News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Will attend all-party meet on Afghanistan crisis, says Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that representatives of the ruling TMC in the state would be attending the all-party meeting called by the Centre to discuss the Afghanistan crisis.

    The Centre has called for an all-party meeting on August 26 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover.

    “We will definitely be attending Thursday’s all-party meeting on Afghanistan, called by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),” the TMC supremo told reporters at the state secretariat.

    The Taliban swept across Afghanistan this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities, including Kabul, following the withdrawal of the US forces from the country.

    The central government’s briefing is expected to focus on India’s evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as the government’s assessment of the developing situation in Afghanistan.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Ex-Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra’s widow likely to return to Trinamool

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Former West Bengal MLA Sikha Mitra, wife of late state Congress president Somen Mitra, on Saturday heaped praises on Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and gave broad hints of returning to the TMC.

    Mitra, who had resigned as Trinamool Congress MLA from Chowringhee seat in 2014 citing growing differences with the party, told reporters that she had never officially left the TMC.

    “I have been in touch with the TMC recently. I have spoken to Mamata Banerjee. I don’t think there is much difference between the TMC and the Congress ideologically. In the present situation, I can carry on my fight more meaningfully from the TMC,” she said.

    Banerjee has a broad mindset, Mitra said adding that her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is also doing well as the national general secretary of the TMC.

    Sources in the TMC said she will join the party soon.

    Mitra had severed links with the TMC after her husband Somen Mitra left the party and returned to the Congress.

    Differences surfaced between Mitra and her son Rohan with Congress state leadership helmed by Adhir Chowdhury after the death of Somen Mitra last year and they were also approached by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

    The BJP even announced her name as a candidate for the assembly election earlier this year.

    However, Mitra said her name was declared without her consent and she will not enter the poll fray.

  • Barla voiced North Bengal people’s concerns, should not be tagged separatist: Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Squarely blaming the Mamata Banerjee government for “lack of development” in north Bengal, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh on Saturday claimed that local MP John Barla, who drew flak for seeking a separate union territory for the region, was only voicing the grievances of people.

    Maintaining that the BJP does not support division of Bengal, Ghosh, however, said that Barla, as people’s representative in Alipurduar, was simply putting forth their demand for the state’s bifurcation.

    “He cannot be labelled as a separatist for voicing the concerns of people,” the state BJP chief said during his visit to Jalpaiguri.

    Barla, who was recently appointed as a union minister by the Narendra Modi government, had in June courted controversy as he sought a separate union territory comprising all north Bengal districts.

    Ghosh had then asserted that the views of Barla were his own and the BJP was not in favour of it.

    Defending the Alipurduar MP during the day, he said, “If the demand for a separate north Bengal or Junglemahal gathers steam, it is Mamata Banerjee who must bear the responsibility.”

    Alleging that the TMC government did not do anything to bring about development in north Bengal or Junglemahal, he said, “Why do people from these areas have to move outside for proper education, job? Why is there no decent medical facility or educational institution?”

    Days after Barla had raised the demand for a separate territory for north Bengal, another BJP MP, Saumitra Khan, had sought statehood for Junglemahal — comprising hilly forested areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts.

    Ghosh stated that “people of the area have voted for Barla. He has to listen what they say, be mindful of their demand”.

    The senior BJP leader further said that the Mamata Banerjee government had kept the “longstanding demand for ‘Gorkhaland’ in Darjeeling alive and the GTA agreement that favoured the separatists had to be signed accordingly”.

    “When the GTA was signed why didn’t you (critics of north Bengal UT demand) protest? Why no one batted an eyelid then? Only when the BJP is around, you make us, the party’s leaders, a punching bag. You call our MP a separatist,” he added.

    A tripartite agreement was signed in 2011 by the Centre, the West Bengal government and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, paving the way for setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an elected body for the Darjeeling hills.

    Strongly reacting to Ghosh’s statements, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh sought to know why the demand for a separate union territory was not raised during the assembly polls, “if that is what the people of north Bengal apparently wants”.

    “Why Dilipbabu or the other leaders of the party, including heavyweights from Delhi, did not speak on the same lines during their campaign for state assembly polls? Why this hypocrisy? “Had the BJP aired such views back then, voters of West Bengal would have been aware about its stance,” the TMC spokesman added.

  • Opposition meet: Mamata moots panel of leaders to decide on programmes to fight BJP

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday proposed to form a core group of opposition leaders to decide on joint movements against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    Virtually attending a meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, the Trinamool Congress supremo asked the opposition leaders to keep aside differences and put up a united fight against the saffron party.

    “Let us forget who is the leader, let us keep our personal interests aside. Every opposition party should be brought in. People are the leader. Let us set up a core group and work together to decide on the next line of action and programmes,” a senior TMC leader quoted her as saying at the meeting.

    Banerjee also raised the issue of how “impartial institutions like the NHRC has been misused by the central government to malign opposition ruled state governments”.

    She also raised the farmers’ issue and torture allegedly unleashed by the Centre against states ruled by opposition parties, another TMC leader said.

    It is time to rise above political compulsions to realise the “ultimate goal” of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress president Sonia Gandhi told top Opposition leaders on Friday as she pitched for a broad unity of the anti-BJP forces.

    The Congress will not be found wanting while working towards this goal, she said at a virtual meeting of the leaders of 19 Opposition parties, adding that the 75th year of independence is an apt occasion “to reaffirm our individual and collective resolve”.

    “Of course, the ultimate goal is the 2024 Lok Sabha election for which we have to begin to plan systematically with the single-minded objective of giving a government to our country that believes in the values of the freedom movement and in the principles and provisions of our Constitution,” Gandhi said.

    “This is a challenge, but together we can and must rise to it because there is simply no alternative to working cohesively.

    We all have our compulsions, but clearly, the time has come when the interests of our nation demand that we rise above those,” she added.

    Noting that the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence is indeed the most appropriate occasion “to reaffirm our individual and collective resolve”, Gandhi assured the Opposition leaders, saying “the Indian National Congress will not be found wanting”.

    The virtual meeting — one of the biggest gatherings of Opposition leaders in recent times — was attended by NCP’s Sharad Pawar, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and DMK’s M K Stalin among others.

    Banerjee also urged the parties to keep their differences aside and work towards defeating the BJP in 2024.

    She proposed setting up of a core group to chalk out joint Opposition programmes.

    The meeting convened by Gandhi came after the washout of the recent Monsoon Session of Parliament due to a united Opposition’s demand for a discussion on the Pegasus snooping controversy, which the government declined.

    The Congress chief said the Monsoon Session of Parliament was a washout entirely due to the government’s “obstinate and arrogant unwillingness to discuss and debate urgent issues of public importance” such as the Pegasus row, a repeal of three “anti-farmer” laws, price rise, the assault on federalism and the institutions of democracy that affect each and every citizen of the country.

    In spite of this, the session was marked by the determined unity that all the Opposition parties demonstrated for over 20 days in both the houses, she said.

    “We functioned in a coordinated manner with daily discussions among our floor leaders.”

    “I am confident that this unity will be sustained in the future sessions of Parliament as well, but the larger political battle has to be fought outside it,” Gandhi said.

    She claimed that it was entirely due to the Opposition parties that the Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill was passed to restore the long-standing rights of the states to identify and notify the other backward classes (OBCs).

    The Congress chief blamed the government, saying the bill was required to rectify the mistake it committed three years ago and a subsequent ruling of the Supreme Court.

    She also said after their intervention, crucial changes were made in the policy of procurement of Covid vaccines, but as always, someone else has taken the credit.

    Gandhi said Pawar has raised with the government the issue of creation of the Ministry of Cooperation, which is a blatant interference in the constitutional rights and responsibilities of the states.

    The meeting was part of the Congress leadership’s efforts to unite various Opposition parties on key issues before the country, including the upcoming Assembly elections in some states and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D Raja and Sharad Yadav of the Loktantrik Janata Dal were also present at the meeting.

    In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the Opposition parties said they will jointly organise protests all over the country from September 20-30.

    “The forms of these public protest actions will be decided by the respective state units of our parties, depending on the concrete conditions of the Covid regulations and protocols existing in the states. These forms, amongst others, may include dharnas, protest demonstrations, hartals etc.”

    “We, the leaders of 19 Opposition parties, call upon the people of India to rise to the occasion to defend our secular, democratic, republican order with all our might. Save India today, so that we can change it for a better tomorrow,” they added.

    The leaders who took part in the meeting were from TMC, NCP, DMK, Shiv Sena, JMM, CPI, CPI(M), NC, RJD, AIUDF, VCK, Loktantrik Janata Dal, JD(S), RLD, RSP, Kerala Congress (Mani), PDP and IUML.

    Leaders of AAP, BSP and SP were not present at the meeting.

  • Pawar, some CMs likely at Sonia Gandhi’s meeting for Opposition strategy against Modi government

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Top Opposition leaders including some chief ministers are expected to attend a virtual meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday amid efforts to evolve a common strategy against the NDA government, sources said.

    Gandhi’s office is learnt to have sent invites to NCP president Sharad Pawar and the chief ministers of West Bengal (Mamata Banerjee), Maharashtra (Uddhav Thackeray) and Tamil Nadu (MK Stalin) who have accepted the invitations.

    The meeting on August 20, which also happens to be the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, is a part of the Congress party’s efforts to unite various Opposition parties on key issues confronting the country and defeat the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections.

    Several Opposition parties displayed a show of unity during the just-concluded Monsoon session of Parliament when they took on the government to seek a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row, besides the farm laws and other issues.

    The meeting also comes in the backdrop of the government demanding strict action against those indulging in unruly behaviour in Rajya Sabha during the passage of the Insurance Amendment Bill.

    The meeting also comes close on the heels of a similar dinner meet hosted by Congress leader Kapil Sibal, where top opposition leaders favoured unity among like-minded parties to defeat the BJP.

  • Calcutta HC judge Kaushik Chanda, caught in Mamata’s crosshairs, now elevated by Collegium

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Kaushik Chanda, an Additional Judge of the Calcutta High Court whom the Supreme Court Collegium has appointed as a Permanent Judge, was in West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s line of fire over his alleged proximity to the BJP and the TMC leader had even opposed his confirmation.

    Justice Chanda had on July 7 recused himself from hearing a petition by the Trinamool Congress chief challenging the election of Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram after she expressed apprehension of bias against her by the judge.

    The Collegium headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana met on August 17 and approved the proposal.

    The statement was uploaded on the apex court’s website on Thursday.

    Besides Ramana, Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar are part of the three-member Collegium which takes decisions with regard to the appointment of high court judges.

    Seeking reassignment of her election petition to another bench, Banerjee’s counsel had also written to the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, saying the chief minister “had objected to the confirmation of the Hon’ble Judge as a Permanent Judge of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta”, and as such, apprehends that there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the judge concerned.

    While recusing himself from the case, Justice Chanda had imposed a cost of Rs five lakh on Banerjee for the manner in which she had sought his recusal.

    He had noted in the order that Banerjee sought his recusal “since she apprehends that her objection against my confirmation as a Permanent Judge of this court is known to me”, and maintained that in his view, such a ground cannot justify recusal.

    The petitioner cannot seek recusal based upon her own consent or objection with regard to the appointment of a judge, the bench said, adding that a judge cannot be said to be biased because of a litigant’s own perception and action.

    “If such an argument is accepted, the election petition cannot be tried before this court since the petitioner, in her capacity as the Chief Minister of the State, has either objected or gave consent to the appointments of most of the Hon’ble Judges of this Court,” Justice Chanda had said.

    In his order, Justice Chanda had noted that a letter by the petitioner’s counsel to the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on June 16 seeking that the election petition be reassigned to another judge “contained highly confidential information concerning the appointment of a Judge of the High Court, and the petitioner, being the Chief Minister of the State, who took the oath of secrecy, was constitutionally obliged to maintain the secrecy of such information.”

    Releasing the election petition of Banerjee on an application by her for recusal expressing apprehension of bias, Justice Chanda said that he was doing so in order to thwart at the outset attempts by trouble-mongers to keep the controversy alive.

    He had noted that like any other citizen of the country a judge also exercises his voting rights in favour of a political party, but he lays aside his individual predilection while deciding a case.

    He had said that it is preposterous to suggest that a judge having a past association with a political party as a lawyer should not receive a case involving the said political party or any of its members.

    “The past association of a judge with a political party by itself cannot form apprehension of bias,” the bench said.

    “This proposition, if allowed to be accepted, would be destructive to the long-lived and deep-rooted notion of neutrality associated with the justice delivery system and lead to the unfair practice of Bench hunting to resist a fair adjudication by an unscrupulous litigant,” Justice Chanda observed.

    Noting that “the script was already prepared; the dramatis personae were ready to launch a well-rehearsed drama outside the Court,” Justice Chanda said, “On the own showing of the petitioner in the recusal application, it appears that the chief national spokesperson and leader of the petitioner’s party in the Rajya Sabha was ready by that time with two photographs of mine attending a programme of BJP legal cell in the year 2016.”

    Justice Chanda said that another member of Parliament of the said party also by that time, apparently, “was ready with a purported list of cases where I had appeared for the Bharatiya Janata Party as a lawyer.”

    Banerjee’s lawyers had suggested that Justice Chanda should recuse himself from the case since he was associated with the legal cell of the BJP before his elevation as a judge and had appeared in a number of cases on its behalf before the high court as a lawyer.

    Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the TMC supremo, had submitted that “the Hon’ble Judge of this Hon’ble Court should be like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion”.

  • Calcutta HC order on West Bengal violence has given message that anarchy has no place: BJP

    The Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into grievous cases such as murder and rape in the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

  • West Bengal to woo investors to create jobs 

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA:   With a view to realising West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election promise of creating 1.5 crore, the state’s industries department is set to send a proposal to the newly established West Bengal Industrial Promotion Board to revive the incentive policy for large industries to attract investment.

    Right now, Bengal has an incentive policy in place to support setting up of industrial parks, but none for large industries.   

    “We will put forward a proposal to the board so that a proper incentive police can be revived. Departments like MSME, tourism and IT can also submit such proposals,’’ said state industries minister Partha Chatterjee.

    “The state government wants to attract investment in large industries to materialise her pre-poll promise in the next five years. It will not be possible to create so many jobs without large investments in the state,” said an official.

  • More teeth for Trinamool in Tripura as ex-speaker Jiten Sarkar wants to join party

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that former Tripura Assembly speaker Jiten Sarkar wrote to her on Wednesday expressing his willingness to join the Trinamool Congress.

    Sarkar, a former Congress MLA, had joined the CPI(M) in 2016 before switching over to the BJP in 2017.

    “Former Tripura Assembly speaker Jiten Sarkar wrote to me today saying that he wants to join the TMC with many others. I have forwarded the matter to Abhishek,” she told reporters.

    Diamond Harbour MP and the chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee is the TMC’s national general secretary.

    “There is no democracy or law and order in Tripura, only goondaism and vandalism,” she said.

    Banerjee alleged that West Bengal TMC leaders visiting Tripura are facing harassment in various forms, including problems over their stay in hotels.

    “This will not go on as we will win Tripura. We want people of the northeastern state to take benefits of the welfare schemes that are running successfully in West Bengal,” she said.

    Accusing the BJP of causing violence against TMC leaders in Tripura, Banerjee claimed that the northeastern state’s governor did not give an appointment to her party leaders and asked them to visit after Independence Day.

    “On the other hand, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar sits with BJP leaders every evening,” she added.

  • ‘I haven’t compromised my ideology’: Sushmita Dev after joining TMC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Congress leader Sushmita Dev on Tuesday said her joining the Trinamool Congress is “unconditional” and she will take any responsibility given to her by party president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    Dev, who was the chief of the women’s wing of the Congress, joined the TMC in the presence of senior party leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien in Kolkata on Monday.

    “I don’t think I have compromised my ideology in joining the TMC. My joining the TMC is unconditional and I will take any responsibility given to me by Mamata Banerjee,” Dev told reporters here.

    A former MP, Dev was the national spokesperson of the grand old party and the chief of the All India Mahila Congress.

    She sent her resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, sources said, but offered no reason for her quitting.

    “In my 30 years in politics, I haven’t demanded anything from the Congress high command,” Dev said.

    Dev, who sidestepped any question regarding her reasons behind quitting the Congress, said it is wrong to compare Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Abhishek Banerjee and “dig up dirt” on the former.

    ALSO READ | Mamata Banerjee has excellent vision for TMC’s future; hope to be helpful, says Sushmita Dev

    “We don’t know what the future holds. You will see what magic unfolds when both (Rahul Gandhi and Abhishek Banerjee) come together,” she said.

    “I have a long relationship with the Congress and I have written everything about that in my resignation letter. I got many opportunities in Congress and I tried to do justice to all the responsibilities. Many people tried to call me, but I was not available. On August 15, I gave the Congress president my resignation,” she said.

    Showering praises on Mamata Banerjee, Dev said, “I am coming to the TMC office for the first time.

    Mamata Di (Mamata Banerjee) is my idol, and thanks to her for accepting me into the party.

    “Under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, I will make her vision more powerful. Mamata Di’s work in Bengal is inspiring. Several schemes of the Bengal government are praiseworthy and the fighting spirit of Mamata Banerjee is known to everyone. My relationship with Mamata Banerjee is not just political, we have family ties,” she said.

    While neither Dev nor TMC MP and national spokesperson Derek O’Brien sitting beside her through the briefing described what her role would be in the party, sources indicate that she will be given “big responsibilities” in Assam and Tripura where the TMC is spreading its wings.

    Sources said Dev was unhappy with the Congress high command over a few issues, including the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which she had supported going against the party’s stance.

    Dev, who won the Silchar seat in Assam in 2014, lost in 2019.

    Silchar, a Bengali-dominated area is in favour of the CAA and after its enactment in 2019, but the stand of the Congress against it virtually sealed her fate.

    Sources also indicated that Dev was upset with the handling of the CAA issue in her region by the Congress.

    “Sushmita Dev has never spoken against the Constitution or human rights,” she said when asked about CAA.

    O’Brien, who was asked if the TMC is breaking/poaching from the Congress said the party does not believe in such tactics.

    “If there are talented people who share a similar vision and they reach out to us, we welcome them,” he said.

    On the future strategy for Assam, the party leaders said, “Plan for Assam, Tripura or rest of the states will be revealed in September.”

    Commenting on the impact of Dev joining the TMC on the opposition unity, the Rajya Sabha MP said on August 20, Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting and “reconfirmed” that Mamata Banerjee will be in attendance.

    “In parliament, you have seen opposition working together. Every one among them has a different relationship but our goal is the same,” he said.