News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Rahul Gandhi ‘conspires’ with anti-India elements during his visits abroad: BJP

    BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit out at Gandhi over his attack on the government over the farmers #39; issue.

  • Rajya Sabha: Azad demands repeal of agri laws; BJP asks Opposition not to make Shaheen Bagh-like stir

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday asked the government to withdraw the three contentious farm bills without making it a prestige issue.

    Declaring that disrespect to the national flag cannot be tolerated, he also condemned the violence at Red Fort during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day.

    Participating in the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha, he suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself should make the announcement on repeal of the bills.

    Modi was present in the House at the time.

    Azad also made a case for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and holding assembly elections, saying that people of the area were not happy and development work had come to halt.

    In 2019, the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the union territories of Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370.

    Earlier in the day, five hours were added to the discussion on the president’s address to also allow the raising of issues related to farm bills.

    The new farm laws have led to protests at border points of the national capital and several parts of the country.

    “I urge the government to withdraw these three bills,” he said, and added that the government should set up a committee to find out the whereabouts of people “who have gone missing” during the farmers’ protest.

    The senior Congress leader cited several examples, including one during his own party’s rule in 1988, of the government giving in to the demands of farmers.

    Referring to the violence that broke out in Delhi during farmers tractor rally on January 26, the Congress leader said the entire opposition condemns the incident as “it is against democracy”.

    “Disrespect to the national flag cannot be tolerated,” he said while demanding the strictest of actions against the culprits.

    Highlighting the problems which farmers would face because of the new laws, Azad said government should see repealing of the legislations as an a “prestige issue”.

    Describing farmers as “annadata”, the Congress veteran said there was no point in confronting them.

    Instead, the government should focus on other important issues, including on revival of the economy.

    Azad also raised the issue of registration of cases under stringent provisions against certain media persons and also his party colleague Shashi Tharoor.

    “Shashi Tharoor was minister of state for external affairs. He has represented the country outside. How can he be an anti-national. Then we all are anti-nationals,” he said, and demanded withdrawal of sedation cases against them in the interest of democracy.

    Asserting that the new farm laws were passed after extensive deliberations in Parliament, the BJP on Tuesday said in Rajya Sabha that doors are always open for farmers to resolve the issue amicably, and urged opposition parties not to make the farmers’ agitation another Shaheen Bagh.

    Moving the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the upper house, BJP member Bhubaneswar Kalita said the government respects farmers.

    He said the government has given new rights to farmers through these new farm laws and none of their rights or facilities have been taken away.

    Attacking the opposition members, who were trying to disrupt the proceedings of the House, he said, “Let me remind them that the three farm laws have been passed by both the houses of Parliament after much deliberations.”

    “The benefits of these three important farm laws have started reaching more than 10 crore people and small farmers. There has been no reduction in the rights and facilities of farmers. Through these agriculture reforms, the government has given new rights to farmers,” he said initiating the debate.

    The motion was seconded by another BJP member Vijay Pal Singh Tomar.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the House when the debate started.

    The opposition members moved as many as 118 amendments to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.

    Kalita said even after opposition members are raising the issue to disrupt the House, “we have utmost respect for our farmers”.

    He said Agriculture minister and Railways minister have been holding discussion with farmers and many rounds of discussions have already taken place.

    “The door is always open for farmers for discussion so that this issue of farm laws can be resolved amicably. The government is ready to discuss all issues concerning it, but my appeal to our friends, please do not make it another Shaheen Bagh,” he said.

    Shaheen Bagh in the national capital was the the epicentre of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

    The BJP member from Assam cited the example of the Citizenship amendment bill which was passed by Parliament after the BJP returned to power with a decisive majority.

    “Now they have objections and they want to organise another Shaheen Bagh. The anti-CAA parties in Assam are forming new parties and let me remind you what Congress got in 2019 Lok Sabha elections by supporting CAA, the anti-CAA parties will lose in 2021 elections in Assam,” Kalita said.

    “The BJP alliance will win and return to power in Assam,” he asserted.

    He lauded the prime minister for his numerous visits to Assam, noting that Modi and central government officials have visited Assam and northeastern states 40 times during his two terms.

    This is probably the first time that any prime minister has paid so much attention to the northeast region, he said.

    He also noted that the government is committed to strengthen the underprivileged sections of society.

    This government believes in 100 percent implementation of its promises, he said.

    Kalita said the GST collection was picking up as the economy was on the path of recovery due to efforts taken by the government.

    Vijay Pal Singh Tomar said the farm laws were passed after extensive deliberations, noting that there have been 12 expert committees in the past two decades on farm reforms.

    He hit out at those criticising the farm laws, saying they are spreading misinformation.

    The new laws will help small farmers and the agricultural sector, he said.

    He also drew a comparison between the agriculture budgets during the UPA tenure and now.

    He aid one year budget provision for agriculture has been more than five years of that in UPA.

    He said the agriculture budget was Rs 1.21 lakh crore during 2009-2014 whereas the agriculture budget in 2019-20 was 1.51 lakh crore.

    “The way the prime minister has taken steps in the agriculture sector, we are sure the sector will grow and help make India a USD 5 trillion economy,” he said.

    He stressed on value addition in farming, saying diversification is required in the sector and that is possible only with the new farm laws.

    Small and marginal farmers which comprise 86 per cent will benefit from new laws, he said.

    He said post harvesting losses to farmers is said to be 15-22 per cent and a survey attributes losses at Rs 92,000 crore per annum.

    Proper storage can save it, he said.

    Tomar said middlemen were eating into the profits of farmers and new laws were intended to benefit farmers.

    He pitched for diversification of agriculture and lauded Modi and the BJP government for recognising industrious farmers and conferring awards like Padmashri on them.

    Tomar also stressed on ethanol production by farmers and said the demand was bound to increase following government’s decision to increase blending limit to 20 per cent by 2030.

    On farm laws, he said some people were creating confusion that farmers will not get MSP whereas during the BJP regime it has risen sharply.

    The children of farmers will become job providers after these laws and would not be required to work for petty sums, he said.

    Those who moved amendments included Tiruchi Siva, Digvijay Singh and Deependra Singh Hooda.

  • Bengal polls: Violence returns to Nandigram, threatens to break brittle peace

    By PTI
    NADIGRAM: Memories of the dark days of the anti-land acquisition movement, when they hunkered down in paddy fields as marauding hordes roamed about terrorising people, have returned to haunt Nandigram.

    Staccato sounds of gunfire are once again breaking the fragile peace of this small town in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district where violent clashes between ruling TMC supporters and those of the BJP have become commonplace in the run up to the assembly elections to be held in a few months from now.

    “For the last three days, we have been spending sleepless nights,” says 62-year-old Shyamal Manna as gunshots frequently ring out near his mud house.

    Manna, who lost his sister-in-law during the bloody anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007-2008, and scores of others like him are a disqueted lot ever since former TMC heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari switched over to the BJP, setting the stage for an electoral showdown that has left the locals fidgety and on edge.

    “For the last two weeks, every day, skirmishes have broken out. Earlier, we witnessed only political violence, but now it has turned communal, too. Sounds of explosions and gunshots have snatched away our sleep. All this is so reminiscent of the bloody Nandigram movement,” Manna told PTI.

    His nephew Gokul said his wife and children have stopped venturing out altogether.

    “At times, I feel like leaving this place and settling somewhere else. I lost my mother due to this violence. I don’t let my wife and children go out of the house these days,” he said.

    A blood-soaked Nandigram, a little known semi-urban landscape that shot to national limelight in 2007, had jolted the mighty Left Front government and laid the foundation of the TMC dispensation in West Bengal, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, then an opposition leader, leading the anti-land acquisition stir from the front.

    Several women were gangraped and many people killed, including 14 in police firing, during the 10-month-long political violence, at some point of which residents turned the area into a no-man’s land, digging up roads and making villages inaccessible.

    In present-day Nandigram, the battle lines seem to have been redrawn after Banerjee announced her candidature from the seat, the home turf of Adhikari, who has asserted he will defeat his former boss by “at least 50,000 votes” if fielded from the contituency, Kavita Mal of Gokulpur village, whose house was set on fire in 2007, feels dark days await Nandigram.

    “I had received five bullet injuries back then. Somehow, I survived by God’s grace. After TMC came to power in 2011, we thought the place will be peaceful. But now, it seems that violence has come back to haunt us,” she said.

    Soma Pradhan (name changed), 45, who was gangraped 14 years ago amid the massive protests against land acquisition by the erstwhile Left Front government for creation of a special economic zone, said she and her family don’t leave home after dusk.

    “The situation is not good. Our neighbours have seen masked men roaming around in the villages at night,” Pradhan said.

    According to police sources, clashes between activists of the two parties have become frequent in the last few weeks, with TMC and BJP offices being vandalised and set on fire.

    “For the last few years, there were hardly any instances of violence. But, circumstances have changed drastically in the last few months. Every day there are sporadic incidents. Some don’t even get reported,” said a police officer.

    Sources in the both the parties admit that things took a dramatic turn after Adhikari and his brother moved over to the BJP.

    “Over the last 10 years, Nandigram and its surrounding villages were considered TMC bastions with virtually no opposition. However, now it is the TMC versus turncoats of the TMC,” local Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) leader Bhabani Prasad Das, who was part of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), told PTI.

    The BUPC had launched an aggressive resistance against forcible land acquisition.

    Following the Nandigram movement, the entire East Midnapore district turned into an impregnable fortress of the TMC, but after Adhikari’s move, several villages overnight switched sides and rival camps took control of party offices, the sources said.

    Even as Gokulpur, Gokulnagar, Gopimohanpur, Adhikaripara and Heria have turned into strongholds of the BJP, Sonachura, Haripur, Khejuri, Brindaban Chak, Daudpur, and Tekhali remain faithful to the ruling party, they said.

    Radha Rani Ari (name changed), who was also gangraped during the brutal stir, said except for Adhikari, no other leader of any party inquired about the condition of the hapless victims all these years.

    “During the CPI(M) regime, we were used as pawns, and now during the TMC rule, too, violence and rape are used as political tools to settle scores and dominate the area. It is the locals like us who suffer,” she said.

    “Menfolk from the villages have formed groups to keep vigil at night. A few days back, some of the thatched roof houses were set on fire, and food grains and poultry looted,” said Joydeb Mondal of Adhikaripara.

    Sheikh Sufiyan, a senior TMC leader and deputy chairman of East Midnapore Zilla Parishad, alleged Adhikari and his men are trying to vitiate the atmosphere.

    “There was no sign of the BJP in Nandigram. It is Suvendu Adhikari, who helped the saffron party gain ground here. Now, he wants to bring back the days of anarchy. We will never allow that to happen,” he said.

    The BJP district leadership, which had gone hammer and tongs at the TMC over its alleged Muslim appeasement politics, said the ruling party is the one fuelling communal violence in the region.

    “The TMC is using brute force and has brought people from outside to terrorise the locals ahead of the assembly polls. Police is just a mute spectator,” BJP Tamluk district general secretary Gour Hari Maity alleged.

    The TMC had pocketed all the 16 seats in East Midnapore district in the last assembly polls, the next edition of which is due in April-May.

  • BJP appoints in-charges for poll-bound Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Tuesday appointed Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, G Kishan Reddy and Pralhad Joshi its assembly election in-charges for Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively, the party said on Tuesday.

    The party added that Arjun Ram Meghwal has been appointed in-charge for the assembly polls in Puducherry. Union ministers Jitendra Singh and VK Singh will be co-incharges for the assembly polls in Assam and Tamil Nadu respectively, the statement added.

    The party said that Karnataka deputy chief minister CN Ashwathnarayan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be co-incharges for Kerala and Puducherry polls respectively. Assembly polls are slated in these states in April-May.

  • Will fight 2022 Assembly polls under CM Pramod Sawant: Goa BJP chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade

    By PTI
    PANAJI: The BJP will fight the 2022 Goa Assembly elections under Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, the party’s state unit chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade said on Tuesday. He said the party had the capability to fight polls for the 40-member House on its own, adding that questions of pre-poll alliances need not be discussed at this point of time.

    He exuded confidence that the BJP would retain power in the coastal state. He said the BJP was not in favour of fighting upcoming municipal council polls on party lines as it would create divisions among workers.

  • Trinamool Congress spreading fire of regionalism for political gains in Bengal: BJP’s Rajib Banerjee

    By PTI
    BARUIPUR: Former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee, who recently joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress, on Tuesday accused his former party of indulging in regionalism for narrow political gains which affected the interests of the people of the state.

    He alleged that TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been fighting the central government for political compulsions. “A strange fire of regionalism is being spread (by the TMC). It is more dangerous than communalism. Bengal’s boys and girls are also in other states for education and work,” Rajib Banerjee said addressing a public meeting here in South 24 Parganas district.

    The TMC often targets the BJP, claiming that it is a “party of outsiders”. Rajib claimed that on one hand, TMC leaders quote Rabindranath Tagore, and on the other, they indulge in violence and intimidation of opposition party workers.

    BJP leaders Rajib Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari were shown black flags on their way to the public meeting here. The saffron party claimed that TMC workers were behind this. While Adhikari switched sides from the TMC to the BJP in December last year, Rajib did the same last week.

    Speaking at the meeting, Adhikari maintained that people of all faiths have got ration and cooking gas given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and they will support the BJP in the assembly elections in the state due in April-May.

    “After (cyclone) Amphan, Prime Minister Modi had come to visit the affected areas immediately and had given Rs 1,000 crore for relief, but the funds were misappropriated,” he said. Adhikari charged the TMC government with changing the names of central schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission and claiming these to be their own.

    Rajib claimed that by denying the central share of funding in schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and introducing a health insurance programme of the state government Swasthya Sathi, the chief minister has emptied the state exchequer. “She deliberately did not allow farmers of the state to get the benefits of PM Kishan Samman Nidhi,” he alleged.

    Under the PM-Kisan scheme, an income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments is provided to small and marginal farmer families. The BJP leader said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured him that Bengal would get a special economic package for its development after the elections.

    Rajib added that the chief minister boasts of West Bengal’s top position in the country in the 100-days’ work programme, but it only shows the bad job situation in the state that so many people have to get work through that scheme.

  • BJP says door shut, no more mass joinings from TMC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP has decided to stop mass joinings from the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal amid growing resentment within the saffron party over rampant inductions without scrutiny, senior leaders said on Tuesday.

    “Selective” inductions would be made henceforth, that too after consultations with the local leadership, they said.

    “We don’t want the BJP to turn into the B-team of the TMC by inducting leaders who don’t have a clean image. We don’t want people, facing allegations or are involved in immoral or illegal activities, to join our party,” BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

    “So henceforth, mass joinings would not take place. From now on, the joinings would be very selective and that too after scrutiny,” he added.

    The decision has been taken amid rising infighting within the party’s West Bengal unit, often snowballing into the open, a senior state BJP leader said.

    “In many cases, the district leadership is not happy with the mass inductions. It has led to infightings and the matter has not gone down well with the central leadership,” he said.

    The BJP is working on a mechanism for leaders and cadres of other parties who want to switch over, he said.

    The mechanism will be in place to ascertain whether they have a good image in the public, the state party leader said.

    “Although the central and state leaderships would take the final call regarding the joinings, but those who wish to join also need to get a no-objection certificate from the local or district leadership of the party,” he said.

    Several former TMC leaders who are being probed for corruption have switched over to the BJP in the last few years.

    Since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has inducted 18 MLAs and an MP of the Trinamool Congress, three MLAs each from the CPI(M) and the Congress, and one MLA from the CPI.

    Except for former ministers Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, none of the MLAs have resigned from the assembly.

    Reacting to the development, the Trinamool Congress said the BJP’s decision reflects that it has lost the plot in Bengal.

    “The BJP neither has leaders nor has a face in Bengal. So, it was poaching leaders from other parties,” TMC spokesperson Sougata Roy said.

    “It has led to infighting within the party, so it has nothing to do rather than shutting its doors. It has lost the plot ahead of the elections,” he added.

    Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly are likely to be held in April-May.

  • Another TMC MLA Dipak Haldar joins BJP

    By PTI
    BARUIPUR: Diamond Harbour MLA Dipak Haldar joined the BJP on Tuesday, a day after he quit the Trinamool Congress.

    The two-time legislator, whose assembly segment is part of Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee’s constituency, joined the BJP along with several other local TMC leaders and workers at a public meeting here in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district.

    Haldar quit the ruling party accusing the TMC leadership of not allowing him to work for the people.

    He had skipped a recent public rally by Banerjee, raising speculation about his political aspirations.

  • BJP a gas balloon alive only in the media: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday hit out at the BJP calling it “a gas balloon alive only in the media” and a “washing machine” for those with ill got money.

    She said those who have quit TMC and joined BJP have done so to secure the money they have accumulated.

    Banerjee said she had already decided not to give them tickets in the coming assembly elections had they stayed on in TMC.

    “There is nothing to worry about. The government of ‘Ma-Mati-Manush’ (TMC slogan) will retain power in the state. BJP is a gas balloon, alive only in the media. They have money and are using agencies to put up (party) flags on the streets. Let them do so and stay alive in the media. TMC will stay alive in your hearts. You assure me this and I will ensure you a (good) future,” she said while speaking at the ‘State level meet of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers Federation’ held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

    “Dacoits have suddenly accumulated so much money. Now they are approaching the ‘BJP washing machine’ where they are entering black and coming out white. They are going there for money and nothing else. I would not have given them the ticket to fight the elections. Why should I give tickets to those who have done bad work! People will be happy if I give tickets to new people instead of to these people,” B Anerjee, who is also the TMC supremo said.

    Hitting out at the NDA government at the Centre, she accused it for not purchasing adequate quantity of paddy from West Bengal.

    “I have a complaint. The central government talks big. But the rice provided to the people by the FCI is rotten. The central government purchases several lakh tonnes of rice from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh whereas it buys only 69,000 tonnes of rice from West Bengal. The state government purchases 45 to 50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from the farmers, spends Rs 31 per kg to prepare it (convert it into rice) and sends it to be distributed free of cost by PDS. This is not there in any of the other states,” she said.

    Banerjee announced extension of the ration dealers’ licence from the regular period of one year to three years.

    She said that the government will provide Rs two lakh as comepnsation to the family of a ration dealer in the event of the person’s death.

    Banerjee also reduced the application fee to procure licence for new ration dealership from Rs five lakh to Rs two lakh.

  • Four persons booked for posting objectionable remarks against BJP on social media

    By PTI
    BALLIA: An FIR has been lodged against four persons for allegedly posting objectionable comments against the RSS and BJP on social media, police said on Monday.

    The FIR was lodged on RSS functionary Ajay Pandey’s complaint at the Rasda police station on Sunday.

    Pandey, police said, alleged that Sushil Shrivastava and three unnamed persons made objectionable comments against the RSS and BJP on WhatsApp.

    A probe is on in the matter.