News Analysis India

Tag: CPM

  • Bengal parties welcome EC’s ban on victory processions after poll results

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Cutting across differences, political parties in West Bengal Tuesday welcomed the Election Commission’s decision to ban all victory processions after the declaration of results of the assembly polls in four states and a union territory in order to check the surge in coronavirus.

    The EC on Tuesday decided to make more stringent the provisions to be followed during the process of counting.

    “No victory procession after the counting on May 2 shall be permissible,” an order issued by the poll body to chief electoral officers of all states and UTs said.

    Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy said the decision was welcome though the party had put it to practice after winning the 2011 assembly election.

    Roy further said the EC decision, taken after the Madras High Court lambasted the poll panel for rise in corona cases in the poll-bound states and UT, would be followed in letter and spirit by his party.

    The Madras High Court had on Monday castigated the Election Commission over the COVID-19 second wave in the country holding it ‘singularly’ responsible for the spread, called it the “the most irresponsible institution” and had even said its officials may be booked under murder charges.

    BJP state vice-president Joy Prakash Majumder said due to the surge in Covid-19 cases the EC took the right decision of not allowing victory rallies.

    “We welcome the EC directive. BJP will ensure no victory procession will be taken out during and after counting is over,” he added.

    CPI-M leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said the EC decision is welcome.

    “However processions should have been banned by the EC earlier during the last phases of the assembly poll when the COVID-19 surge started,” he said.

    WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury also praised the EC decision in view of the situation.

    “We had earlier urged the EC to stop the gathering of people during campaign meetings when the COVID-19 surge became prominent. We are happy the EC prohibited the victory processions,” he said.

    While the eighth and last phase of election will be held in West Bengal on April 29, the voting exercise is over in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and in the union territory of Puducherry.

  • CPM doubts EC’s neutrality; says TMC, BJP may join hands in case of hung assembly

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The CPI(M)’s West Bengal secretary Surya Kanta Mishra on Thursday questioned the Election Commission’s impartiality and claimed that the Trinamool Congress and the BJP may join hands if both the parties fall short of requisite numbers to form the government.

    Mishra alleged at a press conference that despite the Sanjukta Morcha of the Left parties, Congress and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) lodging several complaints of electoral malpractices with the EC, none of them was addressed as the poll panel is only interested in “pleasing the TMC and the BJP”.

    When asked whether there are chances of the Sanjukta Morcha joining hands with the TMC in case of a hung assembly, the senior CPI(M) leader termed it a “hypothetical question”.

    “The Sanjukta Morcha is fighting to form the government in the state.

    Rather, you might find the TMC and BJP joining hands to form the government in case of a hung assembly,” Mishra said.

    In the assembly election in the state, the saffron party is trying to dethrone the TMC while the Mamata Banerjee-led party is seeking to return to power for the third time in a row.

    Three of the eight phases of polling have been completed.

    “That is why we appeal to people to ensure that that the two parties cannot form the government even after joining hands,” Mishra said.

    He also alleged that there are serious questions over the EC’s neutrality this time.

    “We have lodged several complaints, but none of those is being addressed. Several incidents have taken place, but no action has been taken. It seems they (EC) are only working towards pleasing the TMC and the BJP,” he told the Meet the Press programme organised by the Press Club Kolkata.

    TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has also been accusing the poll panel of working in favour of the BJP.

  • Jadavpur: CPI(M)’s battle to save its last bastion in southern suburbs of Kolkata

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: At one time Jadavpur used to be called the ‘Leningrad of Calcutta’.

    Today it is the setting for an epic battle between CPI(M), which is trying to resuscitate its political fortunes in West Bengal, and Trinamool Congress that is trying desperately to get enough seats to ward off its main rival BJP, whose saffron surge has unnerved the ruling party, ten years since it uprooted the Left rule in the state.

    The upcoming election to the Jadavpur assembly seat in the southern suburbs of Kolkata on April 10 is perhaps symbolic of the larger battle for Bengal.

    The CPI(M) is fighting to protect its last bastion in the eastern metropolis after losing all other assembly constituencies falling under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to TMC.

    Jadavpur is the only seat that it managed to regain in the city in 2016.

    However, in the 2019 election to the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, Left Front candidate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya had trailed by over 12,000 votes to TMC’s Mimi Chakraborty in the namesake assembly seat.

    For the TMC, the fight is to regain the assembly seat it had lost to the CPI(M) in 2016 after snatching it from the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in 2011 when the party had stormed to power, ending the 34-year Left rule.

    Winning the seat will also be symbolic for the BJP as Jadavpur University, known as the stronghold of the Left and ultra-Left students unions and where Union minister and nominee in neighbouring Tollygunge seat Babul Supriyo was heckled in 2019, is the centrepiece of the constituency.

    It is one of the few seats in and around Kolkata which will witness a three-cornered contest.

    However, on the ground, problems faced by the locals may play a more important role than political or ideological symbolism.

    Sitting MLA Sujan Chakraborty, who had in 2016 clinched the seat from TMC’s Manish Gupta, who in turn had defeated Bhattacharya in 2011, is going to the polls with issues like unemployment, the law and order situation and fuel price rise.

    “People of Jadavpur, like across West Bengal, are politically aware. They understand the dangers they are facing, the ways the BJP and the TMC are betraying them. They want an end to all their problems.”

    “Voters understand that the politics of West Bengal is becoming polluted. They do not like it. They want a good future. Those who are giving slogans like ‘Khela Hobe’ (game will happen) know very well that they have already been defeated,” Chakraborty, also a CPI(M) central committee member, said.

    He said that in a democracy, people have the right to exercise their franchise to elect anybody.

    The same way people of Jadavpur had defeated Bhattacharya in 2011 but elected the CPI(M) again in 2016.

    Jadavpur, which has over 2.69 lakh voters, is dominated by descendants of people who had migrated from erstwhile East Bengal and then East Pakistan in waves following Partition in 1947.

    A feeling of deprivation among the refugee settlers saw Jadavpur turning decisively towards the Left when the first Jukta Front or United Front rode to power in 1967.

    The seat has since then remained a Left bastion, electing CPI(M) candidates, including Bhattacharya, who won five times since 1987.

    The BJP on the other hand is trying to muscle in by reviving the refugee feeling, harping on its poll plank of implementation of CAA.

    It is to be seen how much the promise of giving citizenship cuts ice with the erstwhile refugees.

    Riding on the ‘poriborton’ (change) wave of 2011, former state chief secretary Manish Gupta had defeated the then chief minister by over 16,000 votes.

    He, however, lost to Chakraborty by nearly 15,000 votes in the 2016 election, when a Left resurgence was visible in the constituency.

    The TMC has this time fielded four-time KMC ward councillor and a chartered accountant by profession, 56-year- old Debabrata Majumdar, aka Moloy, as its candidate for the seat.

    “As councillor for over 20 years, I have worked for the development and beautification of Jadavpur. I have a heart-to-heart connection with the people of the constituency, and they love me. I am seeking votes based on my work.”

    “Sujan-babu had wrested the seat from us in 2016. (But) As a result of his poor performance, voters had given us a lead in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The people of Jadavpur are with us,” Majumdar said.

    Like in other constituencies, in Jadavpur too, the TMC is flaunting the “achievements” of the state government’s pet projects such as Kanyashree, Khadya Sathi and Swasthya Sathi, among others.

    However, the Left has been targetting him over his past “connection” to the RSS.

    On the other hand, BJP candidate Rinku Naskar, a CPI (M) turncoat, feels that she is just a foot soldier as the people of West Bengal have already decided to bring her new party to power in the state.

    “People of Jadavpur are politically conscious. They will cast their votes keeping national politics in mind. I have been a councillor of ward number 102 for ten years. People of Jadavpur know my work.

    No allegation has ever been levelled against me.

    “Unemployment is the biggest issue of West Bengal now. There has been no industrialisation; people have to pay hefty sums to get government jobs. As the BJP is highlighting these issues, I am confident that the youth will back me,” Naskar, who had lost on a CPI(M) ticket from Mathurapur Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 polls, claimed.

    Naskar said that she joined the BJP because the party is concerned about the people’s betterment, and the CPI(M) never thought of utilising her potential as her new party did.

    While door-to-door visits have been the preferred mode of campaigning for the candidates, the CPI(M) is also canvassing through street plays and flash mobs.

    Voters of the constituency, however, reflected different moods.

    “The CPI(M) and Sujan-babu had played key roles during the COVID-19 pandemic by feeding poor people through the Shramajibi Canteen and helped in treating coronavirus patients in various hospitals.

    Voters won’t forget that while exercising their franchise,” Raju Boral, a tea vendor near 8B bus terminus, said.

    Others like Tamal Dasgupta of Bikramgarh feel that the impact of the ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorsteps) programme and various state welfare schemes will translate into votes favouring the TMC.

    The constituency has a total of 2,99,710 electors, of whom 1,44,921 are males, and 1,54,785 females.

    The votes of Jadavpur will be counted along with 293 other assembly constituencies of the state on May 2.

  • Parties like Indian Secular Front more dangerous than cobra: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI
    CHUNCHURA/BHANGAR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday attacked the Indian Secular Front (ISF), floated by an influential Muslim cleric and part of the alliance of the CPI(M) and the Congress, alleging that parties like it are “more dangerous than a cobra”.

    Referring to the BJP’s allegation that she indulged in the politics of minority appeasement, Banerjee claimed that Hindus and Muslims are living well in the state since she is there.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo also asserted that she would win the ongoing state polls despite suffering an injury and eventually aim for power in Delhi.

    Launching a scathing attack on ISF leader Abbas Siddiqui without naming him, she said, “A traitor has emerged from Furfura Sharif who has taken money from the BJP. You must remember that you can’t win in Bengal through treachery.”

    The CPI(M)-headed Left Front and the Congress have joined hands with the newly-formed ISF floated by Siddiqui, an influential Muslim cleric of Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

    Speaking at a rally at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district which has a considerable minority population, Banerjee asked people not to vote for the ISF candidate there, claiming that every vote for him will mean gain for the BJP.

    “Some say I appease the Muslims. I tell them that both Hindus and Muslims are living well since I am there. It would not have been the case had I not been there,” she said.

    Claiming that the CPI(M) and the Congress are friends of the BJP, the TMC supremo said that another party has surfaced to eat into the minority vote share of her party.

    “Has he suddenly become the leader of minorities with the BJP’s money? He is making communal statements,” she said referring to Abbas.

    It is because of such parties that the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan lost in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party (SP) lost elections in Uttar Pradesh, Banerjee claimed.

    “They are more dangerous than a cobra,” she said.

    Training her guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah who are crisscrossing the state canvassing for the party, Banerjee said that West Bengal will be ruled by its own people and not by anyone from Gujarat.

    “I will win Bengal with one leg and Delhi thereafter with two legs,” Banerjee who is seeking a third term in office, said describing herself as a Royal Bengal Tiger.

    She said that she suffered injuries, which were allegedly inflicted on her by BJP supporters in Nandigram on March 10, to prevent her from campaigning for the West Bengal assembly polls.

    However, after going through the report of poll observers, the EC had concluded that the Nandigram incident was an accident and not a planned attack.

    Criticising the Central government over Saturday’s Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh in which 22 security personnel were killed, the Trinamool Congress boss accused the BJP of not governing the country properly and concentrating on West Bengal elections.

    Lambasting the BJP for bringing leaders to Bengal from all over the country, who “are camping in the state to win the elections”, Banerjee said at a public meeting in Chunchura that the saffron party is fielding its sitting MPs for the assembly polls since it has a dearth of suitable candidates.

    The BJP has nominated its Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta for the assembly polls.

    Banerjee, who has been accused by the prime minister of showering abuses on him on different occasions in the run up to the elections, said that she does not care about Modi calling her “Didi..o…didi” in a tone which some TMC women leaders have termed as sarcastic.

    “He does this every day, I don’t care,” Banerjee said.

    Wondering why the assembly election is being held in the state in eight phases, she said, “It could have been done in 3 or 4 phases.

    Was it not prudent to hold the elections in fewer phases and wrap it up early in view of the COVID-19 situation?” Banerjee also claimed that the coronavirus situation is not grim in the state till now.

    The country recorded an all-time high of 1,03,558 coronavirus infections in a day pushing the nationwide COVID- 19 tally to 1,25,89,067, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

    In West Bengal, 1,957 more people had tested positive for the infection on Sunday.

    Claiming that fingers are raised only against TMC leaders in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam and Narada tapes scandal, Banerjee said that those involved in it but are now in the BJP are not being touched.

    Banerjee asserted that she will not leave an inch of land to the BJP as long as she lives.

    She claimed that BJP is involved in spreading false propaganda that it will win the West Bengal elections.

    “The BJP is a party of thieves,” she said.

  • Stand vindicated on Nandigram’s truth: CPM after Mamata-Suvendu war of words on 2007 violence

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused her then confidant and present rival Suvendu Adhikari of being involved in the 2007 violence in Nandigram, the CPI(M) on Thursday said the remarks vindicated the party’s stand and “exposed the truth about the incident” in which 14 people lost their lives.

    At a public meeting on Sunday, Banerjee accused both Suvendu Adhikari and his father Sisir Adhikari of allowing the police to enter Nandigram in 2007.

    She also accused the father-son duo of allowing “police wearing slippers” to enter the village in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district.

    Fourteen villagers protesting against land acquisition in Nandigram were killed, many by police firing, on March 14, 2007.

    The Left Front, led by the CPI(M), was in power in West Bengal then.

    Reacting to Banerjee’s remarks, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the comments finally “vindicated” his party’s stand on the incident that occurred more than a decade ago.

    “From the right-wing RSS, the fundamentalist forces to the ultra-Left and the Maoists — all ganged up, brought in illegal arms to create this unrest in Nandigram in 2007. Now, everything is exposed. Both Mamata and the Adhikaris have confirmed this.

    “There are reports that Suvendu Adhikari has claimed Mamata knew the value of every bullet that was fired and the names of those on whom they were fired on. This is the fact, we had said it then and it was correct. The truth has been exposed but it took them more than 10 years to admit this,” Yechury told PTI.

    He also said Thursday’s violence in Nandigram will have an effect on polling.

    “Violence is still underway in the town and people are not being allowed to vote. The Election Commission is silent on the matter,” the Left leader said.

    Speaking of Banerjee’s letter to opposition parties, calling for a unified fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said the CPI(M) was pushing for such a stand from all the secular, non-BJP parties in the run-up to the 2019 general election.

    He also said his party had not received any such letter from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo.

    The CPI(M) was quick to latch on to Banerjee’s comments to train its guns on the TMC.

    On its verified Facebook page, the party wrote that Banerjee’s speech had proved that “her TMC” plotted a deep-rooted conspiracy and the then opposition party in West Bengal was behind the killings of the 14 villagers in Nandigram in 2007.

    Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from Nandigram on Thursday even as Banerjee, the TMC candidate from the seat, and Adhikari, the BJP nominee, fanned out to various polling booths to take stock of the situation after reports of stray violence and booth “jamming” (a bid by the workers of a political party to crowd out voters from a polling booth by forming long queues) emerged.

    Such incidents were reported despite prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) being clamped in the entire Nandigram constituency to prevent possible violence.

    In the Boyal area of Nandigram, villagers alleged that BJP supporters stopped them from going to the polling booths.

  • Bengal elections: Congress-Left-ISF alliance fighting for political relevance, hopes to be kingmaker

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: With the poll narrative in West Bengal sharply polarised between the ruling TMC and opposition BJP, the Congress-Left-ISF alliance is fighting to prove its relevance with hopes of being a kingmaker in case of a fractured mandate.

    The Congress and CPI-M-led Left Front, after ruling for most of the first six decades after independence, have been pushed to the margins of Bengal’s politics in recent years.

    The newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF) of cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui is the third partner in the “unlikely” coalition of former rivals.

    The alliance christened as “Samyukta Morcha” hopes to grow at the expense of both the ruling TMC and opposition BJP by eating into their vote share.

    The saffron party had pocketed the opposition votes for the past few years in the absence of a strong opposition to TMC.

    The ‘Samyukta Morcha’ hopes Peerzada’s presence will help bolster its share of the minority votes in Bengal.

    Except in north Bengal where the Congress has a large chunk of the minority votes, TMC has till now been able to garner the largest share of the community’s support.

    However, the alliance with ISF has its own set of pitfalls as the Congress and the Left are being accused of aligning with religious forces who in public perception are akin to All India Muslim League and AIUDF, which may help consolidation of Hindu votes, thus benefitting the BJP.

    Although both TMC and the BJP have blamed the alliance partners of being a “stooge” of the other, the saffron camp is happy with ISF’s entry into the poll fray.

    It hopes that ISF will break TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s grip on the minority vote.

    CPI(M) Politburo member Mohammed Salim said, “We hope the alliance will be a game changer in Bengal elections. The BJP and TMC wanted to make the poll a bipolar fight. But we have made it a three-cornered contest.”

    Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya added the alliance will come up with “astonishing results” and can no longer be ignored.

    Siddiqui told PTI “We will be the kingmaker after the poll.

    No one can form the government without our support”.

    Despite some infighting, in the “rainbow alliance”, the Left Front is contesting in 177 seats, the Congress 91 seats and ISF in 26.

    According to sources in both Congress and the Left, the alliance was the need of the hour.

    The two parties, who had fought the 2016 assembly election as an alliance and bagged 36 per cent vote share, witnessed a sharp decline in its vote percentage within the next three years, with `friendly’ fights in a few constituencies .

    The two had managed to bag seven and five per cent votes respectively in the 2019 parliamentary election, which they fought separately.

    The Left Front had failed to open its account, while the Congress had managed to win just two out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.

    BJP on the other hand bagged 18 seats, just four less than the TMC’s 22.

    “This alliance was the need of the hour as we are fighting for our political survival. TMC has taken over the Muslim votes and the BJP of the Hindus, while we are nowhere on the scene. The TMC through its poaching of the Left and Congress leaders have paved the way for BJP in the state,”Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Abdul Mannan said.

    The steady decline of the Left and Congress was directly proportional to the rise of BJP.

    Bengal’s political narrative has witnessed a sea change in the last few years with the advent of identity politics, CPI(M) central committee leader said while speaking on the necessity of roping in ISF, into the alliance.

    “The 77 seats that we had won last time were mostly in minority-dominated areas of Murshidabad, Malda and North and South Dinajpur. With identity politics in play, we needed ISF to retain those seats, if not win more,” he said.

    According to the Left and Congress leaders, the alliance wants to project itself as a third alternative to those Muslims and Hindus who do not want to align with either the TMC or BJP.

    Congress sources said the alliance may emerge as kingmaker in case of a fractured mandate and did not rule out a Maharashtra model.

    In Maharashtra the Congress and NCP aligned with Shiv Sena to keep BJP at bay.

    However, ISF’s Siddiqui’s past vitriolic speeches against various communities and political parties in the past may well haunt the alliance with many voters rejecting such politics.

    BJP has already branded ISF as the “successor of the Muslim League, back to divide Bengal”.

    To shed the communal tag, the ISF has fielded candidates from different religious communities in the 26 seats, it is contesting.

    “The Left has damaged its secular credentials. It will help the BJP’s narrative of Muslim appeasement by other parties and further consolidate Hindus. The state has not seen a Muslim party in the recent past,” TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee said.

    Another problem for the alliance, is that the both the Left and the Congress have been weakened by desertions to the TMC and the BJP camps.

    Political analyst Biswanth Chakraborty, however, feels that the alliance will affect both TMC and the BJP in at least 30 seats.

    “In minority-dominated districts the alliance candidates, especially ISF nominees, will eat into TMC’s Muslim votes. Whereas in some of the north and south Bengal districts it will affect BJP in some seats,” he said.

    Political observer Suman Bhattacharya feels that the alliance will help TMC most by eating into opposition votes in several closely fought seats.

  • West Bengal polls: CPM leader Sushanta Ghosh attacked at Salboni constituency

    By ANI
    PASCHIM MEDINIPUR (West Bengal): During the first phase of West Bengal assembly elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate for the Salboni constituency, Sushanta Ghosh, was attacked by unknown miscreants.

    Ghosh was attacked at Salboni by unidentified men before being escorted away by security.

    Further investigation into the matter is underway.

    The first phase of the assembly polls is witnessing a triangular contest in Salboni between Ghosh, Trinamool Congress’ Srikanto Mahato and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Rajib Kundu.

    CLICK HERE FOR ASSAM, WEST BENGAL POLL UPDATES 

    Earlier, the Purba Medinipur district woke up to a chaotic start to the polls as bombing and firing took place in the Bhagabanpur constituency, in which two security personnel were injured. Meanwhile, BJP leader Samit Das has accused the ruling TMC of creating disturbances during the polls.

    Voting for the first of the eight-phase assembly polls in West Bengal began at 7 am on Saturday.

    READ HERE |  Two security personnel injured in bombing, firing in Purba Medinipur

    All constituencies in Purulia, Jhargram and segments of Bankura, Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur are going to decide the electoral fate of 191 candidates, including 21 women. The polling will end at 6.30 pm. 

  • The loss of CPM brought BJP to the fore in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

    By ANI
    BISHANPUR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday remarked that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing the same things which were done by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) years ago.

    Speaking at a public rally in Bishnupur, Mamata said: ” CPI(M) is responsible for this (BJP’s entry in Bengal). The loss of CPI (M) has brought BJP to the fore. BJP is doing the same things the CPI (M) used to do.”

    Attacking the BJP on lifting Provident Fund (PF) and gratuity payments, Mamata said that it had promised to make 10,000 teachers permanent before the elections, yet kicked them out after polls.

    She also referred to BJP as a ‘party of liars, thieves and dacoits’.

    “We do not spew lies like Prime Minister Modi. We introduced Rupashree, to provide Rs 25,000 to a poor girl’s family, We have provided free cycles. We have provided Rs 10,000 to class XII students. We will provide Rs 10,000 more if our government remains,” she said.

    “From May, guardians and women of every family would receive Rs 500, and Rs 1,000 for scheduled castes and tribes. Widows will receive Rs 1,000. Class XII students will receive Rs 10,000 for smartphones. and also credit cards with a limit of upto Rs 10 lakh will be provided for them,” she said further on.

    Speaking on the alleged attack on her earlier this month, the Chief Minister said: “A lot of people asked me how are you doing this on one leg, this was due to my willpower. Doctors advised me to remain in the hospital for 15 days. I said that I had a belief in Maa, and I will accomplish this on one leg.”

    Mamata also alleged that she was attacked with an iron rod, causing her to get 46 stitches on her head.

    The BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are at loggerheads in poll-bound West Bengal. with both sides holding public meetings and roadshows across the state in recent months.

    Elections to the 294-member West Bengal 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. 

  • 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.

  • Bengal polls: Trinamool, BJP opt for star appeal in youth connect, Left welcomes activists

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Bengal’s two main political forces, Trinamool Congress and BJP, are banking on the star appeal of young Bengali actors to win a few constituencies.

    Most of their young candidates are from the world of films and TV serials.

    The Left in contrast has chosen a different path.

    After being criticised for years for being unable to unearth new faces, CPI(M) has fielded a number of youngsters, mostly present or former leaders of the party’s student wing.

    Among the seven young faces of CPI(M), Aishe Ghosh and Dipsita Dhar are research scholars of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and known as firebrand student leaders.

    The rest are prominent faces visible in recent movements against the Centre and state government.

    Continuing the trend in Bengal politics introduced by TMC in 2011, the ruling party has fielded eight actors. Following in its footsteps, BJP have pitted five from the Bengali movie and TV serial circuit.

    For the Nandigram seat, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is taking on BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, CPI(M) has fielded the 36-year-old Minakshi Mukherjee, state president of Democratic Youth Federation of India.

    ALSO READ | From JNU to Jamuria: Aishe Ghosh to test her brand of politics in Bengal polls

    “The youth, working class and women are hitting the streets against state-sponsored corruption,” said Minakshi.

    President of the JNU students’ union, who was injured in an attack on the campus, Aishe is contesting from Jamuria in West Burdwan.

    Dishita, a PhD scholar at JNU, is a candidate from Bally in Howrah. Pritha Tah, 28-year-old daughter of CPI(M) leader Pradip Tah who was murdered in 2012, is contesting from Bardhaman South.

    “It’s not about personal grief or hatred against the killers of my father. In communism, one doesn’t inherit any personal agenda. One inherits the will to fight against class oppression,’’ said Pritha.

    The CPI(M) has also fielded youth wing leaders Sayandeep Mitra and Monalisa Sinha in the Kamarhati and Sonarpur North constituencies, respectively.

    In contrast, TMC candidates chosen for their glamour quotient like Sayantika Banerjee, Sayani Ghosh, Kaushani Mukherjee and Soham Chakrabarty are rank newcomers in politics.

    In the elections held in Bengal from 2011, TMC often opted for actors. 

    Taking a leaf out of Mamata’s book, BJP too has given tickets to actors Anjana Basu, Payel Chakrabarty, Yash Dasgupta, Hiranmoy Chakrabarty and Anjana Basu.

    Taking on Basu in Sonarpur Dakshin is TMC’s Lovely Maitra, a face from TV serials. Political observers find inclusion of youngsters in CPI(M)’s list to be a new trend.

    “Young candidates have broader perspective. This may not secure satisfactory electoral dividend immediately, but in future it will deliver a message to the youth,’’ said Bishnupriya Dutta Gupta, a professor of political science.