News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Make sure Covaxin accepted globally, people facing travel curbs: Mamata to Centre

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the Centre to immediately take steps to ensure that people vaccinated with Covaxin are not restricted from travelling to foreign countries.

    Speaking to reporters at state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee claimed that Covaxin has also created problems with neighbouring Bangladesh and Brazil.

    “Covaxin has not been authorised by foreign countries and not accepted there. Several students, aspiring for higher studies abroad, are facing difficulties in travelling because they have taken the Covaxin doses,” she said.

    “Covaxin is the brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it has even created problems with Brazil and Bangladesh,” Banerjee claimed.

    The chief minister said that those who have taken Covishield doses are not facing any problem.

    “Either immediately get Covaxin authenticated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or take other steps so that Covaxin is accepted globally,” she said.

    Banerjee also asked Chief Secretary HK Dwidevi to write to the Union Health Secretary and Cabinet Secretary regarding the matter.

    She said that her government procured and provided Covishield doses to the people of the state.

    Most of the countries are seeking complete vaccination certificates from visitors to allow them entry.

    Banerjee also took on the Centre, pointing out the gap between PM’s announcement of the universal vaccination programme and the implementation of it on June 21.

    “Fifteen days were lost. Can you imagine! Who is responsible for this? Why will the opposition play with a disease? I think BJP is a big disease for everybody. They cannot digest the people’s verdict, nor can they accept people’s agitation. Don’t you think they should be ashamed?” she said.

    The chief minister also slammed BJP national president JP Nadda for alleging that the opposition is playing politics with the vaccination process.

    “I don’t understand why Nadda is saying this. Is he aware of the facts? “They (BJP) were just interested in Bengal elections and after the polls they wanted to divide Bengal. To implement that policy they did not allow people to take precautions before the second wave. They did not do anything for six to eight months,” she alleged.

    Banerjee alleged that the BJP-led central government was responsible for the second wave.

    “They did not give vaccines to West Bengal properly. However, there are some BJP states that are getting a good number of vaccines. In Gujarat, there are BJP party offices from where vaccines are being distributed,” she claimed.

  • EC can hold Bengal by-polls as COVID-19 situation is under control: Mamata

    The chief minister had lost to BJPs Suvendu Adhikari from the Nandigram seat in the assembly polls and the deadline for her re-election ends on November 5.

  • ‘Alapan is in mental agony, won’t tolerate such behaviour towards him’: Mamata flays Centre

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre for “victimising” her former top bureaucrat Alapan Bandyopadhyay, against whom the union government has initiated penalty proceedings that could deprive him of post-retirement benefits.

    Banerjee said that IAS and IPS officers of the country are in solidarity with the former West Bengal chief secretary, as it is the “battle of every bureaucrat”.

    “The Centre must realise it is victimising an official who lost his brother, nephew and mother within a span of 15-20 days and he is in mental agony because he has worked for the country all his life, and now he is being treated in such a manner. This is irresponsible behaviour and we will not allow this,” she told reporters.

    The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has sent Bandyopadhyay, now an advisor to the chief minister, a “memorandum” mentioning the charges and giving him 30 days to reply, officials had said on Monday.

    He has been warned of major penalty proceedings, which allows the central government to withhold pension or gratuity, or both, either in full or in part.

    The CM said Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer (retired), has always worked with dedication, determination and devotion, and he is authorised to take any action as part of his response to the Centre.

    “Our government will give him full support,” Banerjee asserted.

    She also said the union government is not abiding by the law in its actions against Bandyopadhyay.

    “You cannot forcibly change rules because the country has a Constitution. It (central government) is turning into a selfish giant. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress party, too, had a massive majority, but even he had never done something like this,” Banerjee said.

    The Centre had on May 28 sought services of Bandyopadhyay, barely a few days after he was given a three- month extension beyond the date of his superannuation (May 31), and asked the state government to relieve him immediately with a direction to him to report at DoPT, New Delhi.

    The DoPT had sent him a reminder after he failed to report in response to its May 28th order.

    As the tussle between the Centre and the state continued over the order, Mamata Banerjee on May 31 said that Bandyopadhyay has “retired” and been appointed as her advisor for three years.

  • Bodies floated downstream to Bengal from UP, last rites performed: Mamata

    She also pointed out that the decomposed bodies were spotted in the river in Malda district, and the state government has quot;performed the last rites of some of them quot;.

  • Mamata Banerjee moves SC against HC order on filing of affidavits in Narada sting case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court’s denial for filing of affidavits by her and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on their role on the day of arrest of four Trinamool Congress leaders on May 17 by the CBI in connection with the Narada sting tape case.

    A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Aniruddha Bose will be hearing the separate appeals filed by the chief minister, Ghatak and West Bengal Government on Tuesday.

    Earlier, the top court had said that it would hear on June 22 the appeal filed by Ghatak.

    The top court On June 18 had requested the high court to hear the case a day after the apex court considers the appeals of the state government and Ghatak against the order.

    On June 9, a five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, hearing CBI’s application for transfer of the Narada sting tape case from the special CBI court to the high court, had said it will decide later on considering the affidavits by the Banerjee and Ghatak on their respective roles on the day of the arrest of four leaders in connection with the case.

    Senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Vikas Singh, appearing for Ghatak and the state government, had said it was necessary to bring on record of the high court the affidavits as they deal with the roles of the persons concerned on May 17.

    The law minister was attending the cabinet meeting and was not in the court premises at the time of hearing, Dwivedi had said, adding that even the CBI officials were not there on the spot as the lawyer for the agency addressed the court virtually.

    It has been alleged that the state ruling party leaders played key role in stopping CBI from performing its legal duty after the agency arrested four leaders on May 17 in the case.

    Singh had contended that under the rules there is a right to file affidavits and, moreover, CBI filed as many as three affidavits and did not take the permission of the court.

    The high court, which on June 9 decided to consider later the affidavits of Banerjee and Ghatak, was urged by the Solicitor General that the affidavits cannot be accepted on the ground of delay as they were filed after the completion of his arguments.

    The CBI, which has filed an application seeking transfer of the Narada sting tape case from the special CBI court to the high court, has made the chief minister and the law minister parties in its plea there.

    It had claimed that while the Chief Minister had sat on a dharna at the CBI office in Kolkata soon after the arrest of the four accused, Ghatak had been present at the Banshall Court premises during the virtual hearing of the case before the special CBI court there on May 17.

    Ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI which is investigating the Narada sting tape case on a 2017 order of the high court.

    The five-judge bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee, had adjourned the hearing in the matter.

    The bench had granted interim bail on May 28 to the four accused.

    The special CBI court had granted them bail on May 17 itself, but the order was stayed by the high court, which remanded them to judicial custody.

    They had been placed under house arrest on May 21 by the high court, modifying its earlier order of stay on the bail.

    The Narada sting operation was conducted by journalist Mathew Samuel of Narada News, a web portal, in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

    At that time, the four arrested politicians were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government.

    The sting operation was made public ahead of the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal.

  • Dhankhar trying to malign Bengal people for electing TMC, should be removed: Mukul Roy

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday claimed that West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who visited New Delhi for five days, has been trying to malign the people of the state on the post-poll violence issue for electing the Mamata Banerjee-led party, and demanded that he should be removed from his post.

    TMC chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, also alleged that it is a deep-rooted political conspiracy that Dhankhar is exaggerating “stray incidents” as post-poll violence and meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other central leaders in Delhi.

    The governor went to Delhi on Tuesday, a day after a delegation of BJP MLAs petitioned him on alleged deterioration of the law and order situation in the state.

    Dhankhar met Shah twice, on Thursday and on Saturday.

    During the first meeting, he is believed to have briefed the home minister about the law and order situation in the state.

    “The governor has been making rounds in Delhi durbar of Shah. This is his effort to malign the state and its people who have elected Mamata Banerjee,” Roy told reporters.

    After its claim of winning over 200 seats fell flat, the BJP is busy hatching a conspiracy and the governor is acting as the microphone of the saffron camp, he alleged.

    The BJP had claimed that it will win over 200 seats in the West Bengal assembly election but managed to get 77.

    Two of these elected leaders, who were also MPs, resigned later, while another, Mukul Roy, returned to the TMC, his old party.

    “We demand the removal of the governor from the post. We think his five-day stay in the national capital is part of a larger conspiracy to disrupt the situation in West Bengal when the state government is fighting Covid-19 and rehabilitating people affected by natural calamities,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

    The governor had earlier stated that he will embark on a four-day visit to Delhi.

    However, he postponed the departure from Delhi till Saturday and met Shah for a second time.

    BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, on the other hand, claimed that the TMC is humiliating the governor for rushing to the aid of the people who had to flee their homes due to attacks by the ruling party after the poll results are out on May 2.

    “The state administration has taken no action. Now, if the governor goes to Delhi to highlight the issue, why should the TMC object?” he said.

    Roy alleged that statutory bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and the national commission for SC, ST and backward castes are being used to harass the elected government of West Bengal and build a false narrative that people are not safe in the state.

    On the demand of a BJP MP for carving out a union territory comprising districts of north Bengal, the TMC leader wondered whether the saffron party would support it if there is a similar demand for Gujarat.

    “This is nothing but a divisive ploy of the BJP after being summarily rejected by people of West Bengal,” he said.

  • Mamata Banerjee’s counsel seeks reassignment of election petition against Suvendu to another bench

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s counsel Friday wrote to the secretary of the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, seeking reassignment of her petition challenging the election of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram, to another bench.

    Claiming Banerjee has been made aware that Justice Kausik Chanda, who is hearing her plea, was “an active member of the BJP” and since the adjudication of the election petition will have political ramifications, it was prayed that the matter be assigned to another judge by the Acting Chief Justice, who is the master of roster.

    The CM’s lawyer also stated in the letter that she “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 there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the judge concerned.

    Banerjee’s counsel urged that the letter be placed before the Acting Chief Justice forthwith “for necessary re- assignment of Election Petition so as to avoid any prejudice and/or presumption of prejudice”.

    Justice Chanda earlier in the day adjourned till June 24 Banerjee’s petition for declaring election of Suvendu Adhikari, at present the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, from Nandigram null and void.

    Meanwhile, a section of lawyers staged a protest in front of the high court over Justice Chanda being assigned to hear the election petition by the Trinamool Congress supremo.

    “We have no personal ill-feeling or allegation against the judge, but he was associated with a particular political party,” one of the lawyers said.

    The judge should recuse himself from hearing Banerjee’s plea, he added.

  • Form panel, examine post-poll violence cases by visiting areas: Calcutta HC to NHRC

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to constitute a committee to examine complaints of post-poll violence, an issue that has been raised by the BJP since the TMC came to power for the third straight term. 

    The committee shall examine all the cases by visiting the areas and report to the court about steps to be taken to reinstate the confidence of the people, the order further said. 

    “It is the duty of the State to maintain law and order and to inspire confidence in the residents. The State from the very beginning had been denying everything but facts on record and report by State Legal Services Authority shows differently. Under these circumstances, we direct NHRC to constitute a committee to examine the complaints,” the bench said in its order.

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    The court was hearing a bunch of petitions alleging that many people from the Opposition were subject to violence after the ruling Trinamool Congress swept to power.

    The post-poll violence has become an issue from the day of the chief minister’s swearing-in event. The Governor and the state government got engaged in a war of words over the issue. At Raj Bhavan, after the swearing-in event, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar raised the issue and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged the violence was mainly taking place in those areas where BJP won. 

    Referring to Dhankar’s three-day Delhi visit where he raised the post-poll violence issue in his meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Mamata on Thursday said there was no such incident in Bengal.

  • Calcutta HC to hear Mamata’s petition challenging Nandigram poll result on June 24

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday adjourned hearing to June 24 in West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s petition challenging the election of Leader Of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram.

    The matter was mentioned by Banerjee’s lawyer before the court of Justice Kaushik Chanda as per the list for hearing.

    Justice Chanda asked the petitioner’s lawyer to serve copies of the election petition to the opposite parties and fixed the matter for hearing on Thursday.

    In her petition, the Trinamool Congress chief accused BJP MLA Adhikari of committing corrupt practises as envisaged under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

    Banerjee also claimed in the petition that discrepancies were committed in the counting process.

  • Mamata Banerjee files election petition against Suvendu Adhikari in Calcutta HC; hearing on Friday

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed an election petition against Suvendu Adhikari before the Calcutta High Court and the matter is listed for hearing before a single bench on Friday.

    As per the ’cause list’ released by the high court in its website on Thursday, the matter is scheduled to be taken up via video conference before the court of Justice Kausik Chanda as “to be mentioned”.

    The Election Commission had declared Adhikari the winner and the Trinamool Congress supremo the runner-up in the fiercely contested election for the Nandigram constituency.

    Alleging tampering of EVM machines and refusal of demands for recounting by the concerned EC official, Banerjee had said following declaration of the results that the doors of the court will be knocked on the issue.

    BJP MLA Adhikari is at present the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly.