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Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Soumitra Chatterjee’s glorious presence being missed: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on his birth anniversary

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday remembered veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee on his 86th birth anniversary and said that his “glorious presence” is being missed.

    “Remembering Soumitra (Da) Chattopadhyay on his birth anniversary. He was a legend, who left his mark on everything he did. We miss his glorious presence,” Banerjee tweeted.

    The chief minister, who had inaugurated an exhibition featuring paintings, film posters and costumes of Soumitra Chatterjee at a gallery in Kolkata, said that she was touched by the warmth of the actor’s family.

    VIEW GALLERY: Soumitra Chatterjee birth anniversary – Bengali cinema’s Alt Superstar

    The iconic actor died in November last year following an over-a-month-long battle with multiple ailments after testing positive for COVID-19.

    The Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee was often referred to as legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s ‘alter ego’ as well as one of the first proponents of the naturalistic style of acting in Bengali cinema.

    Chatterjee had acted in 14 of Ray’s films besides featuring in some other iconic movies such as Mrinal Sen’s ‘Akash Kusum’, Tapan Sinha’s ‘Kshudhita Pashan’, ‘Jhinder Bandi’ and Tarun Majumdar’s ‘Ganadevata’.

  • Mamata has forgotten role played by BJP leaders in Nandigram movement: Sovan Chatterjee

    By PTI
    AMTALA: BJP leader Sovan Chatterjee said on Monday that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was indulging in a “dangerous game” by branding saffron camp leaders as outsiders, as it was detrimental to the interest of the nation, which is a classic example of unity in diversity.

    Chatterjee, who was once a close confidante of Banerjee, claimed that the TMC supremo has forgotten the fact that Suvendu Adhikari, who recently switched over to the BJP from the ruling camp, had played a vital role in the Nandigram movement — which was also backed by saffron party leaders L K Advani and Rajnath Singh.

    “You are indulging in a dangerous game by harping on the outsider issue over and over. In India, language, dialect, customs change every 50 kilometres. Our country is an example of unity in diversity,” the BJP leader said at a public meeting here in Diamond Harbour constituency.

    Earlier, Chatterjee and his friend Baisakhi Banerjee led a roadshow from Dhankol More in Bishnupur to Circus ground of Amtala in South 24 Parganas district.

    “The TMC boss has forgotten about the role played by L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh in the Nandigram movement. They visited the strife-torn area in 2007 to provide support to the movement that catapulted her party to power.”

    “In 1998, the TMC had entered into a seat-sharing pact with the BJP, which is now the ruling party’s main opponent for the upcoming assembly elections. You are calling the BJP a washing machine, it is the same machine you had used back then,” he said.

    Banerjee had contended that the BJP runs the party like a washing machine, where corrupt leaders turn into saints the moment they join the organisation.

    Chatterjee also recalled that the Adhikari family, including patriarch Sisir and sons Suvendu and Dibyendu, had fought tooth and nail against the CPI(M) during the Nandigram movement in 2007.

    “Mamata Banerjee has now forgotten their contributions. People there will force her to return empty- handed after the assembly elections,” he said.

    The CM, earlier the day, said that she will contest the assembly elections from Nandigram, a seat held by Suvendu Adhikari till December.

    She currently represents Bhowanipore constituency in south Kolkata.

    “If possible, I will contest from both Bhowanipore and Nandigram. Nandigram is my elder sister and Bhowanipore my younger sister. I will give a strong candidate from Bhowanipore, in case I don’t fight from that seat,” she said.

    The BJP leader, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, claimed that it is the TMC supremo’s “lack of confidence” that is forcing her to fight from two constituencies.

    “Actually, Mamata Banerjee is not sure where she would be getting a solid ground under her feet and where lay quicksand,” he said.

    Claiming that Banerjee is no longer the same person he knew 10 years ago, Chatterjee said “she has lost her self- confidence and the decision to fight from two seats is an indication of that”.

  • Bengal polls: Mamata to challenge BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari on his home turf Nandigram

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that she would contest from Nandigram, from where her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP last month, was elected in 2016. 

    She asked the party’s president Subrata Bakshi to ensure her candidature from the minority-dominated Assembly segment. “Nandigram is my lucky place. I will contest from here,” she said while addressing the rally in Nandigram.

    Bengal CM’s announcement is said to be a political move to challenge Adhikari family members, who claim to be the kingmakers in the district with 16 Assembly seats. Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sishir and brother Dibyendu are TMC MPs from Contai and Tamluk Lok Sabha constituencies respectively.

    ALSO READ| Mamata Banerjee to follow Kejriwal model in election manifesto

    “The BJP has assigned Suvendu Adhikari to secure victory in all 35 seats in East Midnapore, West Midnapore, and Jhargram districts. Bengal CM’s announcement to contest from Suvendu’s constituency is a pressure tactic. If she contests from Nandigram, Suvendu’s political activities will be confined to East Midnapore district to ensure her defeat and save the other 15 seats in the district from the influence of the CM’s candidature,” said a senior TMC leader.

    Mamata Banerjee also said she would also contest in her own Bhowanipore constituency in south Kolkata. She also requested the electorates of Bhowanipore to bear with her decision. “Nandigram is my elder sister and Bhowanipur is my younger sister. I will fight from both, is possible. In case, I am unable to contest from Bhowanipore, don’t feel sad. I will give a good candidate for you,” she said.

    Referring to the exit of Suvendu Adhikari and other TMC functionaries, the TMC chief accused the BJP of receiving looters in its fold. “They looted public money. BJP leaders are saying if you are with the TMC, you will be in jail. If you join BJP, it is a washing machine and you will come out clean,” she said.

    ALSO READ| Islamic terrorist Mamata will have to take refugee in Bangladesh after Bengal polls: UP minister’s shocker

    Suvendu Adhikari is one of the accused in the Narada sting operation case being probed by the CBI.

    Replying to Mamata’s surprising announcement to contest from his constituency, Suvendu, too, accepted the challenge. “If I can’t defeat her by half-lakh votes, I will quit politics,” he said.        

    Bengal BJP, however, described Mamata Banerjee’s announcement to contest from Nandigram as a reflection of her ‘nervousness’. “Mamata Banerjee’s decision to shift seat from Bhowanipore to Nandigram, for the first time in 10 years, indicates her political nervousness,” tweeted Amit Malviya, the BJP’s social media head and in-charge of Bengal.  

  • West Bengal polls: Mamata Banerjee to challenge BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari on his home turf Nandigram

    By PTI
    NANDIGRAM: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday declared she will contest the upcoming assembly election from Nandigram, as she took her battle for th state to the home turf of poitical heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, who recently quit the TMC and joined the BJP.

    That Banerjee chose Nandigram to make the big announcement reflects the TMC supremo’s determination to take the BJP, which has launched a spirited campaign to unseat her after a decade-long stint in power, head on.

    ALSO READ| Mamata Banerjee to follow Kejriwal model in election manifesto

    Addressing a rally here, Banerjee said she is not worried about those joining rival parties as they were hardly areound when the TMC was formed. Banerjee said these leaders left the ruling party to protect the money “they have looted” in the last few years.

    “I have always started my campaign for the assembly polls from Nandigram. It is a lucky place for me. So this time I feel that I should contest the assembly polls from here. I request our state party president Subrata Bakshi to approve my name from this seat,” Banerjee said.

    Bakshi, who was on the podium, swiftly accepted the request. Nandigram was the scene of massive public protest against “forcible” land acquisition by the then Left Front government for creation of a special economic zone.

    The protracted and often bloody protests added to Banerjee and her party’s political heft and catapulted the TMC to power in 2011, marking the end of the Left Front rule of 34 years. Adhikari is considered the face face of the movement in Nandigram, some 130 km south-west of Kolkata.

    After switching over to ther BJP, Adhikari has often accused Banerjee of having forgotten the people of the area who helped her gain power in the state.

    ALSO READ| Islamic terrorist Mamata will have to take refugee in Bangladesh after Bengal polls: UP minister’s shocker

    Banerjee is at present the MLA from Bhawanipore in south Kolkata. “If possible, I will contest from both Bhawanipore and Nandigram. In case I am unable to contest from Bhawanipore, someone else will,” she said.

    Banerjee said she would never allow “a handful of people” to sell out Bengal to the BJP. “Those who have left the party have my best wishes. Let them become president and vice president of the country. But don’t you dare to sell out Bengal to the BJP. As long as I am alive, I won’t allow them to sell out my state to the BJP,” she said.

    Assembly elections in the state are likely in April-May.

  • Islamic terrorist Mamata will have to take refugee in Bangladesh after Bengal polls: UP minister’s shocker

    The UP Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs alleged that the West Bengal CM quot;does not believe in Bharatiyata (Indianness) quot; and insulted Hindu gods and goddesses.

  • Miffed Trinamool Congress MP Satabdi Roy named state unit vice-president

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Three time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Satabdi Roy, who has called a truce with the party after a brief rebellion that triggered speculations of her crossing over to the BJP, was on Sunday appointed vice-president of the West Bengal unit of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

    Expressing happiness over the news, Roy told reporters, she will work as a dedicated worker of the party and ensure defeat of the BJP in the coming assembly polls.

    “If you take up the matter concerning the party with the top leadership, it is addressed. This development proves that. I welcome the decision,” Roy said on her appointment as the state unit vice-president in the reshuffle.

    Roy, an actor-turned-politician and a leading face in the Mamata Banerjee’s cultural brigade, is the third consecutive term Lok Sabha member from Birbhum.

    She had snatched the Birbhum seat from CPM heavyweight Ram Chandra Dome in 2009 on debut and managed to win it by an overwhelming margin in 2019, even as the BJP had routed the Trinamool Congress in the nearby constituencies.

    Roy was among the prominent leaders who had joined Banerjee’s Singur and Nandigram movement in 2009 that ended the Left Front rule and catapulted the feisty Bengal leader to power in the state. The Birbhum MP had voiced dissent Friday over not being informed about the party events in her constituency which she said caused “mental pain”.

    In a Facebook post she had said that she will inform the public Saturday if she takes any “decision”, following which the jittered Trinamool Congress leaders had started reaching out to her. She changed her stance and expressed full confidence in the leadership of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee after meeting the Diamond Harbour MP Friday evening.

    TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had also met Roy to dissuade her from leaving the party.

    After hammering a solution to her grievances, Roy had Saturday praised Abhishek Banerjee, who is nephew of the chief minister, for giving her a patient hearing and said she “is pleased with the way the young leader assured” her of resolving all the issues.

    Returning satisfied after a two-hour long meeting with Abhishek Banerjee she had made it clear that she will remain with the Trinamool Congress. She also admonished party colleagues having problems like her to discuss the issues with the party instead of looking for other options.

    The actor-politician had said it would be “unethical to look for other options” when the party is facing a tough fight. Polls to 294-member Bengal assembly are due in April-May.

    Banerjee’s party is witnessing exodus of its disgruntled leaders to a resurgent saffron party which is making all efforts to win the state after an impressive performance in the 2019 Parliamentary election winning 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, only four less than the TMC tally of 22.

    Last month, Suvendu Adhikari, along with 35 party leaders including five MLAs and an MP, joined the BJP, setting off a churning as several disgruntled leaders rallied behind him. In the rejig in the TMC, the party announced new names for the state committee which included Moazzem Hossain and Shankar Chakraborty in addition to Satabdi Roy.

    In another significant development, former administrator of Asansol Municipal Corporation and Trinamool leader Jitendra Tiwari, who had voiced discontent over running of the civic board and had even met Suvendu Adhikari and Sunil Mondal on the eve of their joining BJP on December 17, has been removed from the post of district president of Paschim Bardhaman.

    Tiwari, who had iterated to work for TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee after a meeting with the party leadership in the last week of December, has been replaced by Apurba Mukhopadhyay as the TMC district president. “This decision has been taken as I did not take back my resignation letter as the administrator. As an MLA and an ordinary worker, I will continue to serve my organization,” Tiwari said.

    Asked about the appointment of Roy and other leaders in the state committee and new faces in the district committees, Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said, “It is an organisational matter. Why should we discuss this with the media?”

  • ‘Bengal got insufficient vaccines’: Mamata says will procure from manufacturers if necessary

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, during a meeting with the state government officials on Saturday, alleged that the Centre delivered fewer Covid-19 vaccines for the state. 

    The Centre has sent 5.96 lakh vaccines for the frontline Covid-19 warriors in the state.

    The CM held a meeting with Chief Secretary Alapan Banerjee and senior health department officials to oversee the vaccination process. “The consignment of vaccines is inadequate which will be given to the frontline warriors only,” she reportedly said in the meeting.

    The CM also made it clear to the health officials that the state government would procure vaccines from the manufacturing agencies, if necessary, and give them to the common people free of cost.  

    The Chief Minister also congratulated the 20,000 health workers of the state who were involved in the vaccination process.

  • Development vs Hindutva: Didi to follow Kejriwal-style poll campaign to counter BJP

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In lessons drawn from the campaign style of Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in the Delhi Assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked her party workers to initiate work for the 2021 manifesto highlighting development projects implemented by her government.

    The CM has sought suggestions from her party workers, MPs and MLAs to focus on specific issues to be showcased in the manifesto ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

    “We will follow the AAP model as it proved effective against BJP’s aggressive campaign in Delhi. In the manifesto, the CM wants to highlight a slew of government schemes implemented in the last 10 years. She also wants the party document to mention TMC’s promises made in the 2016 polls and how these were fulfilled on the ground,” said a senior TMC leader.

    It will also mention the time taken to complete the government projects which were announced before the 2016 polls.

    Party sources said results of a survey conducted by election strategist Prashant Kishor and his team would also find a place in the manifesto, which will be designed considering the BJP as the main rival.

    “The saffron camp’s divisive agenda will also be mentioned,” said another TMC leader.

    The TMC chief ’s focus on young foot-soldiers is due to the fact that the number of young voters aged between 18 and 25 is sizable in all the 294 Assembly constituencies.

    The sources said after filtering the opinion from cadres and elected representatives, a draft manifesto would be prepared.

    “The CM on several occasions has hit out at the BJP for bringing into Bengal leaders from outside. We’ll take it up ahead of the polls,” said a TMC leader.

  • TMC’s appeal to Congress, Left Front sign of desperation: Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Thursday said TMC’s appeal to Congress and the Left Front to rally behind Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her fight against the saffron party reflected desperation of the ruling party apprehending imminent defeat.

    Ghosh said the TMC has “lost the plot” even before commencement of the elections in the state.

    “They (the TMC) can’t fight us alone, and so they are seeking the help of other parties. It also proves that the BJP is the only alternative to TMC,” he said.

    His comments came in the backdrop of the TMC making an appeal to the Congress and the Left Front to rally behind Mamata Banerjee in her fight against the “communal and divisive” BJP, a suggestion the two parties rejected outright.

    “The TMC has lost the plot and are looking for lifeboats to remain afloat. But, the people of the state has made up their mind to oust this undemocratic government”, Ghosh said.

    The Congress proposed that the TMC should merge with it instead to put up a united fight against the BJP.

    “If the Left Front and the Congress are genuinely anti- BJP, they should rally behind Mamata Banerjee in her fight against the communal and divisive politics of the saffron party,” senior TMC MP Sougata Roy had said.

    Speaking on the issue of TMC MP Sisir Adhikari, Ghosh said he is welcome to join the party.

    “He is a very senior leader. If he wants he can join us,” he said.

    Close on heels of his son Suvendu Adhikari crossing over to the BJP, his father and Trinamool Congress MP Sisir Adhikari was on Wednesday removed as East Midnapore district president.

    The development followed Adhikari senior ouster from the post of chairman of Digha-Shankarpur Development Authority (DSDA).

    Slamming the ruling TMC over its opposition to the new farm laws, Ghosh said it is a “well-scripted” drama to divert people’s attention from its failures.

    “The TMC, Left and the Congress are opposing the new farm legislations. But, not a single farmer has joined their protest in West Bengal. This only shows that they don’t have public support on the issue,” he said.

    Polls to 294-member Bengal Assembly are due in April-May this year.

  • Mamata Banerjee to follow Kejriwal model in election manifesto

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Taking a lesson from the campaign style of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi Assembly elections, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked her party functionaries to initiate preparations for 2021 manifesto highlighting the development projects implemented by the state government.

    Mamata sought suggestions and opinions from MPs, MLAs and the lower-tier workers as well to ascertain the specific issues to be showcased in the manifesto ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

    “We will follow the AAP’s model as it proved effective despite the BJP’s aggressive electoral stance in Delhi elections. In the manifesto, the CM wants to highlight the slew of government projects and schemes implemented during the last 10-years of her tenure. The manifesto will also mention what the party had promised in 2016 Assembly elections and how many of them have been implemented on ground,” said a senior TMC leader.

    Sources in the party said the results of the survey conducted by election strategist Prashant Kishor and his team would also be in the manifesto, which will be designed considering the BJP as the main rival. “The saffron camp’s divisive politics on the line of religion and spreading hatred among the two communities will be also be there. We will give it priority because such divisive electoral practice doesn’t fit to the social fabric of West Bengal,” said another TMC leader.

    The TMC supremo wanted to give the party’s young foot-soldiers and veteran leaders equal priority and this is why he sought opinion from the youth brigade. It is because the number of young voters aged between 18 and 25 are considerable in each of the 294 Assembly constituencies.

    TMC sources said once the opinion from party workers and elected representatives would come, a draft manifesto would be prepared. A special committee headed by the chief minister will be set up to give the draft a final shape. The committee will release the manifesto.     

    The manifesto will also mention the time required for the completion of the government projects which were announced before the 2016 Assembly elections. “The CM, on several occasions, hit out at the BJP labelling functionaries of the party who were visiting Bengal as outsiders. This issue will also be highlighted in our promise-list ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections,” said another TMC leader.