesting on a BJP ticket. Congress and BJP belong to two completely different poles,’’ she said.  

    The saffron camp fielded its sitting MP from Ranaghat, Jagannath Sarkar, in Shantipur Assembly constituency in Nadia district. So far, five sitting MPs, including one nominated in Rajya Sabha, have been pitted to take on TMC candidates.

    In Bhowanipur Assembly constituency, from where chief minister was elected in two previous elections, the BJP fielded actor Rudranil Ghosh, who recently defected to the BJP from the ruling party’s fold. Another Bengali film actor Parno Mitra, who joined the BJP in 2019, have been pitted from Baranagar Assembly constituency in north 24-Parganas.

    The party also fielded four minority candidates, including its minority cell head Mafuza Khatun, in the Muslim dominated constituencies in Malda and Murshidabad districts. The BJP also pitted

  • Actor Arun Govil, Lord Ram of TV show ‘Ramayan’, joins BJP

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Days before assembly polls begin in West Bengal and three other states, actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram in the famous TV serial Ramayan, joined the BJP on Thursday, saying his decision was triggered by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee ‘s “irritation” to the chant of Jai Shri Ram.

    Govil joined the BJP in the presence of its general secretary Arun Singh and Union Minister Debasree Chaudhuri after the party announced the names of 148 candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls.

    “West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s irritation to Jai Shri Ram was a trigger point for me to join the BJP. And there is nothing wrong in saying Jai Shri Ram. It is not a slogan, not even a political slogan. It is a way of life for us, it represents our culture and ethos,” he told the media at the BJP headquarters here.

    Govil, who essayed the role of Lord Ram on Ramanand Sagar’s superhit 1987 series Ramayan, also said the BJP will give him a “platform” to do his bit to serve the nation.

    The phrase ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is being widely used and heard at BJP rallies and events in poll-bound West Bengal, where the party has emerged as the main opponent to the ruling TMC and is aiming to form its government this year.

    Govil, 63, has acted in films in several languages including Hindi and Bhojpuri.

    The multi-phased elections to West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry will end on April 29 and the results will be announced on May 2.

    PTI JTR JTR TIR TIR 03181949 NNNN

  • Bengal polls: Mamata urges Left supporters to vote for Trinamool; CPM hits back

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday appealed to Left Front supporters to vote for TMC candidates in order to defeat the divisive BJP in West Bengal.

    She thanked the Left minded people in the state for coming out with the “no vote to BJP” campaign.

    Banerjee is facing one of the most difficult political challenges of her life.

    She is facing a stiff challenge from BJP in the coming state poll after helming West Bengal for a decade.

    “It is imperative for the sake of the state to stop BJP from coming to power in Bengal. I would like to thank my Left minded friends for coming out with the no vote to BJP campaign.”

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: Jhargram’s elderly woman casts first vote through doorstep facility

    “At the same time I would like to tell them that since the Left cannot come to power, its supporters should not waste their votes by casting it in favour of LF.”

    “Instead the LF supporters should vote for TMC to defeat the BJP, Banerjee told reporters while releasing her partys election manifesto.”

    Her comments come in the backdrop of several TMC leaders openly asking the Left parties to come out in support of TMC to stop the saffron party’s march in the state.

    The CPI-M led Left Front has rejected the appeal and blamed the ruling TMC for the rise of the saffron camp in West Bengal.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: BJP names candidates for four seats for third phase

    “Unfortunately, Bengal is now witnessing a threat from outsiders who want to foster divisive mentality and disrupt harmony. It is imperative for us to avert this threat. I promise that I will stand by each and every person of Bengal across all communities to protect their fundamental rights, she said. I will be forever indebted to my motherland. Being a daughter of Bengal I have dedicated my whole life for the state,” Banerjee added.

    She called BJP a political virus and slammed the Centre for trying to destroy the federal fabric of the state.

    “Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is running an elected government in Delhi. Yet the Centre is trying to give more powers to the Lt Governor, who is nominated. We condemn such actions,” she added.

    She also said on Wednesday that Lord Ram worshipped Goddess Durga as she is much superior to him.

    Addressing the people of Jhargram and Binpur constituencies at a poll rally here in Jhargram district which has a sizeable Adivasi population, she claimed that the BJP will not allow them to take the name of ‘Marang Buru’, whom the Santhals consider as the supreme source of power, but they will have to chant “Jai Shri Ram” (Glory to Lord Ram).

    “They (BJP) are saying that you will not be able to practise your religion, you will have to chant Jai Shri Ram. But you will not be able to say Jai Siya Ram,” Banerjee said.

    “Ram performed the puja of Devi Durga (in the Ramayana). Maa Durga is much superior to Ram, that is why he worshipped Maa Durga,” the West Bengal chief minister told the meeting.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: Another police observer arrives in state, Howrah SP removed

    BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told an election rally on Tuesday that Banerjee gets livid at the chant of Jai Shri Ram and now she has started visiting temples and is reciting ‘Chandi path’, an ode to Goddes Durga.

    On the BJP’s accusation that her government created hurdles in the immersion of the idol of goddess Durga, Banerjee said that the Trinamool Congress dispensation gave Rs 50,000 to each club for performing the Durga puja, the biggest festival of the state.

    Alleging atrocities on women in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, she claimed that it is a party of Duryodhana and Dushasana, villainous characters in the Mahabharata.

    Apparently referring to the saffron partys allegation that the TMC is pursuing the politics of appeasement of minorities, Banerjee said her government works with the people of all religions and castes for the development of the state.

    The TMC boss alleged that the BJP creates rift between people on religious lines.