News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Regional leaders in limelight after BJP’s poor poll showing

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s power packed performance in Bengal defeating the BJP, as well as the victory by DMK and LDF win in Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively, has brought to limelight strong regional leaders, but at the national level the Opposition still lacks the power and cohesion needed to take on the BJP with majority of regional leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Banerjee, having personal ambitions.

    NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy congratulated Banerjee for taking on PM Narendra Modi.

    Banerjee during the peak of the election had reached out to the opposition to join hands to defeat the BJP in Bengal.

    However, the Congress and Left decided to contest against the Trinamool and BJP in the state.

    Hailing her as “Bengal Tigress” who single-handedly fought for the self-respect of Bengal and led her party to victory in the assembly elections, Thackeray said: “Didi was fighting a lone battle to uphold the pride of the people of Bengal. All forces converged to ensure her defeat, yet, she emerged victoriously. I congratulate her & the people of WB. Now let us all keep politics aside & focus on our battle against Covid.”

    Mamata’s spectacular win against the BJP has vaulted her to the national league.

    Pawar, who is considered as someone who could unite opposition parties under a coalition, wished her, “Congratulations Mamata Banerjee on your stupendous victory. Let us continue our work towards the welfare of people and tackling the pandemic collectively”.

    Any possible opposition coalition in future would depend upon the role played by strong regional parties and if their leaders will be able keep aside personal ambitions. With the Congress slowly leaving the space to regional parties, unifying such strong leaders would be a challenge.

  • Mamata Banerjee thinks big, preps to become face of Opposition in 2024 Lok Sabha polls

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Her image of a “street fighter” firmly established following TMC’s thumping win over the BJP in the West Bengal Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee will now try to galvanise other parties to fight against the saffron brigade in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    Set to be sworn in as the chief minister of the state for the third time on Wednesday, she said her party will celebrate the landslide victory at Kolkata’s famed Brigade Parade Ground, but only after the Covid-19 situation gets better. Leaders from other states will be invited to her victory parade.

    “I am a street fighter. I can boost people so that we can fight against BJP. One cannot do everything alone. I think all together, we can fight the battle for 2024. But let’s fight Covid first,” said Mamata on Monday.

    ALSO READ: Bengal tigress Mamata Banerjee overtrumps Hindutva card

    Mamata’s statement is seen as an indication that she is going to play a key role in mobilising other forces and bring them together on a common platform to challenge the mighty BJP.

    With an impressive performance in the Assembly elections where her party bagged 213 seats, the West Bengal chief minister is going to play a role in national politics, said a TMC leader.

    Mamata said many political leaders and chief ministers called and congratulated her. “But this is the first time I have not received any call from the Prime Minister. He may be busy with other affairs,” said Mamata who suffered a narrow loss in Nandigram under controversial circumstances.

    ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee – From Bengal’s daughter to the nation’s Didi

    Mamata’s announcement of inviting the leaders from other states is said to be aimed at forming an alternative force against BJP.

    During the elections, she wrote to several chief ministers and leaders, who are not part of the NDA, asking them to unite against the Centre’s decisions which are “against the interest of the common people”.

    On the day of the Bengal election results, Mamata tried to build pressure on the Central government on the vaccine issue.

    She threatened a sit-in demonstration if the Centre doesn’t give free vaccines to all the citizens of India. She is also among the opposition leaders who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday demanding free vaccination.

    “About Rs 30,000 crore is required to give free vaccines to all and allotting that amount is not an issue for the Central government. BJP has spent huge money in Bengal elections. Had they used a part of it, people would have got free vaccines,” Mamata said. The Congress-Left wipeout

  • Three TMC workers, one BJP supporter killed in post-poll clashes in Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman

    By PTI
    BURDWAN: Four people were allegedly killed in clashes between the TMC and the BJP in West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district after the election results were announced, official sources said on Monday.

    The Trinamool Congress claimed three of its supporters were killed by the BJP, which rejected the allegations, saying the incidents were the result of “people’s resistance”.

    A few TMC supporters were on the way to Nabagram in the Jamalpur police station area on their motorcycles in the afternoon when they were allegedly attacked in Odishapara by BJP workers, local sources said.

    They were thrashed and their bikes vandalised, the TMC alleged.

    ALSO READ | MHA asks West Bengal government to send report on post-poll political violence in state

    The injured were taken to different hospitals for treatment.

    Shahjahan Shah (38) and Bibhash Bag (30) were declared dead when taken to the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

    Kakali Khsetrapal (47) was declared dead when taken to the Jamalpur Hospital, local sources said.

    The TMC claimed Shahjahan and Bibhash were their supporters.

    TMC block president Mehmood Khan said, “BJP workers carried out the attack in a planned manner. They are taking to violence in different places.”

    The BJP said Kakali was a supporter of the party who was allegedly killed in the attack.

    “TMC activists came to the area shouting ‘Joy Bangla’ and ‘Khela Hobe’ slogans around 11 am. They came to attack us but we built a counter-resistance and then they fled,” said Ashish Kshetrapal, the BJP’s chief of the Nabgram area.

    “A while later they returned through another route and came to my house. They attacked my family members and my mother died in the attack. TMC supporters also vandalised and looted 17-18 houses in the area. My father and uncle were also injured in the attack,” he alleged.

    ALSO READ | Nandigram poll officer feared for his life, so did not give recounting order: Mamata Banerjee

    Police said 23 people have been detained in connection with the incident and a huge contingent of central forces have been deployed in the area.

    An officer of Jamalpur police station said the situation was under control.

    In another incident in Samaspur in the Raina police station area, a 55-year-old man was killed in TMC-BJP clashes on Sunday night.

    According to local sources, clashes broke out in the village between the two sides after the election results were announced.

    Ganesh Mallick, known in the area as TMC supporter, was injured after being hit by bamboo sticks.

    He was admitted to the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital where he died, sources said.

    “My father was discussing the results of the election with a few others when BJP workers attacked them. My father was thrashed with a bamboo stick,” his son Manoj said.

    “I demand stringent punishment for those involved,” he added.

    BJP’s district general secretary Shyamal Roy said this incident is not at all political but a family dispute.

    “BJP was being linked to it unnecessarily,” he said.

    TMC’s district spokesperson Prosenjit Das said the BJP was resorting to violence in various areas after losing the election.

    ALSO WATCH:

    TMC supporters were also accused of vandalising the homes and shops of BJP workers in various parts of Galshi after the results were announced.

    Several shops belonging to BJP supporters were vandalized in and around Ramgopalpur, Shirrai and Karakdal.

    Several people were also beaten up.

    Locals alleged that no action was taken even after the police were informed.

  • MHA asks West Bengal government to send report on post-poll political violence in state

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday sought a report from the West Bengal government on post-poll violence targeting opposition workers in the state.

    Political workers, including from BJP, were allegedly targeted by opponents since the announcement of results for the 292-member West Bengal assembly where the ruling Trinamool Congress emerged victorious.

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

    The BJP has alleged that one of its party offices in Hooghly district was set on fire, and some of its leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, were heckled by TMC activists in other parts of the state.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged her supporters to maintain peace and asked them not to fall prey to provocations.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Mamata Banerjee to be sworn in as Bengal CM on May 5; will move court over Nandigram verdict

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for a third consecutive term on May 5, senior party leader Partha Chatterjee confirmed.

    The newly-elected MLAs of the Trinamool Congress unanimously elected Banerjee as the legislative party leader at a meeting here, its secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said.

    The TMC legislators elected the speaker in the outgoing House, Biman Banerjee, as the pro-tem speaker in the new Assembly.

    “The newly-elected members will take oath in the Assembly from May 6,” Chatterjee told reporters at the party headquarters here after the meeting of the legislators.

    The BJP emerged as the main opposition party with 77 seats under its belt, while incumbent TMC has won 213 of the 292 seats where polling was held in eight phases in March and April.

    ALSO READ | West Bengal Assembly Election results: Nandigram swung like a pendulum

    The party is set to return for a third term after registering a resounding win overall but Nandigram remained a bone of contention with a neck-and-neck tussle between CM Mamata Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

    ALSO WATCH:

    Banerjee, who lost to Adhikari in the constituency by a narrow margin, has decided to move court over the verdict after the Election Commission refused its request for a recount.

    READ MORE HERE | Mamata loses Nandigram but wins election ‘khela’ of the decade in Bengal at a canter

    “How come the EC reversed the Nandigram result after formally announcing it? We will move court, she said at a press meet. 

    The TMC supremo also stated that this is the first time she didn’t receive a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was spearheading BJP’s campaign in the poll-bound state.

    It is for the second time in succession that Banerjee powered her party to two-thirds majority in the state assembly.

    Importantly, Trinamool Congress has refrained from celebrations amid surging coronavirus cases in the state and decided to hold a victory march once the pandemic is over.

    (With inputs from Online Desk)

  • Nandigram poll officer feared for his life, so did not give recounting order: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Monday that the returning officer of Nandigram feared for his life and so he did not give a recounting order.

    Addressing a press meet, Banerjee reiterated that she will move court over the election result in Nandigram where she lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

    Banerjee made public a purported SMS from the Nandigram Returning Officer to a CEO official, claiming that he had expressed fear that if he ordered recounting he would face serious consequences, and may even have to die by suicide.

    “How come EC reverse Nandigram result after formally announcing it? We will move court against this,” she said.

    “Why was the server down for four hours? We are willing to accept people’s mandate but if the result of one place has anomalies, there may be something beyond what appears. We have to seek the truth,” she added.

    ALSO WATCH:

    Banerjee urged her supporters to maintain peace amid reports of violence from some areas, asking 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 said.

    Banerjee alleged that some of the police officers worked in a partisan manner against the TMC during the elections.

    ALSO READ | Mamata Banerjee to meet Bengal Guv to stake claim to form govt; to move court over Nandigram verdict

    Hitting out at the Election Commission, she claimed that the BJP would not have crossed the 50-mark in its tally if the poll panel would not have helped it.

    The chief minister again demanded that every citizen of the country should be given free vaccines by the Centre.

    “They are sending vaccine and oxygen to two-three states.

    Why so? Every state should get its due.

    I have heard that in Gujarat, vaccine is being given from the BJP party office.

    Does they (BJP) have any expertise in giving vaccines?” she claimed.

    Replying to a question, Banerjee said her priority is fighting the pandemic and would think about her role in the national elections of 2024 once the COVID-19 crisis is over.

    “I am just a street fighter.

    I can boost the morale of the people, so that we can fight a strong fight against the BJP.

    One cannot do everything alone and it should be a collective effort.

    If collectively we can take a decision, together we can fight the battle of 2024.

    But, first let us fight this COVID crisis and then we will decide on this.

    Now is not the time,” she said.

    Banerjee also claimed that the Left was unable to get back the votes that it lost to the BJP, leading to its further downfall.

    “I may have political differences with them (Left) but I did not want to see them getting zero.

    It would have been better if they got the votes back from the BJP.

    They favoured the BJP so much that they became a signboard.

    They need to think about this.

    Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPIM-L) did not do this,” she said.

    The chief minister said that she did not get the customary call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her victory in the elections.

    “This is the first time I saw a prime minister not calling.

    It is ok, he may be busy.

    I did not take it in sentiment,” she said.

    PTI SUS AMR SOM SOM 05031714 NNNN

  • West Bengal Assembly Election results: Nandigram swung like a pendulum

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Nandigram, the epicentre of the high-octane West Bengal Assembly elections in East Midnapore, witnessed a nail-biting drama on who would be the winner Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or her once trusted lieutenant-turned-foe Suvendu Adhikari.

    The drama continued till the last round when news of Mamata’s victory came in, but minutes later, Suvendu’s victory by 1,956 votes was announced.

    While the returning officer rejected Trinamool’s request for a recount, the party asked the chief election officer to reconsider it.

    Accepting the verdict in Nandigram: Mamata

    Hinting at her defeat, Mamata said in the evening that she was not happy with the counting process in Nandigram.

    “I accept the verdict in Nandigram. I offer my salaam to the people of Nandigram. I will move to court, if necessary, to review the result. It is a minor issue for a party that is wining in 221 seats,” she said. Mamata had changed her constituency and decided to contest in Nandigram to take on Suvendu in his home turf.

    The decision bolstered the morale of Trinamool’s supporters not only in East Midnapore, but also across the state. She, on, Sunday pointed out that some “small sacrifices’’ are sometimes required for larger gains.

    “Whatever has happened has happened for the good. I won’t have to visit such a long distance to look after the constituency,’’ she said while referring to Nandigram. In the first five rounds, Suvendu secured a lead of more than 10,000 votes but the Trinamool camps appeared relaxed.

    They said the rounds covered the areas dominated by Hindu voters. After the sixth round, Mamata started gaining votes and both the candidates started overpowering each other after every alternate round.

    The tension among the supporters of the TMC and the BJP reached its peak when Suvendu secured a lead of just six votes after the 16th of a total of 17 rounds. In the last round, the rebel TMC leader and BJP’s star candidate secured his win. The TMC, however, demanded recounting in Nandigram.

  • Mamata loses Nandigram but wins election ‘khela’ of the decade in Bengal at a canter

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Soon after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee injured her left foot in Nandigram, allegedly at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party, she often referred to herself as a wounded Bengal tiger.

    Ranged against her was the combined might of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and the seemingly unstoppable BJP election juggernaut. But in the end, it was the saffron party that was left to licks its wounds as Mamata won the election ‘khela’ of the decade at a canter.

    The Trinamool Congress sealed a bigger mandate than in 2016 in the state. The BJP, its principal rival, was way behind with less than even 100 seats and far short of its projected tally of 200.

    The election results were also a reversal of the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, where when translated into assembly seats, the BJP was ahead in 121. These results had upped the BJP’s tail and it had hoped to build on it to mount a challenge this time around, especially after it made deep inroads into the Dalit-dominated Junglemahal area and north Bengal.

    In Junglemahal, the BJP led in 21 of the 27 seats in 2019, in north Bengal the saffron party had led in 35 of the 54 seats. But this time, the results got reversed. The Trinamool won 20 seats in Junglemahal and 27 in north Bengal.

    A prominent feature of the West Bengal elections was that it became a two-horse race between the Trinamool and the BJP, reducing the Left Front and the Congress as mere also-rans. The Left, which ruled the state for 34 years before Mamata’s advent, and the Congress failed to open their accounts.

    Bengal Poll Results Highlights | Didi and Joy Bangla reign despite Suvendu trumping Mamata in Nandigram

    Their candidates fell like nine pins even in their strongholds of Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur, comprising 49 seats. The Trinamool secured leads in 38 seats mainly because of the consolidation of the minority voters, who are a deciding factor in the region.

    The traditional minority vote bank of the Congress and the Left in the four districts shifted its loyalty to the ruling party because of the BJP’s Hindutva rhetoric.

    The saffron party also paid the price for fielding as many as 148 Trinamool turncoats, including 18 MLAs.

    This had resulted in two things: one, it put off many voters as they viewed the Trinamool leaders as highly corrupt.

    “If the BJP had to field the same corrupt leaders then how is it different from the Trinamool” was the common refrain among the voters.

    Second, the Trinamool turncoats angered many of the older saffron party workers, who had toiled against the ruling party and its corruption. This had even led to violence in the run-up to the elections.

    The Trinamool also appeared to have successfully portrayed the BJP as a party of outsiders. Time and again Mamata had asked voters to choose between a local woman, meaning herself, and the Hindi-speaking leaders of the BJP.

    Congratulations to Mamata Didi for @AITCofficial’s win in West Bengal. The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfil people’s aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. @MamataOfficial
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 2, 2021

    Utter ruin for Congress and the Left Front

    For the first time since Independence, the Left Front and Congress failed to secure victory in a single seat in West Bengal. 

    In 2016, Left had won 26 seats and Congress 44. Inspired by that, they again formed an alliance. Perhaps including the Indian Secular Front headed by a Muslim cleric made them unpopular with the voters. 

    The tally of both parties has come down to zero. Now, the Left Front has no representative in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly. For a party that ruled Bengal for 36 years, this is one massive fall. 

  • Mamata Banerjee: From Bengal’s daughter to the nation’s Didi

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Striving to prove that “Bangla nijer meyekei chaye” (Bengal wants its own daughter), she continues her stride in the political spectrum of the nation that began in 1975 making the headlines by dancing on the car of the most influential leaders of that time Jayaprakash Narayan as a mark of protest.

    Forty-six years have passed since then; her fighting spirit continues to shine in Indian politics. She is ‘Nation’s Didi’ Mamata Banerjee.

    She became the chief minister of West Bengal in 2011 by ending the 34-year-long CPI(M) regime, one of the longest-serving elected governments in the world. Now after ruling the state for two successive terms, the game of throne of 2021 was not less than a do-or-die situation for her.

    It is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that trespassed her dominion after gaining overwhelming results from the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. And, the emergence of the Left-Congress-ISF alliance made the situation more complicated for her.

    Mamata endorsed her governance as the rule of three ‘M’s, that is, ‘Maa’, ‘Mati’ and ‘Manush’ (mother, soil and people). But, the Bengal elections had another 3M factor this time, that is, ‘Mamata’, ‘Modi’ and ‘Muslim’. So, Mamata’s challenge was to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity in Bengal at one side and regain her support base of the minority community that was impacted by ISF and stepping in of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.

    Making the power battle more interesting, Mamata chose Nandigram over her home turf Bhabanipur seat this time to test her fate in the 2021 elections. It was the agitation in Nandigram and Singur against the Left government’s land acquisition policies that made Mamata Banerjee the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

    Further, Mamata’s poll campaign this time got a new dimension with a wheelchair after she suffered an injury in March, 2021 while campaigning in Nandigram.

    It is worth mentioning that the West Bengal Chief Minister spared no dais to launch scathing attacks on Prime Minister Modi. However, the Modi-Mamata battle was quite visible even before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She played an instrumental role in bringing together all opposition parties against the Centre prior to the 2019 general elections.

    ALSO READ | Bengal elections 2021: Rallies lead to sharp rise in COVID-19 cases

    The seventh-term MP also has been among the first key figures who heavily criticised the central government in issues starting from demonetisation to Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and lockdown to fuel prices. Her fighting spirit and mass appeal have made her one the tallest opposition figures in the current political arena.

    Mamata Banerjee started her political career as a Youth Congress worker in the 1970s. She quickly rose the ranks and became the general secretary of Mahila Congress and later All India Youth Congress. In 1984 she was elwinected as a member of parliament in the 8th Lok Sabha becoming one of India’s youngest parliamentarians. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress in 1997 after a disagreement with Congress.

    Mamata Banerjee worked with three Prime Ministers including PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh. She had been a Union Minister in both National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments and held portfolios like Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, Women and Child Development, Coal and Mines and the Railways. Notably, she was the first woman to become a railway minister in the country. The Time Magazine named her among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.

    Hailing from a lower-middle-class family, Mamata Banerjee worked as a milk booth vendor to battle poverty. Her father passed away due to the lack of treatment when she was just 17. The fighter in her never let the barriers dominate her. She continued her education and earned a Bachelor’s degree in History, a Master’s degree in Islamic History and degrees in Education and Law from the University of Calcutta. She also worked as a stenographer and a private tutor before joining full-time politics.

    Another disposition of Mamata Banerjee is her minimalist lifestyle. Despite being the Chief Minister, she still lives in her ancestral terracotta-tiled roof house at Kolkata’s Harish Chatterjee Street. White cotton sarees having mono-colour borders and slippers are all that define the fashion statement of Mamata Banerjee.

    The West Bengal Chief Minister is also a self-taught painter, poet and writer. She has authored more than 100 books. She is also tech-savvy and remains active on social media. The Trinamool Supremo is also known for her walkathons or marches. Here it needs to be mentioned that she walks five-six kilometres on a treadmill every day. When it comes to evening snack time, she likes to have tea, puffed rice and ‘aloo chop’.

    As the ‘Khela’ of power in West Bengal ended with the completion of vibrant eight-phased state assembly elections on Thursday, all eyes are on the counting of votes that will take place on Sunday. 

  • BJP’s Kailash Vijayavargiya makes U-turn, says Mamata behind TMC’s astounding performance

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Sunday credited Mamata Banerjee for the TMC’s astounding performance in Bengal elections, and said his party would introspect the poll results.

    Earlier in the day, he had claimed that initial trends were not the real indicators of the final outcome, and exuded confidence that his party will win the elections.

    Vijayvargiya, who is also the BJP’s Bengal minder, also said that he has received a call from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who enquired about the party’s poor show.

    The senior BJP leader stated that he was shocked to see BJP MPs Babul Supriyo and Locket Chatterjee trailing.

    FOLLOW POLL RESULTS HERE

    “The TMC won because of Mamata Banerjee. It seems people have chosen Didi. We will introspect what went wrong, whether it was organisational issues, lack of face, insider- outsider debate. We will see what went wrong,” he said.

    The ruling TMC looks set to retain power in West Bengal with its candidates leading in 201 of the state’s 292 constituencies that went to polls against BJP’s 82, according to the trends available for 287 seats on Election Commission website at 3pm.