News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Mamata urges Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of Pegasus snooping row

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The BJP is trying to turn India into a “surveillance state”, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday and urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the Pegasus snooping row.

    Displaying her cellphone covered with leucoplast, she said the BJP-led government’s fate would have to be plastered in the 2014 elections. 

    “In place of democracy, there is surveillance across the country. The BJP-led Centre is trying to turn the country into a state under surveillance. Even Supreme Court judges and their own ministers are not spared. I appeal to the judges of the Supreme Court to consider taking up the Pegasus snooping issue suo motu. Only judiciary can save the country,” she said.

    ALSO READ |  2024 Lok Sabha polls: Mamata urges Opposition parties to get united to dethrone Modi

    Mamata alleged the BJP used its all powers — money, mafia, and muscle — in a bid to win Bengal Assembly elections. “Motto of the BJP is capture election, capture judiciary, capture media houses. They also engaged all central agencies. The Centre started travelling to Bengal like daily passengers. The Election Commission office acted as BJP’s party office in the Assembly elections. But all their efforts proved futile as the electorates of Bengal refused their narrative of dividing people on the line of religion. If they think they will win elections by snooping, it will not work,” she said.

    The Bengal CM lambasted the saffron camp on several issues ranging from handling of Covid pandemic to hike in petroleum products. “The way the central government handled the Covid situation was a monumental failure. Four lakh people died of Covid. In Uttar Pradesh, bodies of Covid victims were thrown into the Ganga river. Bodies were recovered in Bengal and we performed cremations following all rituals. And he (Narendra Modi) labelled UP as the best state,” Mamata said without mentioning the Prime Minister’s name.

    Hitting out at the Centre for the hike in petroleum products, Mamata urged her party workers to carry out movements against it. “The Centre earned Rs 3.7 lakh crore from petroleum products which came from the pocket of the common people. Where the fund of PM care has gone?” she asked.

    Taking a jibe at Modi’s ‘Maan Ki Baat’ a fortnightly radio programme, Mamata said, “Mohabbat kam se hote hain, maan ki baat se nehin (Work is done with love, not with Maan Ki Baat),” she said adding, “If the event was for the betterment of the common people, it would have been alright. But if it is aiming to serve a political purpose, it will not work.”

  • 2024 Lok Sabha polls: Mamata urges Opposition parties to get united to dethrone Modi

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Giving a clarion call to dethrone the BJP in the 2024 general elections, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the Opposition to unite against the Narendra Modi government keeping aside all other interests. 

    Taking her ‘Khela Hobe’ pitch to the national stage, she said ‘Khela’ (game) will happen in all other states in the 2024 elections until the BJP government is derailed. She requested all non-BJP parties to start planning from now as only two-and-a-half-year is left.

    Referring to her party’s stupendous victory in the 2021 Assembly elections, Mamata, while addressing virtually on the occasion of the party’s annual Martyr’s Day event, said, “Khela ekhono sesh hoy ni. Khela hobe ebar onno shob state e jotodin na BJP utkhat hochhe kendro theke (the game is not over yet. The game will continue until the BJP is uprooted from the Centre).”

    ‘Khela Hobe’ slogan was coined by Mamata ahead of the last Assembly polls in Bengal when she lashed out at the BJP in public rallies. The TMC organises its Martyr’s Day event on July 21 every year to observe commemorate the death of 13 party workers who were gunned down during a protest march led by Mamata in 1993 under the banner of Youth Congress.

    ALSO READ | Pegasus row: Mamata says Modi govt wants to establish ‘surveillance state’, calls for Opposition unity

    Aiming to unite all oppositions under one umbrella, Mamata said, “Not even three years, only two-and-a-half-year is left. We have no time to waste planning for the general elections. We should be united. Forget your all other interests. Now we should focus on one interest which is saving the country. If we form an alliance shortly before the elections, it may not work. I will be in Delhi shortly. I propose Sharadji (Sharad Pawar) and Chidambaramji (P Chidambaram) call a meeting of opposition leaders. I will act as a worker and follow the instructions given by the leaders of the alliance.”

    Mamata’s call to unite the opposition parties on Wednesday is said to be her first move to venture into national politics ahead of the 2024 general elections.

    She also hinted at a mega rally in Kolkata in the coming months. “I could not organise a meeting in Bengal because of the pandemic situation. I will organise an event at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata in the coming winter inviting all leaders of opposition parties,” she tweeted.

    For the first time, the TMC organised the screening of Mamata’s virtual address in Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and other states showcasing her as a face of anti-BJP. Underlining the national emphasis of her speech, Mamata spoke for 45 minutes in Bengali, Hindi, and English.

    At the beginning of her speech, Mamata thanked Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Digvijay Singh, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena, Jaya Bachhan of Samajwadi Party, and representatives Akali Dal, DMK, and other parties for attending the event at the Constitution Club in Delhi.

  • Suvendu Adhikari launches fresh attack against TMC, says post-poll violence eclipsed 1946 Calcutta Killings

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Paying tribute to those allegedly killed in violence unleashed by the TMC after the declaration of assembly poll results, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday said “what happened in the state over the past two months has eclipsed the great Calcutta killings of 1946”.

    Maintaining that at least 30 party activists were killed by TMC goons since May 5, when the Mamata Banerjee government took over the reins of the state for the third time, Adhikari claimed that the observations made by the NHRC in its report on post-poll violence has “shaken the world”.

    “We expect the judiciary to take action after taking into consideration the NHRC report, which has just exposed the tip of the iceberg.

    Such report will put anyone with a sane mind to shame.

    “What happened in Bengal over the past two months has eclipsed the great Calcutta killings of 1946, Noakhali riots and the Sikh killings,” he said as the BJP observed Shahid Shraddhanjali Divas in memory of the workers allegedly killed in violence.

    Incidentally, the TMC on Wednesday marked its annual ‘Shahid Divas’ with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee virtually addressing people during the day.

    The Mamata Banerjee-led camp commemorates Shahid Divas every year to pay homage to the 13 Youth Congress workers who were killing in police action in 1993. Banerjee back then was a member of the grand old party’s youth wing.

    Sources in the BJP said at least 175 workers of the party were killed in the state over the past few years.

    The Nandigram MLA further said the TMC was under the impression that “such attacks, abetted by the state police, would decimate the BJP in the state, but they are mistaken”.

    In a jibe at the ruling party, he said, “A section of milk-giving cows of Didi (CM Mamata Banerjee)  actively launched attacks on scheduled caste men and women among others. One shudders to think the kind of torture women had to endure. The NHRC could not take note of several complaints due to paucity of time.”

    The BJP has built safe homes for its 25,000 homeless party workers, supporters and their families, he stated.

    The saffron camp legislator, in yet another dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said, “She had gone all the way to Nandigram from Bhawanipore to contest elections. After being rejected by people there, she is now desperate to get elected to the Assembly, notwithstanding the COVID-9 situation.

    “Setting a new precedent, a non-MLA CM is running the state. We will surely dislodge this government one day. From three, our tally has increased to 77 in the Assembly.”

    He sought to know why the “ruling dispensation isn’t keen on holding long-overdue municipal polls”.

    “In her party, there is only one post and the rest are lamp posts,” he claimed.

  • Pegasus row: Mamata says Modi govt wants to establish ‘surveillance state’, calls for Opposition unity

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Latching on to the Pegasus snooping row, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday accused the Modi government of trying to establish a “surveillance state”.

    She also asked the Supreme Court to take cognizance of snooping scandal that purportedly targeted politicians, activists, journalists and even judges using the Pegasus spyware, and asked Opposition parties to come together to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    “BJP wants to convert a democratic country into a surveillance state rather than a welfare state,” she said addressing the Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata online.

    The TMC observes Martyrs’ Day on July 21 every year to commemorate the killing of 13 people in police firing on a rally of Youth Congress workers against the then Left Front government in 1993 when Banerjee was in the Congress.

    ALSO READ | Shashi Tharoor-headed Parliamentary panel to question Centre on Pegasus phone tapping row on July 28

    The TMC supremo also accused the Centre of spending the money collected through tax on fuel and other commodities for spying using a “dangerous software” instead of funding welfare schemes.

    “I know my phone is being tapped. All opposition leaders know that our phones are being tapped. I can’t speak to NCP leader Sharad Pawarji or other opposition leaders or chief ministers because we are being snooped and spied on by the Centre. But snooping on us won’t save them in 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Banerjee told the rally.

    Slamming the BJP-led NDA government for its “monumental failure” in handling the second wave of the COVID crisis, the TMC supremo termed the saffron party a “highly loaded virus party” which needs to be defeated at any cost.

    ALSO READ | Kamal Nath demands probe into Pegasus snooping case by Supreme Court judge 

    Banerjee thanked leaders of the Congress, NCP, SP, Shiv Sena and several other parties for joining her rally virtually from New Delhi.

    She said all those opposed to the BJP and its “authoritarian regime” should defeat it.

    “BJP has taken the country to darkness, we all have to come forward to take it to new light,” the Bengal leader said.

    “Khela Hobe” (will play), she declared, renewing the battle cry she made during the state assembly elections, adding the fight will continue till BJP is ousted from power.

  • Bengal violence: NHRC report became public document due to judicial order, says Dhankhar

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Days after the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of “disrespecting the court” and pursuing “political interests of the BJP” by leaking its report on alleged post-poll violence to the media, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday asserted that the final report became a public document due to a judicial order.

    “The first (NHRC) report was an interim report. Calcutta HC has not released that report. The final report became a public document because of a judicial order. The matter is sub-judice. The law will take its own course,” said Dhankhar while speaking to ANI on the NHRC report on post-poll violence.

    On July 15, West Bengal Chief Minister had alleged that the report was leaked online under a political conspiracy by the commission.

    Mamata had said, “Now even neutral organisations are being used by the BJP for their political interests. Our state is being defamed. The Human Rights Commission should respect the court. Instead of leaking the report to the media, it should have been handed over to the court.”

    The same day, the NHRC in its report on the alleged post-election violence in West Bengal submitted to Calcutta High Court stated that “Spatio-temporal expanse of violent incidents in the state reflects appalling apathy of the state government towards the plight of victims”.

    In the report, the committee said, “This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of the main opposition party. It resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people and their economic strangulation.”

    Later, the NHRC refuted allegations in a section of the media regarding the leakage of the report relating to the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

    In a statement, the rights body said that it has shared copies of the said report with the advocates of the concerned parties in this matter in accordance with the directions of the Calcutta High Court.

    “The National Human Rights Commission constituted a Committee to enquire into the post-poll violence in West Bengal, as per the directions of the Calcutta High Court. The Committee submitted its report to the Court on July 13, 2021.

    On the further directions of the Court, the Committee provided a copy of the said report to its Advocate in Calcutta, who shared with the Advocates of all the concerned parties in the related multiple writ petitions,” the statement read.

    “The matter being sub -judice, the Committee of the NHRC did not share its report with any entity other than those specified by the Court. Since the report is already available with all the concerned parties as per the directives of the Court, there is no question of leakage at the level of the NHRC. The attribution regarding the alleged leakage of the said Report to the NHRC is absolutely baseless and factually incorrect,” it added.

  • Bengal BJP MLAs led by Suvendu to protest in Delhi during Mamata’s visit

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  The heat in West Bengal politics is set to rise as BJP MLAs, led by the leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, are planning to visit Delhi and hold a demonstration against the alleged lawlessness in the state, at a time when Mamata Banerjee will be in the Capital for a week-long consultation with leaders of opposition parties. 

    Mamata on Thursday announced that she will visit Delhi for a week starting from July 25. The BJP MLAs will raise their voices against the TMC on the streets of Delhi as Mamata bids to knit together an anti-BJP front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.  

    “Armed with the findings of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which revealed the lawlessness in the state, our party’s elected MLAs from Bengal will demonstrate in Delhi. We will highlight the plight of the common people. The NHRC said the situation in Bengal is the manifestation of the law of the ruler, instead of rule of law. Our direction of protest will be aimed at the Commission’s findings,” said a BJP leader.

    Sources in the saffron camp said the decision to stage a demonstration in Delhi was taken on Friday, a day Mamata announced her visit.  “We will portray Mamata as a head of a state who failed to protect her own people from the violence unleashed by her party workers,” said a BJP leader. The ruling Trinamool Congress, too, is determined to leave no stone unturned. Party’s newly-appointed general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will also be visiting Delhi and is expected to lead protests against Centre over hike in fuel prices.

  • Bengal ruled not as per Constitution but at whims of an individual: BJP after NHRC report

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP Friday cited an NHRC report on alleged post-poll violence in West Bengal to attack Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress, alleging the state is ruled not as per the Constitution but at the whims of an individual.

    In its report submitted to the Calcutta High Court on July 13, the National Human Rights Commission said the situation prevailing in West Bengal is a manifestation of “law of the ruler” and not “rule of law”, in a damning indictment of the Banerjee government, and recommended CBI investigation in cases of rape and murder.

    Addressing a press conference here Friday, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia launched a scathing attack on the TMC and Banerjee, saying the NHRC received 1,979 complaints of post-poll violence.

    He claimed 15,000 people were tortured in such incidents and as many as 8,000 people committed violence and misconduct, but no action was taken.

    “The way violence took place in West Bengal after May 2 (the result day) and innocent civilians were killed and women molested, it seems that West Bengal today is not ruled as per the Constitution but at the whims of an individual. Banerjee closed her eyes and gave free hand to TMC goons,” Bhatia alleged.

    He also alleged the state police did not fulfil its responsibility while TMC workers were “on the rampage, creating a ruckus in the state”.

    The NHRC panel, constituted following an order by a five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, also said the cases of alleged rape and murder should be tried outside the state.

    After the report was submitted Tuesday, the court had directed that its soft copies along with annexures be supplied to the counsel for the petitioners, the Election Commission, and the Additional Solicitor General of India.

    Banerjee, however, has cried foul, claiming the report was leaked to the media by the rights panel, which the NHRC denied.

    She also said the NHRC team did not consult the state government or take into account its views.

  • Narada accused could not be produced in court due to Mamata’s presence in office, CBI tells HC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The CBI on Thursday claimed in the Calcutta High Court that it could not physically produce the four leaders who were arrested in the Narada sting tapes case before the designated court on May 17, owing to the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in its office and that of a large “unruly” crowd outside.

    The central agency, which has made a transfer application before the high court for shifting the Narada case to itself, also pointed to the presence of the state’s Law Minister Moloy Ghatak in the Bichar Bhavan premises, within which the CBI court is located, quoting media reports.

    It said in the counter-affidavit in reply to the affidavits in-opposition filed by the West Bengal government that state ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee had to be produced before the designated court through the virtual mode due to the prevailing situation in and outside the CBI office, where the four accused were kept following their arrest on May 17.

    The CBI also termed as false the state government’s pleadings that the agency’s office and its officers were not under siege.

    In its affidavit, the CBI said some time after the four leaders were brought to its office at the Nizam Palace complex, the chief minister arrived there and demanded unconditional release of the arrested accused persons and dared its officials to arrest her as well.

    “The chief minister remained present in that chamber for nearly six hours and caused hindrance to CBI officers in discharging their duties,” it said.

    The CBI went on to add that “huge numbers of unruly mob gathered at the main gate of Nizam Palace, gheraoed the premises and started pelting stones”.

    The five-judge bench will hear the matter again on August 16.

    The bench had earlier allowed CBI to file affidavits in-reply after taking on record affidavits by the state government, Banerjee and Ghatak on a direction by the Supreme Court.

  • Mamata Banerjee to visit Delhi amid buzz over anti-BJP front

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said she would visit Delhi during the upcoming Parliament session and meet “some leaders”’ triggering speculations of forming an anti-BJP coalition to challenge the saffron camp in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    Sources in the ruling party said she would spend a week from July 25 in the national capital.

    “I could not visit Delhi due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I usually go there during Parliament sessions and meet leaders. Now as the Covid situation has improved, I will go to Delhi and meet some leaders there. I will also seek time from the President and Prime Minister,” said Mamata at the state secretariat on Thursday.

    Mamata, after shattering BJP’s dream of wresting West Bengal in the recent Assembly elections, urged all non-BJP parties to come together and fight against the saffron camp. She also said each political party should support the other which is strong in its own state.

    ALSO READ |  ‘Manifestation of ‘Law of Ruler’, not ‘Rule of Law’: NHRC slams Mamata over post-poll violence

    The buzz of forming the third front became strong after the Bengal Assembly elections as election strategist Prashant Kishor, who was hired by Mamata after her party’s debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Bengal, met NCP chief Sharad Pawar twice and held a meeting with Congress high-command comprising Sonia Gandhi, Rahul, and Priyanka.

    Though Mamata said there was nothing unusual in her Delhi visit, sources in the TMC said, “She has timed her Delhi visit to coincide the Parliament session as senior leaders of opposition parties will be available. It will be her face-to-face meet with non-BJP leaders since TMC’s stupendous victory in the Assembly elections,” said a TMC leader, adding, “Mamatadi has grown up in stature after defeating the BJP in the Assembly polls and become an anti-BJP face in country’s political arena. Now she wants to reach out to anti-BJP political parties at the national level ahead of the 2024 general elections.”

  • Bengal bypolls soon? Trinamool meets EC as state says COVID situation conducive

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A Trinamool Congress parliamentary party delegation, comprising six MPs, met the Election Commission here on Thursday demanding that the bypolls in six vacant West Bengal Assembly seats be held at the earliest.

    In a memorandum submitted to the poll body, the party stated that with the decreasing number of coronavirus cases in the state, conditions are conducive for conducting the bypolls with Covid appropriate protocols in place.

    “The number of COVID-19 cases is at least 17 times lower now with fewer than 831 cases reported till July 14. There has been a steady decline in the number of daily cases recorded. Hence, it is conducive to hold the bye-polls to the aforementioned constituencies at this time. Going by the steady decline, it is expected that by the time the bye-elections are announced and conducted, the number of daily cases will decrease further. During this time, appropriate Covid safety norms as may be prescribed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), may be adopted during campaigning,” the party said.

    The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is keen on the bypolls as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who lost the Assembly election from Nandigram, will have to get elected in the next six months to continue as the chief minister.

    In that case, the bypolls must be conducted by November 5.

    After the election results, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, the TMC MLA from Bhabanipur constituency, had vacated the seat to allow Banerjee to contest from there.

    Banerjee had won from Bhabanipur twice since 2011.

    Dinhata and Santipur Assembly seats fell vacant after BJP leaders Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar resigned as MLAs to retain the Lok Sabha membership.

    Polling could not be held in Samserganj and Jangipur seats in Murshidabad district due to the death of candidates.

    Khardah seat in North 24 Parganas district felt vacant after TMC candidate Kajal Sinha died of COVID-19 before the results were announced.

    Sinha won the election posthumously.

    The party also said that if general elections could be held at the height of the pandemic, bypolls too could be held at a time when the cases were significantly lower.

    It further argued that in April 2021, wherein polls were conducted in eight phases spread across the month, there was a steep rise in daily Covid cases in West Bengal.

    From the middle of April 2021, at the peak of the elections, the daily cases rose from approximately 6,000 cases to 17,000 cases.

    “Despite the rise in Covid cases and our repeated requests, the remaining phases of the polls were not clubbed together, as the ECI concluded that it was safe to conduct elections.”

    “Constitutional principles mandate that voters from the aforesaid assembly constituencies have the fundamental right to elect a representative of their choice to represent them in the Legislative Assembly of the State,” the memorandum stated.

    Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her government has informed the Election Commission that the state was prepared to hold the pending by-elections to seven assembly seats as the COVID-19 situation is these poll-bound areas are largely under control.

    Banerjee, during a press meet here, noted that the EC had sought to know if Bengal was ready to conduct polls to two vacant Rajya Sabha seats, and the chief secretary, in his reply, gave assurance that the state could also hold bypolls to the seven assembly constituencies, while adhering to all COVID-19 guidelines.

    “With the COVID-19 positivity rate having come down to 1.5 per cent in Bengal, the situation is conducive to conduct the by-elections as most of the poll-bound areas haven’t reported any fresh infection of late,” she said.

    In a jibe at the BJP, which claimed that Banerjee is desperately waiting for the bypolls as she needs to get elected to the Assembly to retain the CM’s chair, the TMC boss said the saffron party is opposed to the demand as it knows well that it won’t be able to clinch any seat.

    “We have placed our demands before the EC following all constitutional norms. There is nothing illegal about it. If an emergency situation arises, the EC will accordingly take a decision. But isn’t COVID-19 under control in the seven seats now? Several wards of Bhabanipur havent reported any case over the past few days,” she pointed out.

    Banerjee, who lost the elections from Nandigram, is expected to file nomination from Bhabanipur, which was vacated by winning TMC candidate Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, shortly after the results were declared.

    Chattopadhyay is slated to contest by-election from Khardah, which fell vacant after TMC’s Kajal Sinha succumbed to COVID-19.

    In Gosaba, too, TMC winning candidate Jayanta Naskar died of COVID-related complications.

    Polls were countermanded in Jangipur and Samserganj following the death of candidates, also due to the viral disease.

    In Dinhata and Santipur, the winning BJP nominees quit as MLAs as they wanted to retain parliamentary berths.

    Two Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant in the state after Dinesh Trivedi quit the membership of the Upper House in February this year, having switched to the BJP from the TMC, and Manas Bhuniya’s election as an MLA in the March-April Assembly polls.

    The party, in a memorandum to the EC, said that if assembly elections could be held at the height of the pandemic, bypolls could be held at a time when the cases were significantly lower.