Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • ‘Are poll dates announced as per suggestions of Modi, Shah?’: Mamata questions eight-phase elections

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Many Opposition parties including the Trinamool Congress Friday questioned the need for a eight-phase election in West Bengal even as BJP leaders welcomed the Election Commission’s decision and said anti-social elements need to be controlled for peaceful polls.

    The EC announced that voting for five assembly elections will begin on March 27 and continue till April 29, while counting of votes will be done on May 2.

    Elections in West Bengal will be held on March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29 while Assam will have three-phase polls on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

    Polling for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections will take place in a single phase on April 6.

    Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said while announcing the poll schedule said that this time West Bengal will have one more phase compared to seven in 2016.

    Expressing her displeasure, TMC boss and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “With all due respect to the Election Commission, I want to say that questions are being raised on why elections will be held in so many phases in Bengal while other states will be voting in one phase.

    If EC doesn’t provide justice to the people, where will the people go.”

    She, however, said despite “all these tricks”, she will win the elections.

    “I have information from my sources that the poll dates are similar to the ones BJP wanted.

    Have the dates been announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah?” she asked at a press conference in Kolkata.

    BJP national secretary Kailash Vijayvarghia, however, welcomed the eight- phase elections in West Bengal and said that it was imperative to conduct fair polls.

    “Along with the announcement of elections, anti-social elements will also have to be controlled for peaceful elections in West Bengal.

    Also, fair officers should also be appointed in every district of the state so that there is no disturbance in the election,” he said in a tweet.

    CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya seemed unable to fathom the “numbers game”.

    “Five-day test match in Chennai becomes a two-day affair in Ahmedabad. One-day election in Tamil Nadu gets stretched over eight phases in West Bengal. Can any of you explain this numbers game?” he asked in a tweet.

    Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan wondered if there were any “nefarious plans”.

    “If voting for Kerala-140, Tamil Nadu-234 and Puducherry-30 (total 404 seats) can be conducted in a single phase, why Assam-126 and West Bengal-294 (total 420 seats) require 7 & 8 phases? Are there any nefarious plans?” he asked.

    BJP MP from Bengal Babul Supriyo welcomed the EC move and said that it was time for change in the state.

    “8 phase election in Bengal. I want change, I want BJP in Bengal,” he said in a tweet.

    Senior Assam minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma welcomed the election in his which goes to polls in three phases starting March 27.

    “Assam Assembly Polls are announced and we seek your blessing to form government again. We’re grateful for your faith & cooperation in last 5 years during which Assam witnessed stupendous growth. We promise to continue the same under the leadership of Hon PM Sri @narendramodi,” Sarma tweeted.

  • Political violence has reached ‘new high’ under Mamata government: Rajnath Singh

    By PTI
    BALURGHAT: Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh on Friday said political violence has reached a “new high” under the TMC dispensation while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee looks the other way.

    Speaking at a public meeting here in Dakshin Dinajpur district, Singh said, people do not want a government which cannot ensure their security.

    “If the BJP is elected to power in the state polls, political violence will come to an end.”

    “The Trinamool Congress (TMC) had come to power with ‘Maa Mati Manush’ slogan. But what happened later? The slogan has been trampled for all practical purpose.”

    “Political violence has gone up to a new high. Law and order has completely broken down. Shouldn’t the CM look into this?”, Singh, who was known to have cordial relations with Banerjee, said.

    In English, the “Ma, Mati Manush” means “Mother, Motherland and People”.

    It became very popular in the state during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and 2011 assembly polls.

    Alleging that over 150 people had died and thousands injured in the state in political violence “orchestrated by the TMC”, Singh said, “We do not want such a government which cannot ensure safety of its citizens.”

    Singh claimed that law and order situation has “vastly improved” in Tripura after the BJP came to power dislodging CPI(M).

    Noting that the TMC has “politicised the atmosphere in such a way that it is harming people of Bengal,” Singh said, “as a result many central projects for poor, backwards, tribals are yet to be implemented in the state.

    “Farmers here are not getting the benefit of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme which they will certainly get after the BJP comes to power here. They will have Rs 6,000 in their individual accounts.”

    “We will see to it that people of the state get the benefits of Ayushman Bharat Yojana once we are elected. They will get medical insurance upto Rs 5 lakh.” Singh highlighted that the saffron party “Is not in politics only to grab power.

    It is into politics to work to increase respect for the country.

    Claiming that “a new cut money, extortion culture is now flourishing here which will be wiped out by our party”, the BJP leader alleged that bomb making units have mushroomed all over West Bengal but the TMC is indifferent to it.

    Claiming that BJP believes in giving equal respect to every religion, Singh asked, “But what is Didi’s (Mamata Banerjee) government doing? At times we hear Saraswati Puja is not allowed here and at times the administration disallows Durga puja immersion.

    Is it right?” Blaming the state for dithering in providing land for fencing along border with Bangladesh for years, he said, “Once we come to power, fencing work will be over in a stipulated time which will put a lid on incidents of smuggling, human trafficking and other illegal activities.”

    “The soil of Bengal had given birth to luminaries like Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanya, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda. The BJP will once again bring back the glory of Bengal,” he said.

    Alluding to the campaign song “Khela Habe”, meaning ‘game on’, by the Trinamool Congress, Singh said in Bengali, “certainly there will be ‘khela’. But it will be the ‘khela’ (game) for growth, for development and progress.”

    “We believe in the ‘khela’ for peace.”

    Paying tribute to security forces, Singh, who is also the defence minister said, “Our jawans display valour gallantly guarding borders”.

    Referring to Balakot Air Strike, he said, “It was successfully done on this day in 2019 to show that we never compromise on issues of national security. We will never compromise with the security of the nation.”

  • CM Mamata Banerjee announces daily wage hike for workers under urban job scheme in West Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Hours before the announcement of dates for the West Bengal Assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her government has increased the daily wages of labourers working under the state’s Urban Employment Scheme.

    She said that unskilled workers would get a daily wage of Rs 202 per day, up from Rs 144, while the same for semi- skilled labourers was raised to Rs 303 from Rs 172. Banerjee said that under the job scheme, the government introduced a new category for skilled workers who will get a daily wage of Rs 404. “I am pleased to announce a hike in the wages of daily wage workers under WB Urban Employment Scheme,” she said on Twitter.

    A total of 56,500 workers (40,500 unskilled, 8000 semi-skilled, 8000 skilled) will benefit from this.These wages are in parity with rural workers’ enhanced pay (MNREGA unskilled & semi-skilled).Budget provision for this step has been made available for both FY21 & FY22.(2/2)
    — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2021

    Banerjee made the announcement hours before the Election Commission of India declared the dates for the assembly elections in four states Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

    Elections for the West Bengal assembly will be held in eight phases, up from seven last time, beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said while announcing the poll schedule.

    Banerjee said 40,500 unskilled, 8,000 semi-skilled and 8,000 skilled workers will be benefited from the state government’s announcement. “These wages are in parity with rural workers’ enhanced pay (MNREGA unskilled and semi-skilled). Budget provision for this step has been made available for both FY21 and FY22,” she said on the microblogging site.

  • WATCH | Mamata Banerjee rides pillion on electric scooter to protest fuel price hike

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In a unique protest against the fuel price hike, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday rode the pillion on an electric scooter to the state secretariat.

    She travelled a six-km stretch to her office from her Kalighat residence with a minister of her cabinet.

    “The BJP-led government is giving excessive pressure on the common people. Petroleum products have skyrocketed in the past couple of days,” Mamata said after arriving at the secretariat.

    While leaving her residence, Mamata, with a placard protesting against price hike hanging around her neck, sat behind urban development minister Firhad Hakim. 

    #WATCH | West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee travels on an electric scooter in Kolkata as a mark of protest against rising fuel prices. pic.twitter.com/q1bBM9Dtua
    — ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2021

    “This is our protest against the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. There was a hike in LPG prices even last night and a cylinder now costs at least Rs 800. Kerosene is unavailable in the market. In Bengal, around 10 million people depend on kerosene for cooking. The kitchen is the worst-hit every time there is a hike in fuel prices,” Mamata alleged.

    The CM, while returning home, got off the scooter and decided to drive the two-wheeler. On Vidyasagar Setu, she drove for a few metres and again rode the pillion. 

  • Bengal polls: Yogi Adityanath to join BJP’s campaign on March 2

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will visit the poll-bound Bengal to give a further push to the prospects of the BJP.

    CM Yogi is expected to visit Malda on March 2 to address public rallies. The BJP has planned over 1,500 poll rallies in the state.

    Though the poll dates have yet to be announced, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned in the bid to win the polls. The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government has been in power since 2011.

    Yogi’s March 2 trip will be his first to the poll-bound state. Besides taking part in BJP’s ‘Poribortan Jatra’, CM Yogi would also address a public rally in Malda attacking the Mamata government. 

    CM Yogi had been among the top star campaigners of the BJP. Often portrayed as the poster boy of Hindutva in the political landscape, CM Yogi always remains in demand to campaign for BJP in all poll-bound states.

    ALSO READ | JP Nadda launches ‘Lokkho Sonar Bangla’ manifesto crowdsourcing campaign in West Bengal

    In the recent past, CM Yogi had campaigned vigorously in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, and also Hyderabad where municipal elections were taking place.

    Prior to this, Yogi had addressed a number of rallies in West Bengal during the Lok Sabha elections. On one occasion, when the TMC government denied him permission to land his chopper at Purulia for a rally, he went to Jharkhand and from there proceeded to the venue by road.

    Besides PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and BJP chief JP Nada, UP CM Yogi Adityanath is expected to address several public meetings to woo the voters in Bengal. As the party’s star campaigner, Yogi had most recently visited Kerala to participate in the party’s Parivartan Yatra which was followed by his public meeting.

    Yogi has a noticeable track record as far as his success rate on the seats he campaigns for in polls in other states is concerned. In the most recently concluded Bihar elections, his campaign skills did wonders on some of the seats for the BJP-JD(U) alliance. Of the 18 seats where CM Yogi had campaigned for the Bihar elections, the alliance won around a dozen with a success rate of 67%. 

  • Mamata Banerjee goes personal, calls BJP’s top duo ‘Ravan and Danav’

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, after a CBI team questioned her nephew’s wife in connection with a coal pilferage case. 

    At a rally at Hooghly’s Dunlop ground, Mamata took potshots at the duo without naming them.

    “I don’t want to malign the post of the Prime Minister. But two men from Delhi are visiting Bengal and spreading misleading words. One is hodol-kutkut (an overweight potbellied man) and the other is kimbhut-kimakar (grotesque).’’ 

    “Two persons are running the country. One is Ravan and another is a Danav (monster),” she added.   Referring to the CBI’s interrogation of Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira, Mamata linked it to BJP’s conspiracy to defame Bengal’s women and daughters.

    “She (Rujira) has no involvement in the case. Bringing a daughter-in-law of a family under the scanner of a law enforcing agency is an insult of Bengal’s women. You (govt) are using the central agency to defame the women and daughters of Bengal,’’ the TMC supremo said.

    A team of eight CBI sleuths had interrogated Rujira at her Kolkata residence for one-and-a-half-hour on Tuesday.  

    “You (Modi and Shah) are raising voice against coal smuggling, but roaming with coal smugglers and lodging in a hotel in Burdwan owned by a coal mafia,” Mamata thundered.

    Retaliating Modi’s attack on her for lack of industrialisation in the eastern state, Mamata said her government wrote letters to the Centre in 2016 expressing interest to take over the Dunlop and Jessop factories.

    “But till date, there is no response from your end. … What have you done for them? Nothing,’’ she said. 

    JP Nadda in Bengal today

    BJP chief JP Nadda will be in Bengal on Thursday to launch the party’s Lokhho Sonar Bangla crowdsourcing campaign. He will also hold a meeting with Bengal’s intellectuals at Science City.

  • Mamata writes to PM, requests him to help Bengal get vaccines for people before state assembly polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Seeking to reach out to voters, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his help to procure COVID-19 vaccines so that she can make them available to the people before the upcoming assembly elections free of cost.

    A rapid vaccination programme is needed immediately for the interests of health and well-being of all concerned with the election process, Banerjee said in a letter to Modi.

    “West Bengal being an election-going state, we are required to reach out practically to every government and para-statal employee on an urgent basis to make the election safe. However, the worrying point is that, in the ensuing elections, the people in general will be forced to go to the polling stations without any vaccination coverage,” she wrote to Modi.

    “We feel that it is equally important to reach out to them with a rapid vaccination programme immediately for the interest of health and well-being of all concerned,” her letter said.

    ALSO READ | PM Modi biggest ‘dangaabaaz’, worse fate than Donald Trump awaits him, warns Mamata Banerjee

    “We would request you to kindly take up the matter with appropriate authority, so that the state government is able to purchase the vaccines from designated point(s) on top priority basis, because the West Bengal government wants to provide vaccination free of cost to all the people,” she wrote.

    Election to the 294-member West Bengal assembly is due in April-May.

    The Election Commission has already started inoculation of its personnel involved in holding polls in the state and the process will get over before the elections start.

    ALSO READ | All above 60 years of age, 45-plus with other illnesses to get COVID-19 vaccine from March 1

    Till Tuesday at least eight lakh health workers and frontline workers were vaccinated in West Bengal, officials said.

    Incidentally BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition to the ruling TMC in the state, had in its manifesto for the assembly poll in neighbouring Bihar promised to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to every person if the National Democratic Alliance returns to power.

  • Can Asaduddin Owaisi pull off another Bihar in Bengal?

    Online Desk
    The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi grabbed headlines across the nation when he first announced his party’s entry into the West Bengal Assembly election fray after a surprisingly successful campaign in neighbouring Bihar.

    Owaisi, who had trained guns on the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for ‘neglecting’ the Muslims in the state, has already been accused of being the B-team of BJP employed solely to cut into the minority vote bank.

    Citing Bihar’s example, where the AIMIM won five out of the nine seats it contested, the Chief Minister alleged the Telangana-based party is being paid in crores by the BJP to split Muslim votes. Owaisi thundered back saying ‘never was a man born who can buy Asaduddin Owaisi with money’.

    The Hyderabad MP will kick off his party’s election campaign in Bengal on February 25 with a rally in the minority-dominated Metiabruz area of Kolkata. However, ahead of the visit, his party is struggling to make headway in an already polarised and volatile election.

    Bengal’s 30 per cent Muslim population plays a decisive role in at least 100 out of the 294 Assembly seats. With the Bharatiya Janata Party riding high on the Jai Shri Ram pitch, these are votes Mamata desperately needs to win another term in office.

    Eyeing the same vote bank in four minority-dominated districts — Malda, Murshidabad, North and South Dinajpur — Owaisi had said his party will follow whatever decision the Furfura Sharif Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui, leader of the Indian Secular Front, takes. Following that initial announcement, Owaisi also paid the influential cleric, who retains a hold over voters in South 24 Paraganas, a visit.

    ALSO READ | ‘Is Modi afraid of Mamata?’: Hurt by CAA delay, Matuas weigh options before Bengal polls

    Siddiqui went at Mamata hammer and tongs after launching his party earlier this year and accused her of further polarising the state by introducing a dole for Muslim clerics. Interestingly, Siddiqui had previously supported the CM in the 2011 and 2016 elections.

    A week ago, the Pirzada joined the alliance with the Left and Congress, where they are still to decide on seat-sharing. This move might leave Owaisi without any official allies since the AIMIM’s political stance nationally can make it difficult for him to join Siddiqui in forming a ‘grand alliance’ with the Congress and CPM.

    AIMIM sources though continue to insist there is still hope and point out the fact that Owaisi and Siddiqui have been in touch over the phone ever since Owaisi’s visit to the latter’s residence. “The Pirzada is just weighing options. He will get back to us and form an alliance with us. We are sure of it. They are in touch with each other,” a highly-placed AIMIM leader said.

    Siddiqui himself on Wednesday confirmed that the talks are ongoing and said it is important to support “Asad Sahab”, even stating that “we should not field candidates” against Owaisi’s party. Will he forge an alliance with the AIMIM if the Congress and CPM fail to meet his demands? The possibility cannot be ruled out.

    For now, all the AIMIM has before them is the ground reality.

    Owaisi’s influence in Bengal remains limited to the Urdu-speaking upper-caste Muslims. When it comes to the rest of Bengal, language will be his first barrier. 

    The party has been working to expand its base in North Dinajpur, a district with close to 50 per cent Muslim population bordering Bihar’s Kishanganj, where the party sealed a thumping victory. There are murmurs of Owaisi’s growing popularity among young voters in the neighbourhood, but little else at the moment, say seasoned observers. 

    The party is keen on contesting at least 40-50 seats, which will be finalised on Thursday after their first core-committee meeting.

  • Bengal polls: Mamata likens Modi, Shah to grotesque Ravan, overweight monster

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Barely 24 hours after the CBI grilled the wife of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee in connection with a coal pilferage case, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

    While addressing a rally at Hooghly’s Dunlop ground, the same venue from where the PM lashed out at the TMC government two days ago, the CM compared Modi with grotesque and Ravan and Shah with an overweight potbelly man and a monster.

    “I don’t want to malign the post of the Prime Minister. But two men from Delhi are visiting Bengal and misleading people in Bengal. One is Hodolkutkut (an overweight potbelly man) and the other is kimbhutkimakar (grotesque),” said Mamata Banerjee.

    A few days ago, Mamata termed Shah as nadusnudus (an overweight child).

    Mamata Banerjee linked CBI’s interrogation of Abhishek’s wife Rujira to BJP’s conspiracy to defame Bengal’s women and daughters. “She (Rujira) is a 22-year-old young lady who has no involvement in the case. Putting the daughter-in-law of a family under the scanner of a law enforcing agency is an insult of Bengal’s women.

    ALSO READ | Mamata writes to PM, requests him to help Bengal get vaccines for people before state assembly polls

    “You are using the central agency to defame the women and daughters of Bengal. You (Modi and Shah) are raising a voice against coal smuggling, but you are roaming with coal smugglers and staying in a hotel in Burdwan owned by a coal mafia. I know everything but not dropping his name,” she hit back.

    A team of eight CBI sleuths interrogated Rujira at her south Kolkata residence for one-and-a-half-hour on Tuesday. The CBI officials entered the apartment minutes after Mamata Banerjee paid an unscheduled visit there.        

    She said the Centre is privatising the government agencies and selling out PSUs. “Two persons are running the country. One is Ravan and another is a danav (monster).”   

    Retaliating Modi’s attack on the issue of lack of industrialisation in Bengal, Mamata used the venue, the ground of the closed Dunlop factory, as her political tool. “In 2016, we wrote letters to the Centre expressing the state government’s interest to take over the Dunlop and Jessop factories. But till date, there is no response from your end. The central government is responsible for the plight of the workers of the two factories. We are giving Dunlop workers a monthly grant. What have you done for them? Nothing,” she said.

    On Modi’s labelling of the TMC as an outfit of extortionists, the CM said, “If the poor take Rs 5, they are tolabaj (extortionist). And your party is draining out thousands of crores. Have you waived farmers’ loan? No. But, you allowed the defaulters of thousands of crores of bank loans to go scot-free.”

  • CBI at Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek’s residence to examine his wife in coal pilferage case

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A CBI team visited the residence of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday to examine his wife Rujira in the coal pilferage case, officials said.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the residence of her nephew Abhishek in south Kolkata’s Harish Mukherjee Road minutes before the CBI team landed there.

    The CBI’s visit to Abhishek’s residence comes after Rujira told the central agency that she will be available for examination between 11 am and 3 pm on February 23, replying to a notice that the sleuths had hand-delivered her on Sunday.

    The agency sought the examination of Rujira Banerjee to ascertain the details of her bank transactions, suspecting a connection to the proceeds of the illegal coal excavation money, sources said.

    On Monday, the CBI examined Rujira’s sister Menaka Gambhir in connection with the same case. Two woman officers of the CBI visited Gambhir’s residence off EM Bypass and had examined her for nearly three hours.

    The developments come months ahead of the assembly elections in the state with Trinamool Congress alleging it to be a political vendetta.

    The CBI on November 28 last year carried out a massive search operation in a number of locations across four states — West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh — after registering a case against one Anup Majhi alias Lala.

    It is alleged that Lala, the alleged kingpin of the scam, is involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, sources said.