News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • TMC chief Mamata Banerjee takes oath as West Bengal CM for third time in a row

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was Wednesday sworn-in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive term after securing a massive mandate, and vowed to not “give respite” to those behind political violence sweeping the state since the election results were announced.

    Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered her the oath of office and secrecy at a low-key ceremony at Raj Bhavan held amid the raging COVID pandemic.

    Banerjee took the oath in Bengali language.

    She is the 21st chief minister of West Bengal and 8th person to hold the office.

    The oath-taking ceremony was held even as the BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in the state, held a protest at its Hastings office against attacks on its workers allegedly by the TMC since Sunday night.

    The party has claimed several of its workers were killed and party offices set on fire and vandalised.

    Party president J P Nadda and state unit chief Dilip Ghosh were present.

    Banerjee alone was sworn-in on Wednesday and her cabinet will be expanded with the induction of other ministers on May 9, the birth anniversary of Bengali cultural icon nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, TMC sources said.

    “Our first priority is to control the COVID situation,” she said after taking the oath.

    ALSO READ: BJP’s Bengal blunders and a message that democracy is a chapati

    Banerjee said she will hold a meeting on the pandemic situation at state secretariat Nabanna soon after leaving Raj Bhavan.

    Referring to incidents of violence which have reportedly claimed the lives of several BJP and TMC workers, Banerjee said, “I will tackle law and order from today and deal with these sternly. This is my second priority.”

    “We will not give respite to anyone (perpetrators of violence), and do everything to restore law and order,” she told journalists after taking oath.

    She urged all political parties to help maintain peace and order.

    Congratulating Banerjee on assuming office for a third time, Dhankhar expressed hope and expectation that she will govern the state according to the Constitution and rule of law.

    “We are at the moment in a very difficult crisis,” Dhankhar said, adding he has brought the issue of post-poll violence to the notice of the chief minister.

    “Our first priority is to end the horrendous and senseless violence that has affected society at large. Post poll violence, if it is retributive, is antithetical to democracy,” said Dhankhar, who has repeatedly pulled up the state government over the violence and has had a running feud with Banerjee over several issues.

    The governor said he hopes that the chief minister will, on an urgent basis, take all steps to restore the rule of law and ensure that relief reaches those who have been affected, particularly women and children.

    “I would also expect from the new government a new commitment, a new approach of cooperative federalism,” he said, addressing the media after the brief oath-taking ceremony at the Throne Room, as the chief minister stood beside.

    He urged Banerjee to rise to the occasion and expressed the hope that she will do it, while contending that it is not usual for a person to get a third term in a row.

    “There are occasions when a state faces crisis, we have to rise above partisan interests,” he said, while addressing Banerjee as his sister.

    After the governor had concluded, Banerjee said she has taken charge “just now” and that the police administration was run by the Election Commission for three months.

    She said some political parties were indulging in atrocities in places where they won.

    While the BJP has accused the TMC of targeted attacks against its workers and vandalisation of its offices, the ruling party has also claimed that its supporters were attacked and killed at places where the saffron party won.

    Hinting at a change in the police administration, Banerjee said, “I will form a new set up and ensure that no one (indulging in violence) is spared.”

    The Election Commission had transferred several police officers during the election process, including the state DGP and ADG (law and order) and SPs of a number of districts.

    Banerjee claimed there was inefficiency as the police administration was not under her government for the last three months.

    Nadda, meanwhile, led another oath ceremony at the Hastings office of the BJP where its leaders vowed to protect democracy and save the people of West Bengal from the vicious cycle of political violence.

    “I am going to districts like North 24 Parganas to be by the side of our members who were at the receiving end of brutal violence not witnessed in Independent India. We want to tell the entire country about this,” Nadda said.

    Apart from senior TMC leaders like Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who played a key role in TMC’s victory, and Banerjee MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee were present.

    Leaders of opposition parties including the BJP, the Left and the Congress did not attend the ceremony.

  • ‘PM called me, expressed anguish over Bengal’s law and order situation’: Governor on post-poll violence

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him and expressed anguish over the law and order situation in the state following reports of post-poll violence from several districts.

    The state was in the throes of widespread violence on Monday that allegedly left several BJP workers dead and injured in clashes, and shops being looted, prompting the Centre to seek a factual report from the government on incidents of attack on opposition workers.

    “PM called and expressed his serious anguish and concern at alarmingly worrisome law & order situation @MamataOfficial. I share grave concerns @PMOIndia given that violence vandalism, arson, loot and killings continue unabated,” Dhankhar wrote on Twitter.

    Four people were killed in alleged clashes between TMC and BJP supporters in Burdwan district on Sunday and Monday, officials said.

    The TMC claimed three of them were its supporters.

    Videos of alleged arson at a BJP office with bamboo poles and roof tiles burning amid worried cries of people running away from the premises were shared by the party.

    “Police @WBPolice @CPKolkata must end senseless political violence, vandalism, arson, killings and intimidation that shames democracy. Why post poll violence only WB? Why this assault on democracy?” the governor asked on the microblogging site.

    “Reports indicate horrendous state of affairs. Horrified people are fleeing to save themselves,” he added.

    The state was in the throes of widespread violence on Monday that allegedly left several BJP workers dead and injured in clashes, and shops being looted, prompting the Union Home ministry to seek a factual report from the state governent on incidents of attack on opposition workers.

    Four people were also killed in alleged clashes between TMC and BJP supporters in Burdwan district on Sunday and Monday, officials said.

    The TMC claimed three of them were its supporters.

    Videos of alleged arson at a BJP office with bamboo poles and roof tiles burning amid worried cries of people running away from the premises were shared by the party.

    Photos of dead men, and people scampering with apparel looted from a shop were everywhere on social media.

    PTI could not independently verify the genuineness of the vieos.

    ALSO READ | Bengal burning due to state-sponsored violence: BJP hits out at Mamata government

    BJP claimed at least six of its workers and supporters including a woman was killed in attacks the party blamed on the TMC.

    The BJP shared a video with journalists showing a ransacked party office in Nandigram where piles of documents, posters, and broken furniture lay scattered everywhere.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had Sunday lost the seat to her former lieutenant-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari.

    Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar summoned state Home Secretary, DGP and Kolkata Commissioner of Police and directed them to restore peace.

    He discussed with them the situation following the incidents that took place a day after the ruling TMC returned to power with an overwhelming majority crushing the BJP.

    “ACS Home @HomeBengal who was called by me in wake of rising post poll violence in State has been directed to submit report on post poll violence and vandalism in State & steps taken,” Dhankhar tweeted after meeting Home Secretary H K Dwivedi.

    He also separately met DGP P Nirajnayan and Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra and directed them to restore law and order.

    “DGP West Bengal Police and Commissioner of Kolkata Police summoned by me in the wake of continually rising post poll incidents of arson, looting and violence as also killings in the state were indicated of alarming scenario.

    Called upon them to take all steps to restore law and order,” he added.

    “MHA has asked West Bengal Government for a report on the post-election violence targeting opposition political workers in the state,” a spokesperson tweeted.

    Banerjee, meanwhile, urged her supporters to maintain peace amid reports of violence and asked them not to fall prey to provocations.

    The central forces committed many atrocities on TMC supporters during the elections, she alleged.

    “Even after the results were announced, BJP attacked our supporters in certain areas but we ask our men not to get provoked and instead report to the police,” she told a press conference.

    ALSO READ | BJP will play role of constructive Opposition in Bengal: Newly-elected MLA Ashok Lahiri

    Governor Dhankhar, after a meeting with Banerjee at Raj Bhavan, where she had gone to stake claim to form the government his primary focus during the interaction with her was on the government taking steps to end the post-poll incidents of violence, arson, loot and killing.

    “It is unfortunate that many lives have been lost, several injured, houses torches in this violence,” he tweeted after meeting the chief minister.

    Nadda met the families of two BJP workers killed by alleged TMC supporters in Kankurgachi in Kolkata and Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas. “I have heard about the immense atrocities committed during the Partition. But I have never seen such post-poll violence occurring in West Bengal after the declaration of election results. The present law and order situation is a reflection of the ruling party’s intolerance.,’’ he said. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday ordered a spot inquiry by a fact-finding team into the incidents of violence.

    “Considering as a fit case of the alleged violation of Right to Life of the innocent citizens, the commission has today taken suo-motu cognizance of the matter and has requested its DIG to constitute a team of officers of the Investigation Division of the commission to conduct an on-the-spot fact-finding investigation and to submit a report at the earliest,” NHRC said, in a statement.

    (With inputs from Pranab Mondal)

  • Bengal polls: Suvendu Adhikari earns reputation as ‘giant slayer’ despite BJP’s poor show

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has earned a reputation as a ‘giant slayer’ by defeating Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the battle for Nandigram, even though his party lost heavily in the larger war to woo Bengal.

    After a sea-saw fight till the last round, Adhikari won the seat by a narrow margin of just over 1,900 votes.

    Though a pyrrhic victory for the BJP, the party he chose to align himself against his former mentor Banerjee, it nevertheless is being seen as a morale booster for the saffron party as his former party, the Trinamool Congress under Banerjee’s leadership, has garnered an overwhelming 213 seats out of 292 seats which went to polls.

    Though Banerjee, who had initially sought re-counting amidst allegations of illegalities in the counting procedure, has now said she will be moving the court of law on the result.

    Adhikari for the moment has become the toast of the hour in BJP circles.

    More than an arena for a mere political fight, Nandigram turned into the ground for a bruising battle for survival, as Banerjee threatened to overshadow both Adhikari and his locally powerful family which has nursed the area for decades, by handing him a defeat on his home turf and possibly pushing him into political oblivion.

    His victory now squarely places him in the front ranks of the BJP’s leadership for Bengal and there is speculation that he will be given higher responsibilities by his party.

    The backwater constituency in Purba Medinipur district which was witness to a fight-back by peasants led by the TMC against forced land acquisition for a chemical hub in 2007, turned into a battleground of Titans when Banerjee suddenly decided to switch from her Bhabanipur seat to the constituency held by her former lieutenant Adhikari.

    The BJP fielded its ‘big guns’ including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and superstar Mithun Chakraborty to defend Adhikari’s turf and take on ‘Didi’.

    To tailor himself to his new party’s beliefs and for a future role in its hierarchy, Adhikari had worked to change his image from an inclusive leader of the land acquisition movement to being a mascot of the Hindutva brigade, claiming that if the TMC wins it could turn Nandigram into a “mini Pakistan”.

    Trained in RSS shakhas during his formative years, Adhikari was baptised in student politics in the late 1980s as a member of Chatra Parishad, the Congress’ student wing.

    His first brush with electoral politics came in 1995 when he was elected as a councillor in Kanthi municipality, which his father headed from 1967 to 2009.

    However, his first major assignment was as election agent to Nitish Sengupta, the Congress candidate from Kanthi Lok Sabha seat in 1996.

    Three years later, Adhikari along with his father switched over to the Trinamool Congress barely a year after it was formed.

    Thereafter, he unsuccessfully contested elections twice – in the 2001 assembly poll and the 2004 Lok Sabha election.

    He tasted success in 2006 when he won the Kanthi assembly seat.

    The Nandigram anti-farmland acquisition movement in 2007 changed Bengal’s political landscape and catapulted him to the front row of the TMC.

    Adhikari soon became a member of the TMC’s core group and was appointed as president of the Trinamool Youth Congress.

    In 2009 and 2014, he won the Lok Sabha polls from Tamluk.

    After Banerjee stormed to power in the state in 2011, many saw Adhikari, who has a mass following in pockets of South Bengal, as her eventual heir apparent.

    The seeds of mistrust between the two leaders were sown on the TMC’s first annual Martyrs’ Day rally after coming to power on July 21 in 2011, when Banerjee announced the entry of her nephew, Abhishek into politics.

    Abhishek, then just 24, was named the president of All India Trinamool Yuva, an organisation parallel to the TMC Youth Congress.

    The decision had Adhikari fuming as the party constitution had no place for two youth wings.

    In 2014, he was removed as the TMC Youth Congress president and a few months later TMC Yuva was merged with TMC Youth Congress.

    Sensing that Adhikari might change sides as he was in talks with the Congress, Banerjee nominated him from the Nandigram assembly seat in 2016 and inducted him into the state cabinet.

    She even gave him three portfolios.

    But Abhishek’s meteoric rise in the party and its decision-making fora continued to plague Adhikari, who nursed a feeling that the party did not give him his due.

    After its 2019 Lok Sabha poll debacle, the TMC abolished the observer’s post, which many feel was done to clip his wings.

    There were rumours in political circles that Adhikari might be named the state president of the TMC at the 2020 Martyrs’ day virtual rally.

    However. this did not materialise.

  • Victory due to Mamata magic: Trinamool’s film star contestants on poll win

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Bengali film personalities who contested the assembly election on Trinamool Congress ticket attributed the stellar performance of the party to “Mamata magic”, while those who were fielded by the BJP urged the ruling party to ensure that political rivals are not attacked.

    TMCs winning Tollywood brigade includes director Raj Chakraborty, actors Kanchan Mallick, Soham Chakraborty, June Malliah, and Lovely Maitra.

    Actors Papiya Adhikari, Rudranil Ghosh, Parno Mittra, Srabanti Chatterjee, Paayel Sarkar, Tanushree Chakraborty, and Yash Dasgupta of the BJP lost to the TMC.

    Hiran Chatterjee, who was earlier with the TMCs youth wing before joining the saffron party this year won in Kharagpur Sadar against Pradip Sarkar of the TMC.

    The TMC swept the assembly polls with 213 of the 292 seats, while the BJP bagged 77 seats.

    Winning TMC candidate from Barrackpore, film director Raj Chakraborty said on social media “this win is the testimony of the hard work of Mamata Banerjee, her magic. This win testifies the victory of Bengali women, the victory of Bengali culture, the proof of the love of people of Bengal.”

    Promising that he will always help the people of Barrackpore, the chairman of the state-run Kolkata International Film Festival said “I will never run away.”

    Chakraborty said a ward-based network will be set up in Barrackpore and Titagarh to help people during the pandemic.

    His industry colleague and TMC candidate from Asansol Saayoni Ghosh, who was defeated by BJP contender Agnimitra Paul, posted “it takes a strong woman to stay by herself in a world where people will settle for anything, just to say they have something. Didi. O didi. Joy Bangla #ThankYouBangla #MamatadiArekbar.”

    “Mamata magic works,” she said.

    Superstar TMC MP Dev thanked people for their “strength support. Thank you for your faith.”

    Actor Rudranil Ghosh, who conceded defeat to veteran TMC leader Sobhandeb Chatterjee in Bhabanipur, congratulated the winners.

    “Win or defeat is part of elections. My congratulations to my close friends Raj Chakraborty and Kanchan Mallick. I hope the TMC will change its old practice and now allow them to work independently,” Ghosh said, hinting that he had not been given the space to work freely when he was close to the TMC.

    “We wish there will be an end to goondaism and flaunting of muscle power now. Let there be no more corruption,” he said.

    A section of the Tolly brigade, not belonging to any camp but known for their liberal views, congratulated Banerjee for her fight against the BJP.

    Director-actor Aparna Sen, who had supported the Nandigram movement in 2009 but hit the streets later on the issue of withdrawal of an anti-establishment Bengali film from theatres tweeted, “kudos to Mamata. Gutsy woman to take on BJP juggernaut single-handedly. It was her day – despite corruption cut money and her nephew.”

    “Wake up call for the left to introspect, get organiSed, and grow into a powerful force to check the excesses of TMC,” Sen, a fierce critic of the “air of intolerance and arrest of several leftist intellectuals during the regime of BJP”, said.

    Actor Swastika Mukherjee said on Twitter, in an obvious reference to the BJP state president Dilip GHosh’s recent comment that the chief minister should wear bermuda to show her legs, ‘won’t we be wearing bermuda now!” Campaigning was marked by images of Banerjee in a wheelchair with a thick cast on her leg after she was injurted during electioneering.

    Actors Lovely Moitra and Kanchan Mallick, winners from Sonarpur Dakshin and Uttarpara seats respectively, attributed the victory to ‘Didi’ and said they will always be on the side of people in their constituencies.

  • Didi returns: Bengal did choose its own daughter, and embraced so many more

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Large hoardings put up by the TMC which screamed ‘Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaye’ (Bengal wants her own daughter) in the run-up to the assembly polls were possibly installed with an eye on the decisive 49 per cent female electorate in the state, whose votes were being wooed both by Bengal tigress Mamata Banerjee and rival BJP.

    By the afternoon of May 2, it was loud and clear that women as well as men in West Bengal had not just chosen one daughter – Mamata Banerjee – but several others.

    Women candidates, irrespective of their political affiliation, are basking in electoral glory, with several female nominees emerging triumphant in the high-octane elections, including TMC’s Ratna Chatterjee, Shashi Panja and Chandrima Bhattacharya, and BJP’s Agnimitra Paul, Chandana Bauri and Tapasi Mondal.

    The Trinamool Congress had fielded as many as 50 women candidates this time, while the Bharatiya Janata Party nominated around 37, and both positioned women-centric issues at the heart of their poll campaigns.

    Bhattacharya, the TMC’s winning candidate from Dum Dum Uttar, asserted that her party has always been sensitive to the needs of women, and will continue to empower them.

    “Our poll manifesto has multiple programs for women, including monthly stipend. A lot has been done by our government to ensure that men and women are treated as equals.”

    “The TMC will continue to do its bit for them in the days to come,” said Bhattacharya, who defeated her nearest rival of the BJP, Archana Majumdar, by 28,499 votes.

    Echoing her, Chatterjee, the ruling party’s winner from Behala Purba, said the TMC boss, being a woman, identifies with the problems faced by the state’s women electorate.

    “She is a self-made leader, and would want every woman in the state to become self-reliant, too. The TMC has floated several schemes with an eye on improving living standards of women, prioritised their health and education. As an MLA, I would also strive to uplift the condition of women in my constituency,” Chatterjee said.

    Women’s issues have been a rallying point for both the TMC and its bitter opponent, the BJP, ahead of the elections, with the Mamata Banerjee camp underscoring its welfare schemes such as Swasthya Sathi and Kanyashree, and the saffron party harping on the Centres Ujjwala Yojana.

    “If one woman can show the resolve to fight all- powerful politicians from Delhi on her own, why should the women electorate not take inspiration and be a part of her battle? “Her women nominees deserved every single vote the mothers, daughters and sisters of Bengal gave them,” said Sabita Halder, who exercised her franchise from the Dum Dum Uttar constituency.

    “As a woman, I felt ashamed at Dilip Ghosh’s (Bengal BJP chief) ‘Bermuda’ jibe at Mamata. PM Narendra Modi’s sarcastic ‘Didi o didi’ tone for her was also completely unwarranted. I am sure other women voters, too, took umbrage at such discourse,” Seema Pramanik, a PhD engaged in research work, who voted from the Sonarpur Dakshin constituency, said.

    A video clip of Ghosh apparently suggesting Mamata Banerjee should wear Bermuda shorts to display her injured leg had triggered controversy and outrage back in March.

    According to political analyst Udayan Banerjee, BJP’s aggressive election machinery did work to an extent, and the party managed to pocket some of the prized seats in the state.

    What, however, went against the saffron camp were the barbs its leaders aimed at Banerjee, some of which were in poor taste, he said.

    “The bermuda taunt did not go down well with women voters, who have in large numbers voted for Banerjee and her party. Modi also received flak from several quarters for her ‘Didi o didi’ exclamation in his election speeches. Goes without saying, Bengal did not take kindly to those jibes,” Banerjee added.

    The BJP had also tried to curry favour with Muslim women by patting itself on the back for the initiative to abolish instant triple talaq – branding the move as a step taken towards emancipating them from the clutches of dogmatic practices.

    Asked about the saffron partys persistent claims that women were unsafe in Bengal, Chatterjee — who trounced BJPs Payal Sarkar by 37,428 votes — stated, “Bengal has never experienced a Hathras-like episode, and hopefully it never will.

    “BJP should first check crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi before pointing fingers at our state. Women in Bengal are safer than in most other places in the country.”

    A senior BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, claimed that lack of a chief ministerial face or an aggressive woman leader to fight Banerjee has also been a major drawback for his party.

  • Bengal violence: NCW asks DGP to probe incidents of attack on women; Mamata holds emergency meeting

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday said it has taken suo motu cognisance of videos purportedly showing women being beaten up in West Bengal’s Nandigram after the assembly election in the state.

    West Bengal was in the throes of widespread violence on Monday that allegedly left several BJP workers dead and injured in clashes, and shops being looted, prompting the Centre to seek a factual report from the state government on the incidents of attack on opposition workers.

    In a letter to the director general of police (DGP) of the state, the NCW has sought immediate action against those accused in the violence, and demanded a time-bound investigation in the matter.

    “The National Commission for Women (NCW) has come across several Twitter posts wherein some goons can be seen beating up women in Nandigram, West Bengal, post elections. The commission is deeply perturbed and has viewed this incident seriously as it questions the safety and security of women in the state,” a statement from the commission said.

    ALSO READ | Bengal violence: Trinamool worker stabbed to death in Ketugram; security provided to returning officer of Nandigram

    “Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to Director General of Police, West Bengal, to take immediate action and arrest the accused persons without any delay,” it added.

    A team headed by the NCW chairperson will be visiting West Bengal for further inquiry into the matter, the statement said.

    Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a meeting with the top administrative and police officers of the state on the post poll violence in the state, an official said.

    In the meeting, which was held at Banerjee’s Kalighat residence. She took stock of the situation, he told PTI.

    Present in the meeting were Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, Home Secretary H K Dwidevi, Director General of Police P Nirajnayan and Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra, the official said.

    The state has witnessed a number of incidents of violence since Sunday when the results of the assembly election was declared and rivals TMC and BJP have traded charges for it.

    At least six people were killed in post poll violence in different parts of the state including one in the city, police said.

    ALSO READ | ‘PM called me, expressed anguish over Bengal’s law and order situation’: Governor on post-poll violence

    BJP has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked its woman members, vandalised houses, looted shops of the party members and ransacked party offices.

    TMC has denied the charges.

    West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had telephoned him and expressed anguish over the law and order situation in the state following reports of post-poll violence from several districts.

    Banerjee had on Sunday asked people to show restraint and not be involved in any form of violence.

    The union home ministry had on Monday sought a factual report from the government on attacks on opposition workers and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had summoned state Home Secretary, DGP and Kolkata Commissioner of Police and directed them to restore peace.

  • Bengal polls: Despite wooing by both BJP and Trinamool, Matuas choose to split votes

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janata Party in its electoral mathematics for Bengal had counted on the 3 million strong Vaishnavite Matua community spread over the districts of Nadia, South and North 24 Parganas as a major vote bank, with the Prime Minister taking time not only to pay repeated visits to Matua dominated constituencies but even to a Matua shrine in neighbouring Bangladesh.

    However actual voting patterns showed that the Matuas did not vote en-bloc for any one party and preferred to split their vote between both the ruling TMC with which many in the community had good relations them as well as BJP which had launched a charm offensive aimed at the community.

    The saffron party had left no stone unturned to win the Matua community’s favour.

    Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders held a series of public meetings in Matua areas.

    The community has the highest concentration in North 24 Parganas and Nadia, along with some places in South 24 Parganas district, but has adherents in other districts and in large parts of western Bangadesh too.

    Hailing from the Namashudra, a scheduled caste, adherents of this Vaishnavite sect are followers of Harichand Thakur a 19th century Vaishnavite reformer.

    While the original seat of the Matua Mahasangha was in Oraikandi in Bangladesh where Thakur was born, Indian Matuas have set up their sects inner sanctum in a new township called Thakurnagar, in North 24 parganas, near the border with Bangladesh.

    However, despite the BJP launching a campaign blitzkrieg in North 24 Parganas, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah holding public meetings to win the hearts of the Matuas, the party could win only five seats out of 33 seats in North 24 Parganas, with TMC accounting for an overwhelming 28 seats.

    It won in Bongaon Uttar, Bongaon Dakshin, Bagda, Gaighata, all of which have a sizeable presence of Matuas and are reserved for the SC communities, apart from Bhatpara.

    All the four constituencies are situated near the Bangladesh border and have a good percentage of refugees from the neighbouring country.

    The BJP-nominated Subrata Thakur, belonging to the family that runs the Matua Mahasangha, won from Gaighata with a margin of 9,578 votes.

    The BJP made a good showing in Nadia, where it won nine out of 17 constituencies, while TMC bagged eight seats.

    However, the spread of BJPs influence in Nadia pre-dates the partys wooing of the Matua community.

    The saffron party won all the five seats reserved for scheduled caste communities in the district – Krishnaganj, Ranaghat Uttar Purba, Ranaghat Dakshin, Haringhata and Kalyani, all of which have a high concentration of Matua voters.

    The Matua community, after the death of their matriarch Binapani Devi, popularly known as “Boro Ma” in March 2019, has split into two groups.

    While one has sided with the TMC, the other seems to have favoured the BJP.

    Both the BJP and the TMC have wooed the Thakur family, descendants of Harichand Thakur to gain the support of Matuas.

    The prime minister, Union Home Minister and several cabinet ministers have visited the Matua Mahasangha headquarters, while the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee too has often spoken of her close relations with “Boro Ma”.

    Shah in his campaign stressed implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in West Bengal and grant of citizenship to Matuas, many of whom had moved in from Bangladesh as refugees.

    Addressing a rally at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas, where the Matua Mahasangha is headquartered, Shah had in February said that the process of granting Indian citizenship to refugees under the CAA will begin once the process of Covid vaccination ended.

    TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has opposed the CAA and NRC tooth and nail, also held a number of public meetings in the Matua dominated constituencies of Nadia and North 24 Parganas, stressing that they are already citizens of the country and do not need to go through the process again.

    Besides, the 28 seats TMC won in North 24 Parganas, the party also won all the 31 seats in South 24 Parganas, where the Matuas have a presence in quite a few seats.

  • No place for violence in democracy, Mamata Banerjee should control it: Congress attacks Trinamool

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: After the BJP and the CPI-M, the Congress also condemned the post-poll violence in West Bengal by TMC cadres, saying such incidents were unacceptable and people of the state have not voted for lawlessness.

    Congress’ West Bengal incharge Jitin Prasada alleged on Tuesday that his party cadres were attacked by Trinamool Congress workers and even women and children were not spared.

    “The post-poll violence that has been unleashed by the TMC on the Congress workers is unacceptable. Even women and children are not spared. I’m sure the people of West Bengal did not vote for this lawlessness,” Prasad said on Twitter.

    He said the duty of every politician or public servant is to speak up against “all wrongs and stand by their cadre irrespective of which ideology one belongs to”.

    Asked about the post-poll violence taking place in West Bengal after the Trinamool Congress’ victory in the state, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said his party never condones such violence.

    “Congress has never supported any kind of violence. The Congress party never condones or supports any kind of violence. There is no place for violence in a democracy,” he said.

    “We expect that if Mamata Banerjee has received so much love and votes in Bengal, she should control the violence,” he said.

    The Congress leader said, “Even if those who have died are BJP workers, our condolences are with their families”.

    The BJP has charged that the state is burning due to state-sponsored violence and several of its workers have been assaulted and murdered.

    The Left has also claimed that its workers have been targeted.

    “Are these reports of gruesome violence in Bengal TMC’s “victory celebrations’? Condemnable.”

    “Will be resisted & rebuffed. Instead of focusing on combating the pandemic TMC unleashes such mayhem,” CPI(M) leader had Sitaram Yechury tweeted.

  • ‘Remember, Trinamool MPs, CM also have to come to Delhi’: Parvesh Singh’s ‘warning’ after Bengal violence

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Monday alleged that Trinamool Congress “goons” assaulted his party workers in West Bengal after the TMC’s victory in the state polls, and issued a “warning” to the rival party — TMC MPs, chief minister and MLAs will also have to come to Delhi.

    “An election involves wins or losses, no murder,” the West Delhi BJP MP said in a tweet in Hindi, tagging TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

    “TMC goons killed our (BJP) workers as soon as their party won the elections. They broke the vehicles of BJP workers and are setting their house on fire. “Remember!” he said in his tweet, “TMC MPs, Chief Minister and MLAs will also have to come to Delhi and they should take this as a warning. An election involves wins or losses, no murder.”

    Earlier in the day, BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya accused the Trinamool Congress of “sponsoring” violence against his party workers following the TMC’s victory in West Bengal polls.

    Vijayvargiya, who is in West Bengal, said BJP president J P Nadda may visit the state on Tuesday as an expression of solidarity with the party workers.

    Four BJP workers have been killed and over 4,000 houses ransacked in incidents of post-poll violence, he alleged.

  • Bengal burning due to state-sponsored violence: BJP hits out at Mamata government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday attacked the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC over the alleged killing of its party workers in West Bengal, and charged that the state is burning due to state-sponsored violence.

    Comparing the TMC with Nazis, the BJP dubbed the government is Bengal as fascist.

    The BJP on Monday had alleged that four of its workers were killed in West Bengal by TMC workers after the state assembly poll results.

    Banerjee led her party Trinamool Congress to a massive win in the West Bengal assembly elections announced on Sunday.

    Addressing a virtual press conference here, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra charged that, “Bengal is burning because of state-sponsored violence. Such scenes have never been witnessed in the country’s electoral history.”

    He said one should be gracious after winning polls while terming the violence in Bengal as painful and saddening.

    Speaking at the same press conference, another party leader and its candidate in the West Bengal assembly polls Anirban Ganguly said people who voted for the TMC in Bengal should ask whether whatever happening in Bengal is right.

    “Whatever the TMC is doing is very close to Nazi Germany’s fascism. This is a fascist government. Such incidents do not take place in a democratic government,” Ganguly said and asked where are the political leaders of other opposition parties and why are they silent about this.

    Expressing anger over the alleged killing of party workers, Patra said 2.28 crore Bengalis voted for the BJP and asked is it not their democratic right to vote for any party?.

    “Mamata Ji you have won and everyone has congratulated you for it. You are a woman and the daughter of Bengal. Aren’t these women who are being killed and raped daughters of Bengal? Do they deserve this?” asks Patra.

    He said the party will firmly stand behind BJP workers in Bengal and support them in this hour.

    “BJP president JP Nadda Ji will personally visit them. The same Nadda Ji, who was attacked by TMC goons earlier,” he said.