News Analysis India

Tag: Mamta

  • Difficulties arose for Mamata, BJP made Suvendu Adhikari the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly

    Suvendu Adhikari has been elected Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, while former Legislature Party leader Manoj Tigga has been elected Deputy Leader. Suvendu Adhikari defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram seat by 1,956 votes in the assembly elections. The announcement was made on Monday in the presence of central observer Ravi Shankar Prasad, general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.

    In a meeting held at the BJP office on Monday, BJP National Vice President Mukul Roy proposed the name of Suvendu Adhikari. 22 MLAs supported his name. Later Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Suvendu Adhikari is not only the leader of the legislative party, but will also be the leader of the opposition in the assembly. Its constitutional process will be completed.

    TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has suffered another major setback after her defeat in Nandigram seat in West Bengal. His demand for a second count of votes has been rejected after a close fight with his former colleague Suvendu Adhikari. The Election Commission has said that the decision of the Returning Officer is final and can be challenged only in the High Court. Meanwhile, the officer staying in Nandigram has been provided security. The Election Commission has also dismissed allegations of disturbances in the counting of votes by Mamata Banerjee. The Commission has stated that there was a Micro Observer at all counting tables and they have not given any indication of any disturbance in their reports. After all rounds, the RO entered the number of votes all candidates had received and was displayed on the display board, which the counting agents could easily see. No one had expressed any doubt during the entire counting process and the entire process went on without any hindrance. After every round, a copy of the result was being given to all the agents.

  • Mamata accuses BJP of destroying institutions

    Continuing her tirade against the BJP-led NDA Government for “taking India towards a political chaos,” Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the saffron Government had ensured that the key institutions of the country were destroyed.

    In an apparent bid to catch the bull by its horn the Chief Minister also announced counter-Yatras in the wake of BJP’s much publicised Rath Yatras beginning next month. The TMC Yatras will follow the route of the BJP Yatras, she said.

    The Narendra Modi Government was tearing down the major institutions like Reserve Bank of India and Central Bureau of Investigation Banerjee said promising to do everything to protect these organizations.

    “They (Modi Government) are destroying all the key institutions of the country,” Banerjee who had earlier been critical of changing the Planning Commission into Niti Ayog said adding how the Centre was “trying to change the way the RBI and the CBI function.”

    The ruling outfit (read BJP) that was making “‘building statues’ its poll agenda will itself become a statue after the coming Lok Sabha elections,” Banerjee told a party meeting in Kolkata.

    Dropping hints that the Trinamool Congress was planning to take central stage in Delhi post 2019 general elections, Banerjee said the way the BJP was trying to divide the country and implementing regimes like the National Register for Citizens would force her party to “play a bigger role in the coming days.

    “We will not tolerate division in the society and persecution of innocent people in the name of NRC,” Banerjee said giving a call for “BJP Hatao Desh Bachao (save India by driving away the BJP)”.

    The Chief Minister who had called a mega rally in January to be held at the historic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata where she had invited all the anti-BJP parties said “all parties barring a few have confirmed their desire to attend the rally,” adding the same will act as the final nail in the BJP’s coffin.

    Attacking the saffron outfit for reintroducing the age-old tactic of Rath Yatras to polarize the Hindu vote, Banerjee said, “the BJP is organizing the Rath Yatra to divide the people but we will organize similar Yatras which will be called “Ekta Yatra (Unity Rally)” on the same route that their Yatra follows.”

    The Trinamool Congress’ Yatra “is aimed at uniting and not dividing the communities,” Banerjee said.

    Incidentally the CPI(M) which was locked in a battle with the BJP for the second place in the State has also announced rallies following the same path that the BJP’s Yatra is like to take.

    The BJP is scheduled to take out three Yatras in December. While the first Yatra will start from Ganga Sagar (the southernmost tip of Bengal), the second one will commence from Tarapeeth in Birbhum district. The third Yatra will start from the northern most district o the State Coochbehar bordering Assam. The BJP’s chariots will converge at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on January 23 the birth day of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the party sources said.

    Enroute the Yatras will cover several thousand kilometers, during which 60 mass meetings will be held.

    Top BJP leaders including party president Amit Shah, Assam Chief Minister Sarwananda Sonowal and his UP counterpart Yogi Adityanath will address the BJP rallies sources said.

    “The Yatras will be taken out against Trinamool Congress’ reign of terror, its appeasement policy and its aiding the continuing infiltration through Bangladesh border,” BJP State Rahul Sinha said.

    However TMC MP and Chief Minister’s nephew said the Rath Yatra would in fact be a “luxury tour of the State in air-conditioned vehicles by the BJP leaders.”

  • Mamata slams Centre for delay in clearing proposal to rename West Bengal

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Centre on Wednesday for allegedly dragging its feet in clearing a proposal to rename West Bengal to “Bangla”, a proposal unanimously passed by the state assembly in July.

    Banerjee said the BJP has been changing names of historical places and institutions unilaterally “almost every day” to suit its “interests” but when it comes to Bengal, the attitude is totally different.

    On July 26, the assembly passed a resolution unanimously to change the name of the state to “Bangla” in the three most-spoken languages — Bengali, Hindi and English — and sent the proposal to the Union Home Ministry.

    Banerjee’s government had proposed to rename the state on three earlier occasions.

    It suggested “Paschimbanga” in 2011, which was turned down by the Centre. In 2016, it proposed “Bengal” in English, “Bangla” in Bengali and “Bangal” in Hindi, which too was turned down. Finally, it proposed the name ‘Bangla’ in July this year.

    “It is pending there (with the Home Ministry) for a long, long time,” Banerjee said in a statement.

    “After Independence, there have been changes in the name of a few states and cities, like Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru etc, keeping in view the sentiments of the state and local language. Those are genuine,” she said.

    The West Bengal Assembly had passed a resolution to change the name of the state on the basis of local sentiments related to “our mother tongue, Bangla”, she added.

    “The Union Home Ministry advised us to use the name Bangla in all three languages. Accordingly, our assembly passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of the state to ‘Bangla’ in all three languages and sent it to the Union Home Ministry again,” she said.

    On reservations from some quarters that Bangla would sound very similar to Bangladesh, she said names should not create a hurdle as “there is a Punjab in our neighbouring country as well as in India”.

    Criticising the BJP, she said a political party with “zero strength” in the state cannot decide on changing the name of that state.

    The proposal to change the name was made only after a resolution was passed unanimously by the state assembly in accordance with the constitutional obligations and federal structure, which should be respected, she said.

    “The people of Bengal must get a positive response immediately,” Banerjee said.