News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Mamata has severe injuries to her ankle, right shoulder, neck, confirms doctor

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Preliminary medical tests conducted on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee late on Wednesday night detected severe bone injuries in her left ankle and foot, and injuries in right shoulder, forearm and neck, a senior doctor of the state-run SSKM hospital said.

    Doctors at the hospital decided to closely monitor Banerjee, who has been complaining of chest pain and breathlessness since the alleged attack at Nandigram in Purba Medinipore district earlier in the evening, for the next 48 hours, he said.

    The Trinamool Congress chief has slight fever and has been shifted to aspecial ward at the hospital’s VVIP Woodburn Block soon after the MRI at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, he added.

    “We will keep her under observation for the next 48 hours. There will be more tests needed to be done, and after evaluating her condition we will decide on our next course of treatment,” a doctor, part of the team treating Banerjee, told PTI.

    Doctors conducted x-ray on the chief minister as soon as she was taken there from Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district on Wednesday night.

    She is undergoing treatment at the 12.5 special cabin of Woodburn Block of the SSKM hospital.

    The state government has constituted a team of five senior doctors to treat Banerjee.

    The team consists of one cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a general surgery doctor, an orthopedist and a medicine doctor.

    ALSO READ | ‘Attack’ on Mamata: Theatrics for public sympathy, says Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

    Banerjee sustained injuries on her left leg and waist as she fell on the ground after she was allegedly pushed by unknown miscreants while campaigning for assembly elections in Nandigram.

    Earlier, Banerjee had filed her nomination to contest the ensuing assembly elections from Nandigram seat.

    Meanwhile, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited Mamata and sought a report from the administration on the incident.

    Dhankhar spoke to Banerjee over the phone shortly after the incident and later visited her at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, where she was admitted.

    A highly-placed source told PTI that the governor was in the chief minister’s cabin for around half an hour and she briefed Dhankhar about the incident.

    Senior Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Firhad Hakim and Derek O’Brien were outside the cabin during the one-on-one discussion, the source said.

    “Sought an update from Director, Security and Chief Secretary in matter. Health Secretary and Director of Hospital urged to take all caution,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    Banerjee has alleged that no local police personnel were near her when four-five men deliberately pushed her causing the injury.

    ALSO READ | Delhi CM Kejriwal condemns ‘attack’ on Mamata, says those responsible must be arrested

    In the tweet, the governor said that he had spoken to her at 6.40 pm soon after the incident was reported, while she was still at Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.

    Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with the West Bengal government over several issues, was greeted with “go back” slogans by Trinamool Congress supporters when he entered the hospital.

    He faced a similar situation when he left the hospital after more than half an hour, by which time the number of TMC supporters had multiplied at the premises.

    Banerjee submitted her nomination papers for Nandigram earlier in the day.

  • Amidst ‘go back’ slogans, Governor Dhankhar visits Mamata at hospital

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited an injured Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a hospital in Kolkata and sought a report from the administration on the incident.

    Banerjee is undergoing treatment at the SSKM Hospital for injuries on her left leg after she was allegedly pushed by unknown miscreants during campaign in Nandigram.

    Dhankhar spoke to Banerjee over the phone shortly after the incident and later visited her at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, where she was admitted.

    A highly-placed source told PTI that the governor was in the chief minister’s cabin for around half an hour and she briefed Dhankhar about the incident.

    Senior Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Firhad Hakim and Derek O’Brien were outside the cabin during the one-on-one discussion, the source said.

    “Sought an update from Director, Security and Chief Secretary in matter. Health Secretary and Director of Hospital urged to take all caution,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    ALSO READ: With Mamata in hospital, TMC supporters protest across Bengal

    Banerjee has alleged that no local police personnel were near her when four-five men deliberately pushed her causing the injury.

    In the tweet, the governor said that he had spoken to her at 6.

    40 pm soon after the incident was reported, while she was still at Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.

    Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with the West Bengal government over several issues, was greeted with “go back” slogans by Trinamool Congress supporters when he entered the hospital.

    He faced a similar situation when he left the hospital after more than half an hour, by which time the number of TMC supporters had multiplied at the premises.

    Banerjee submitted her nomination papers for Nandigram earlier in the day.

  • Mamata undergoes X-ray, MRI; doctors say closely monitoring condition

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee underwent X-ray imaging on Wednesday night at the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata where she was taken to following the alleged attack in Nandigram during an election campaign, doctors said.

    A portable X-ray machine was used for the imaging after she was taken to the special cabin number 12.5 at the Woodburn Ward of the state-run hospital, they said.

    The chief minister was then taken to the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences in the same complex for an MRI, a senior doctor said.

    “X-ray has been conducted on the chief minister’s left leg. We also wanted to conduct an MRI. After calculating the degree of her injury, the next step of treatment will be decided,” the doctor, who is part of the team treating Banerjee, told PTI.

    ALSO READ: With Mamata in hospital, TMC supporters protest across Bengal

    The chief minister might be taken back to the special ward after the MRI is over, he said.

    “We need to monitor her condition closely before deciding on discharging her,” the doctor said.

    The state government constituted a team of five senior doctors to treat Banerjee who was allegedly attacked in Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district during a poll campaign in the evening.

    ALSO READ: Delhi CM Kejriwal condemns ‘attack’ on Mamata, says those responsible must be arrested

    A cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a general surgery doctor, an orthopedist and a medicine doctor are part of the team.

    Banerjee alleged that she was pushed by four-five men, following which she fell flat on her face.

    She said that her left leg got swollen because of the injury and she was feeling feverish, besides having chest pain.

    The chief minister also has severe pain in the waist, her party TMC said.

  • ‘Few pushed the door, leg has swollen’: Mamata Banerjee injured in Nandigram, taken to hospital

    By PTI
    NANDIGRAM: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Wednesday that she was attacked by “four-five men” who manhandled her during the election campaign in Nandigram, because of which she was injured in the left leg.

    The incident happened in the evening when Banerjee was outside a temple in the Reyapara area.

    “I was standing outside my car with the door open. I was going to a temple there to offer my prayers. Few people came around my car and pushed the door. The door hit my leg,” she said.

    Banerjee alleged that she was pushed by four-five men while she was trying to get into the car, following which she fell flat on her face.

    The chief minister said that her leg got swollen because of the injury and she was feeling feverish, besides having chest pain.

    Pointing to her leg, she told reporters, “See how it has swollen.”

    “Some people deliberately did it. Of course, it is a conspiracy. There were no local policemen around me, neither the district police superintendent was present at the spot,” she alleged.

    The chief minister also has severe pain in the waist, TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, who is at present in Nandigram, said.

    Banerjee was seen being carried by her security personnel to the backseat of her SUV from the front seat, which she usually occupies during travel, as she was in pain.

    A white cloth was also wrapped around her injured leg.

    The incident triggered a security scare as the chief minister gets Z-plus protection.

    Banerjee, who was supposed to stay the night in Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district, was rushed back to Kolkata, around 130 km away, through a green corridor.

    #WATCH West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee shifted to the back seat of her vehicle after she claimed she was pushed by a few people and suffered a leg injury in Nandigram pic.twitter.com/49wTQ5ye5S
    — ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2021

    She was taken to the state-run SSKM Hospital for treatment.

    The state government constituted a team of five senior doctors to treat Banerjee, Health Department sources said.

    In the team were a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a general surgeon, an orthopedist and a general physician, they said.

    Banerjee was taken to the 12.5 special cabin in the Woodburn Block of the hospital on a stretcher as her convoy reached the hospital, amid a huge presence of her supporters who raised slogans against the BJP.

    “We will stabilise her first. An X-ray will be conducted on her leg. We need to find out the degree of her injury and then the course of our treatment will be decided,” a doctor at the hospital told PTI.

    The chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, a TMC MP, and state ministers Partha Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee were present at the hospital.

    State Health Secretary NS Nigam was also present.

    Banerjee was in Nandigram over the last two days to campaign for the upcoming elections.

    ALSO READ | ‘I am here to serve all: Mamata Banerjee prepares tea at roadside stall in Nandigram; visits temple, mausoleum

    Earlier in the day, she filed her nominations in Haldia.

    Banerjee is pitted from the seat against her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who switched over to the BJP a few months back.

    The TMC leadership claimed that the attack was a well-planned conspiracy to “remove her” from the poll campaign.

    “Many people don’t want her to campaign for the elections. They want her to be removed from their path. That is why she has been attacked by goons. People will give a befitting reply,” state minister and senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee said.

    The BJP alleged that Banerjee was trying to turn a “simple accident” into a “pre-planned conspiracy”, and demanded a CBI investigation.

    “It can happen that she met with an accident but to claim that she was deliberately pushed is not acceptable. She has a lot of security personnel guarding her round the clock,” BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

    “Such tactics to gain sympathy are unacceptable. I think the matter should be handed over to the CBI for an investigation,” he added.

    State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said such “tactics to gain sympathy” would not work this time.

    “Mamata Banerjee is the police minister of the state and if she is not safe then she should immediately resign from the post,” he said.

    CPI(M) candidate from Nandigram Minakshi Mukherjee wished her a speedy recovery, but asserted that “people would not be fooled this time”.

  • With Mamata in hospital, TMC supporters protest across Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supporters took to the streets across West Bengal, protesting against the alleged attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram on Wednesday evening.

    TMC supporters raised slogans against the BJP and protested at various places, including Sovabazar and Chetla in Kolkata, and Bally in Howrah.

    Protests were also held at Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman, Jalpaiguri, North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Paschim Medinipur.

    ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee injured in Nandigram, taken to hospital

    “We will continue the protests as our leader was mercilessly attacked in Nandigram. Until now, TMC supporters were being attacked, but today they dared to attack the chief minister,” a TMC supporter at the Chetla protest site said.

    In some areas, TMC workers also burnt tyres and blocked roads.

    A large number of TMC supporters gathered at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata as Banerjee was rushed to the medical facility from Nandigram, following the attack.

    The TMC supporters raised “go-back” slogans as Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar reached the hospital to visit Banerjee.

    Similar slogans were also raised when Dhankhar left the hospital after enquiring about the health of the chief minister.

    The governor spent more than half-an-hour at the hospital.

    Banerjee, who was campaigning in Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district over the last two days for the upcoming assembly elections, was allegedly attacked in the evening.

    Banerjee claimed that she was attacked by four-five men at Birulia, leading to a severe injury on her left leg, which has swollen.

    The opposition parties, including the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress, claimed that it was a “tactic to gain sympathy” ahead of the elections.

  • ‘Attack’ on Mamata: Theatrics for public sympathy, says Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that she was injured after being attacked by a few men, the Congress’ West Bengal unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday accused her of resorting to “hypocrisy and theatrics” to gain public sympathy ahead of the assembly polls.

    Chowdhury, who is also the Congress’ leader in Lok Sabha, said Banerjee is “feeling the heat” in Nandigram, from where she is contesting this time, and is thus resorting to “stunts and drama”.

    She has sensed her impending loss in Nandigram, thus there is a need to resort to such tactics, he said, adding it is unbelievable that the chief minister would get hurt even when the state police had “laid siege” on Nandigram during her visit.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo alleged that she was injured in the leg after being allegedly pushed by unidentified people near a temple at Reyapara area during campaigning at Nandigram, where the BJP has pitted her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari against her.

    Banerjee alleged that she was pushed by four to five men while she was trying to get into the car, following which fell flat on her face.

    “This is clearly political hypocrisy, which she is known for. She is feeling the political heat ahead of the elections as she fears that she might lose. She is doing these theatrics and drama to gain the sympathy of the public,” Chowdhury told reporters.

    He said it is strange that at the time she was allegedly attacked, no policeman was around her.

    “No one can believe that there is no police with Bengal’s ‘police mantri’. When the police have laid siege in Nandigram, some youth pushing the chief minister is unbelievable. 

    “Imagine the law-and-order situation for the common people of Bengal when the state’s ‘police mantri’ says she was attacked,” the West Bengal Congress chief said.

    Besides being the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee also holds charge of the Home and Hill Affairs department.

    This indicates that Mamata Banerjee’s position is weakening and she has resorted to theatrics, Chowdhury said, adding, “She is trying to play with the emotions of people.”

  • Bengal polls: CPM fields Minakshi Mukherjee against Mamata, Aishe Ghosh to contest from Jamuaria

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The Left Front on Wednesday announced its candidate list for 120 seats fielding JNU’s student wing president Aishe Ghosh in Jamuaria Assembly constituency in West Burdwan district. 

    In Nandigram, the party fielded its youth wing state president Minakshi Mukherjee from where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting.

    Earlier, the Left announced a candidate list for 39 Assembly seats.

    “This time, the young party members have been given priority. Nearly 70 per cent of our candidates are within the age bracket of 25 to 50 years. Our young faces have been fielded in the upcoming electoral battle to take on both the TMC and BJP candidates,’’ said a CPM leader.

    Aishe, a resident of Asansol, a neighbouring pocket of Jamuria, replaced CPM’s incumbent MLA Jahanara Khan, who secured victory with 43.29 per cent vote share in the 2016 Assembly elections. The party’s performance was unimpressive in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the Jamuria Assembly constituency as it bagged only 9.7 per cent of votes.

    In January last year, Aishe was severely injured when a group of masked attackers, armed with sticks, stormed the campus of JNU and attacked students and teachers and damaged the property of the prime university. In a video shared on social media, Aishe, who had to be admitted to the AIIMS trauma care centre, was seen crying while bleeding profusely from the head.

    Delhi police registered an FIR naming nine students, including Ghosh, in connection with the violence. In the FIR, Ghosh was held accused of vandalising the university server room and manhandling and threatening guards.                       

    In the candidate list, The Left Front left 92 seats for Congress and 30 seats for the newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF), the two allies of the alliance.

  • ‘Attack’ on Mamata: ECI seeks report, says official

    The Trinamool Congress supremo was injured in the leg after being allegedly pushed by unidentified people near a temple at Reyapara.

  • Bengal elections 2021: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee files nomination from Nandigram assembly seat

    By PTI
    HALDIA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination for Nandigram assembly seat, where she will take on her former protege and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and exuded confidence of winning it saying she has never returned empty-handed from the land of anti-farm land acquisition movement.

    Accompanied by TMC president Subrata Bakshi, Banerjee filed her papers at the Haldia sub-divisional office here after taking part in a 2-km roadshow.

    She offered prayers at a temple before filing her nomination, and at another after doing so.

    “I am confident about my victory from the Nandigram assembly seat. I could have easily contested from Bhawanipur seat (which she represents).

    “When I had visited Nandigram in January, there was no MLA from here as the sitting MLA had resigned. I looked at the faces of the common people and decided to contest from here,” she said after filing her paper.

    Deputy chairman of East Midnapore zilla parishad Sheikh Sufiyan has been appointed as Banerjee’s election agent.

    “I have never returned empty-handed from here. Nandigram is not just a name, it is the name of a movement. Bhulte pari sobar naam, bhulbo nako Nandigram (I can forget everyone’s name, but can never forget Nandigram). That’s the significance of this place for me,” the TMC supremo said.

    ALSO READ | Chit fund scam happened because of TMC govt; its leaders ‘looted public money’: Suvendu Adhikari

    Banerjee said that she had made up her mind this time to contest either from the Singur or Nandigram – the cradles of the anti-farm land acquisition movement which had catapulted her to power in 2011.

    “My feeling is very clear – no one can divide this place along religious lines. During the Nandigram movement all the communities had participated in it. Those who are lecturing now about its legacy were nowhere when violence was unleashed here. I was fighting alone,” she said.

    The feisty TMC chief will contest from Nandigram for the first time after relinquishing her Bhowanipore constituency in Kolkata.

    ALSO READ | Hoarding in Nandigram calls Mamata Banerjee ‘outsider’ ahead of her nomination filing

    She has rented a house in Nandigram and will campaign from there.

    Nandigram assembly constituency is set for a high octane battle with Banerjee deciding to contest from the seat against Adhikari, who recently switched over to the saffron camp.

    Adhikari, who will file his nomination paper for the seat on a later date, called her an “outsider” to Nandigram and himself a “bhoomiputra” (son of the soil).

    He had won the Nandigram seat in the 2016 assembly poll, while another TMC candidate emerged victorious from the constituency in 2011.

    Adhikari had quit TMC and resigned from the assembly late last year to join BJP following differences with the state’s ruling party.

    Both the leaders were prominent figures in the the anti-farm land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007 that had catapulted Banerjee to power in West Bengal in 2011 ending the 34-year-long rule of the Left Front.

    The little known rural area, which had witnessed one of the bloodiest movements against the government’s acquisition of cultivable land for industrialisation, had then changed the political landscape of the West Bengal.

    Now after more than a decade of peace, Nandigram, home to 70 per cent Hindus and 30 per cent Muslims, is witnessing political and communal polarisation.

    The Muslims are firmly behind TMC that has controlled the area for the last 15 years.

    The constituency mainly comprises two blocks — Nandigram I and Nandigram II — with the first having 30 per minority population and the second almost 15 per cent.

    Election in Nandigram is slated to be held on April 1.

  • ‘I am here to serve all: Mamata Banerjee prepares tea at roadside stall in Nandigram; visits temple, mausoleum

    By PTI
    NANDIGRAM: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday visited a temple and a mausoleum in Nandigram, where she has crossed swords with her former close aide-turned-bete noire Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, and said she “does not believe in divisive politics”.

    The TMC supremo, after addressing a party workers’ meeting, paid her reverence at the local mazar, popular among members of the minority community here, and then offered prayers at Maa chandi temple nearby.

    As she entered the temple, women, who lined up next to the shrine, blew conch shells to greet her.

    At the mausoleum, too, she was extended a warm welcome.

    ALSO READ | ‘I too am a Hindu, I do Chandipath every day’: Mamata warns BJP against playing ‘Hindu card’ 

    Next, Banerjee visited a roadside stall, where she prepared tea for the customers, much to the astonishment of the shop owner.

    “I am here to serve all, no matter which section they belong to. People are with me, 100 per cent of them. On Shivratri (Thursday), I will be offering puja at a temple, which is close to my accommodation in Nandigram, interact with people there and then file my nomination, she said.

    The CM, while talking to reporters, also said several welfare projects have been launched by her government in Nandigram over the past 10 years, “as is evident from the metalled roads, streetlights and bustling marketplaces, and more such work will be undertaken in the days to come”.