News Analysis India

Tag: Jawhar Sircar

  • Chorus against Jawhar Sircar grows in party, Trinamool says disciplinary committee will look into it

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The chorus in TMC demanding the ouster of its Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar for criticising the alleged corruption in the party grew louder on Tuesday with several of its senior leaders saying the former bureaucrat is “free to leave” as it does not need “selfish people at the time of crisis”.

    Taking note of the growing resentment in the party against Sircar, Trinamool Congress said its disciplinary committee will look into the complaints.

    Sircar, however, declined to comment on the issue when contacted.

    Senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy leading the attack against Sircar said the former Prasar Bharati CEO should stop “trying to show himself as the epitome of morality”.

    The party should immediately initiate disciplinary action against him for violating party discipline, he demanded.

    “If he (Sircar) is so embarrassed by the developments, then why is he still holding on to his post? He should immediately resign from his post of (Rajya Sabha) MP. He is free to leave the party; it won’t have any impact.”

    “People like Jawhar Sircar had no role in TMC’s struggle or the fight in the last Bengal Assembly polls. He has no contribution towards the party,” Roy said.

    Sircar had said on Monday that a section of TMC is “completely rotten” and that the BJP cannot be fought in the 2024 general election with such elements.

    The former Prasar Bharati CEO, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bengal a year ago on a TMC ticket, had recently said his friends and family had asked him to quit politics after party leaders Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal were arrested by central investigating agencies in connection with the alleged teacher recruitment and cattle smuggling scandals respectively.

    “The party does not need selfish and opportunist people. Jawhar Sircar should immediately resign as MP. He behaves like he is the only one with public stature, and we don’t have any. I will request the party leadership to take disciplinary action against him immediately,” he said.

    TMC spokesperson Biswajit Deb said bureaucrats like Sircar run after power.

    “That is their basic nature. Mr Sircar # please show us an instance where you have done good to common people during your service tenure and thereafter@ MP. Quit asap to allow any sincere party worker to represent @RS in your place,” he tweeted.

    TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the party’s disciplinary committee would look into the matter.

    “Till then I urge everyone not to make any comments in the public domain,” he said.

    Joining the refrain against Sircar, West Bengal minister Babul Supriyo disapproved of the way Sircar commented on recovery of cash from the appartments of an associate of Chatterjee’s associate and the arrest of Mondal.

    The Enforcement Directorate and CBI had raided their premises and arrested the two and the law will take its own course.

    “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already taken strict action on the issue,” Supriyo, who is the state tourism and IT minister, told reporters at the sideliens of an event.

    “Jawhar Sircar is a senior person. He knows of the steps taken by TMC after the corruption issue (recovery of cash) recently came to light. I am of the view what he said is entirely his personal opinion. But he has to think whether he should air this in a public forum in such way,” the minister said.

    Continuing his criticism of Sircar, he said “If your (Sircar’s) comments embarras the party, if you make loose comments then what is the difference between you, an erudite person, and Dilip Ghosh of BJP ?” he said.

    The BJP national vice-president is known for making controversial comments and has been cautioned by the party from making any comment on the CBI.

    Supriyo, a former union minister in the Narendra Modi council of ministers, said, “Every big party faces crises. I am not denying that our party is faced with a crisis now. But has not TMC already taken a stand on the matter? We can see attempts to topple democratically elected opposition governments in different states. There is also trial by media which goes on.”

    He said though Banerjee has taken strict stand on the developments in TMC and its senior leaders have spoken out, a wrong message about party has been conveyed to society by Sircar’s comments.

    “There can be different types of people in every party and it is not possible for any party to be absolutely 100 per cent stain free like the washed tulsi (holy) leaf.

    “My question is why has there been no arrest of anyone from BJP. Many corrupt people are sitting under the BJP umbrella in different states but why is no action being taken against any of them? The leader of the opposition (in Bengal) Suvendu Adhikari (BJP) had been accused in the Narada scam but he has not been touched. I ask him to face the charges and come clean,” Supriyo said.

    Alleging that only Opposition parties leaders are being targetted by the CBI and ED, he said “This raises serious questions about the credibility of the central agencies. It appears that the governments in Maharashtra, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand are being targeted with the intention to harass the Opposition parties,” he added.

    Sircar had joined TMC last year after party supremo Mamata Banerjee named him as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-poll when a seat fell vacant after Dinesh Trivedi resigned.

    Trivedi had switched over to BJP ahead of the Bengal Assembly polls.

    KOLKATA: The chorus in TMC demanding the ouster of its Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar for criticising the alleged corruption in the party grew louder on Tuesday with several of its senior leaders saying the former bureaucrat is “free to leave” as it does not need “selfish people at the time of crisis”.

    Taking note of the growing resentment in the party against Sircar, Trinamool Congress said its disciplinary committee will look into the complaints.

    Sircar, however, declined to comment on the issue when contacted.

    Senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy leading the attack against Sircar said the former Prasar Bharati CEO should stop “trying to show himself as the epitome of morality”.

    The party should immediately initiate disciplinary action against him for violating party discipline, he demanded.

    “If he (Sircar) is so embarrassed by the developments, then why is he still holding on to his post? He should immediately resign from his post of (Rajya Sabha) MP. He is free to leave the party; it won’t have any impact.”

    “People like Jawhar Sircar had no role in TMC’s struggle or the fight in the last Bengal Assembly polls. He has no contribution towards the party,” Roy said.

    Sircar had said on Monday that a section of TMC is “completely rotten” and that the BJP cannot be fought in the 2024 general election with such elements.

    The former Prasar Bharati CEO, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bengal a year ago on a TMC ticket, had recently said his friends and family had asked him to quit politics after party leaders Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal were arrested by central investigating agencies in connection with the alleged teacher recruitment and cattle smuggling scandals respectively.

    “The party does not need selfish and opportunist people. Jawhar Sircar should immediately resign as MP. He behaves like he is the only one with public stature, and we don’t have any. I will request the party leadership to take disciplinary action against him immediately,” he said.

    TMC spokesperson Biswajit Deb said bureaucrats like Sircar run after power.

    “That is their basic nature. Mr Sircar # please show us an instance where you have done good to common people during your service tenure and thereafter@ MP. Quit asap to allow any sincere party worker to represent @RS in your place,” he tweeted.

    TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the party’s disciplinary committee would look into the matter.

    “Till then I urge everyone not to make any comments in the public domain,” he said.

    Joining the refrain against Sircar, West Bengal minister Babul Supriyo disapproved of the way Sircar commented on recovery of cash from the appartments of an associate of Chatterjee’s associate and the arrest of Mondal.

    The Enforcement Directorate and CBI had raided their premises and arrested the two and the law will take its own course.

    “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already taken strict action on the issue,” Supriyo, who is the state tourism and IT minister, told reporters at the sideliens of an event.

    “Jawhar Sircar is a senior person. He knows of the steps taken by TMC after the corruption issue (recovery of cash) recently came to light. I am of the view what he said is entirely his personal opinion. But he has to think whether he should air this in a public forum in such way,” the minister said.

    Continuing his criticism of Sircar, he said “If your (Sircar’s) comments embarras the party, if you make loose comments then what is the difference between you, an erudite person, and Dilip Ghosh of BJP ?” he said.

    The BJP national vice-president is known for making controversial comments and has been cautioned by the party from making any comment on the CBI.

    Supriyo, a former union minister in the Narendra Modi council of ministers, said, “Every big party faces crises. I am not denying that our party is faced with a crisis now. But has not TMC already taken a stand on the matter? We can see attempts to topple democratically elected opposition governments in different states. There is also trial by media which goes on.”

    He said though Banerjee has taken strict stand on the developments in TMC and its senior leaders have spoken out, a wrong message about party has been conveyed to society by Sircar’s comments.

    “There can be different types of people in every party and it is not possible for any party to be absolutely 100 per cent stain free like the washed tulsi (holy) leaf.

    “My question is why has there been no arrest of anyone from BJP. Many corrupt people are sitting under the BJP umbrella in different states but why is no action being taken against any of them? The leader of the opposition (in Bengal) Suvendu Adhikari (BJP) had been accused in the Narada scam but he has not been touched. I ask him to face the charges and come clean,” Supriyo said.

    Alleging that only Opposition parties leaders are being targetted by the CBI and ED, he said “This raises serious questions about the credibility of the central agencies. It appears that the governments in Maharashtra, Telangana, Delhi and Jharkhand are being targeted with the intention to harass the Opposition parties,” he added.

    Sircar had joined TMC last year after party supremo Mamata Banerjee named him as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-poll when a seat fell vacant after Dinesh Trivedi resigned.

    Trivedi had switched over to BJP ahead of the Bengal Assembly polls.

  • TMC MP seeks computerised check on ‘deviant’ national emblem atop new Parliament

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Amid a raging controversy over the national emblem cast atop the new Parliament building, TMC MP Jawhar Sircar on Saturday urged the Centre to carry out a 3D computerised check on the freshly cast emblem to check for deviations from the original Ashokan Lion symbol.

    In a letter to Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Sircar said the “error is now foisted far too high to be swept under the carpet” and sought to know the details of the process of selecting the artist, the brief given and the cost of the artwork.

    The former union culture secretary also sought to know whether the artwork was cleared by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and the Heritage Conservation Committee as mandated “by the Supreme Court in its order January 6, 2021” regarding the new Parliament building.

    Earlier this week, as controversy over the alleged distortion of the national emblem erupted, Sircar shared on Twitter two images of the original emblem and the one unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    The TMC Rajya Sabha MP claimed that the original Ashokan Lions are “graceful, regally confident” while the new ones are “snarling, unnecessarily aggressive and disproportionate.”

    My letter to Housing & Urban Aff Minister regarding distorted National Emblem on new Parliament. Why was exact 3D replication tech not done? Why was Perspective Rectification not used to correct view distortion due to height? Emblem on Bengaluru Vidhan Soudha has no such problem. pic.twitter.com/QDdoKGJNA9
    — Jawhar Sircar (@jawharsircar) July 16, 2022
    Faced with a barrage of criticism from experts and opposition leaders, Puri had said those opposing the massive national emblem cast atop the new Parliament building need to appreciate the “impact of angle, height and scale when comparing the two structures”.

    He had also claimed that the bronze cast of the national emblem atop the new parliament building is a “scaled up” version of the original Sarnath emblem.

    Not buying his logic, Sircar in his letter said there was no such controversy with the “mammoth emblem on top of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru in the last 65 years and maybe your officials could examine why and how it succeeded.”

    Sircar said the views of the government and the opposition parties on whether the new sculpture is the exact copy of the original are sharply divergent.

    There are several other deviations from the original Sarnath model and these could easily be proved by the comparison of accurate 3D images, he said in the letter.

    “It is our earnest request that you undertake such a computerised check and satisfy yourself and those who are appalled at the distortions, once and for all. In fact, 3D computerised modelling could have ensured an exact copy of the original that the artists commissioned by you for this exercise could, quite sadly, not do,” the letter read.

    An exact replica of the national emblem does not either permit human error or artistic license, Sircar said.

    Government representatives admitted that the view from the ground level tends to make the emblem look different from the original and all citizens, barring a select few, will have to view it from the ground only, he said.

    Sircar said, “Architecture is an outstanding discipline and could perhaps minimise these ‘perspective distortions’”.

    KOLKATA: Amid a raging controversy over the national emblem cast atop the new Parliament building, TMC MP Jawhar Sircar on Saturday urged the Centre to carry out a 3D computerised check on the freshly cast emblem to check for deviations from the original Ashokan Lion symbol.

    In a letter to Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Sircar said the “error is now foisted far too high to be swept under the carpet” and sought to know the details of the process of selecting the artist, the brief given and the cost of the artwork.

    The former union culture secretary also sought to know whether the artwork was cleared by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and the Heritage Conservation Committee as mandated “by the Supreme Court in its order January 6, 2021” regarding the new Parliament building.

    Earlier this week, as controversy over the alleged distortion of the national emblem erupted, Sircar shared on Twitter two images of the original emblem and the one unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    The TMC Rajya Sabha MP claimed that the original Ashokan Lions are “graceful, regally confident” while the new ones are “snarling, unnecessarily aggressive and disproportionate.”

    My letter to Housing & Urban Aff Minister regarding distorted National Emblem on new Parliament. Why was exact 3D replication tech not done? Why was Perspective Rectification not used to correct view distortion due to height? Emblem on Bengaluru Vidhan Soudha has no such problem. pic.twitter.com/QDdoKGJNA9
    — Jawhar Sircar (@jawharsircar) July 16, 2022
    Faced with a barrage of criticism from experts and opposition leaders, Puri had said those opposing the massive national emblem cast atop the new Parliament building need to appreciate the “impact of angle, height and scale when comparing the two structures”.

    He had also claimed that the bronze cast of the national emblem atop the new parliament building is a “scaled up” version of the original Sarnath emblem.

    Not buying his logic, Sircar in his letter said there was no such controversy with the “mammoth emblem on top of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru in the last 65 years and maybe your officials could examine why and how it succeeded.”

    Sircar said the views of the government and the opposition parties on whether the new sculpture is the exact copy of the original are sharply divergent.

    There are several other deviations from the original Sarnath model and these could easily be proved by the comparison of accurate 3D images, he said in the letter.

    “It is our earnest request that you undertake such a computerised check and satisfy yourself and those who are appalled at the distortions, once and for all. In fact, 3D computerised modelling could have ensured an exact copy of the original that the artists commissioned by you for this exercise could, quite sadly, not do,” the letter read.

    An exact replica of the national emblem does not either permit human error or artistic license, Sircar said.

    Government representatives admitted that the view from the ground level tends to make the emblem look different from the original and all citizens, barring a select few, will have to view it from the ground only, he said.

    Sircar said, “Architecture is an outstanding discipline and could perhaps minimise these ‘perspective distortions’”.

  • Former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar takes oath as Rajya Sabha member

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former chief executive of Prasar Bharati and TMC leader Jawhar Sircar on Wednesday took oath as a member of Rajya Sabha.

    He was elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament earlier this week.

    Sircar took oath in Bengali and was greeted by thumping of desk by fellow MPs.

    He signed the members’ register and then greeted Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu with folded hands.

    Naidu too responded to his greetings.

    Sircar also greeted other leaders in the House.

    He was elected to Rajya Sabha on a seat left vacant after TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi joined the BJP before the recent West Bengal assembly elections.

    Sircar, who was nominated to the Upper House by TMC, spent nearly 42 years in public service and is known as a vocal critic of the BJP government at the Centre.

  • Trinamool Congress nominates Jawhar Sircar for Rajya Sabha by-election

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday nominated former bureaucrat Jawhar Sircar as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-election in the state.

    The Election Commission had on July 16 said that bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal vacated by Dinesh Trivedi earlier this year will be held on August 9.

    “We are delighted to nominate Jawhar Sircar in the Upper House of Parliament,” a party statement said.

    Sircar spent nearly 42 years in public service and was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati, the ruling party in the state said.

    “His contribution to the public service shall help us serve our country even better,” it said.

    Reacting to his nomination, Sircar said, “I was a bureaucrat. I am not a political person but I would work for development of the people and raise the issues concerning the masses in parliament,” he said.

    The bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from the state will be held if the opposition BJP fields its candidate for the same, otherwise, the TMC candidate will be declared elected unopposed.