News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool Congress

  • TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee says she is like Royal Bengal Tiger, cannot be intimidated by BJP

    By PTI
    BAHARAMPUR: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday likened herself to a Royal Bengal Tiger, saying that she is not a weak person who can be intimidated by the BJP.

    Addressing a rally here in Murshidabad, the capital of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daullah’s empire, she also compared those who left the TMC to join the saffron party to Mir Jafar, a commander of his army who betrayed him in the Battle of Plassey against the British in 1757.

    “There is no reason to think I am weak, I am not a person to be afraid of anything. I am a strong person and will keep my head high as long as I live and till then I will live like a Royal Bengal Tiger,” Banerjee said.

    ALSO READ: Won’t let BJP turn Bengal into a crematorium, says Mamata Banerjee

    Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of wrongly claiming at a BJP meeting in Haldia on Sunday that government employees in West Bengal do not get salaries properly, she alleged that it is the Centre which is selling off BSNL, SAIL and privatising the Railways and insurance companies.

    Banerjee also claimed that the Centre did not give any assistance to West Bengal for dealing with the devastation caused by cyclone Amphan last year, nor did it do anything to support the state to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Raking up the outsider issue, the TMC supremo claimed that the BJP is a party of Gujarat and Delhi, which is bringing in National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

    ALSO READ: Centre a ‘cruel government’; Gujarat will never rule Bengal, says TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee

    The state chief minister asserted that she will not allow these in West Bengal.

    “People from Gujarat will not rule Bengal, the Trinamool Congress will rule Bengal,” Banerjee said at the rally held ahead of the assembly elections in the state due in April-May.

    Claiming that corrupt people sell themselves off, she said that those who want to leave the TMC and join the BJP are free to go.

    ALSO READ: Sent names of 2.5 lakh Bengal farmers to Centre for PM Kisan scheme, says CM Mamata Banerjee

    Alleging that some people are joining the saffron party out of fear that they could be implicated in cases related to smuggling of cattle or coal, Banerjee said, “The BJP seems to be a washing machine, those having dirty hands emerge clean after joining it.”

    She also attacked the Congress and the Left which will contest the assembly polls jointly in the state.

    “The Congress cannot fight the BJP and does not want to do it. The CPI(M) is the BJP’s big friend,” she said, claiming that it is only the TMC which can take on the might of the saffron party in the state.

  • Not attending PM Narendra Modi’s public meeting at Haldia: Trinamool Congress MP Dev

    West Bengal BJP Yuva Morcha president Saumitra Khan had recently claimed that Dev and another TMC MP Sisir Adhikari, who is the father of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, will attend the public rally.

  • Trinamool Congress spreading fire of regionalism for political gains in Bengal: BJP’s Rajib Banerjee

    By PTI
    BARUIPUR: Former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee, who recently joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress, on Tuesday accused his former party of indulging in regionalism for narrow political gains which affected the interests of the people of the state.

    He alleged that TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been fighting the central government for political compulsions. “A strange fire of regionalism is being spread (by the TMC). It is more dangerous than communalism. Bengal’s boys and girls are also in other states for education and work,” Rajib Banerjee said addressing a public meeting here in South 24 Parganas district.

    The TMC often targets the BJP, claiming that it is a “party of outsiders”. Rajib claimed that on one hand, TMC leaders quote Rabindranath Tagore, and on the other, they indulge in violence and intimidation of opposition party workers.

    BJP leaders Rajib Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari were shown black flags on their way to the public meeting here. The saffron party claimed that TMC workers were behind this. While Adhikari switched sides from the TMC to the BJP in December last year, Rajib did the same last week.

    Speaking at the meeting, Adhikari maintained that people of all faiths have got ration and cooking gas given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and they will support the BJP in the assembly elections in the state due in April-May.

    “After (cyclone) Amphan, Prime Minister Modi had come to visit the affected areas immediately and had given Rs 1,000 crore for relief, but the funds were misappropriated,” he said. Adhikari charged the TMC government with changing the names of central schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission and claiming these to be their own.

    Rajib claimed that by denying the central share of funding in schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and introducing a health insurance programme of the state government Swasthya Sathi, the chief minister has emptied the state exchequer. “She deliberately did not allow farmers of the state to get the benefits of PM Kishan Samman Nidhi,” he alleged.

    Under the PM-Kisan scheme, an income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments is provided to small and marginal farmer families. The BJP leader said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured him that Bengal would get a special economic package for its development after the elections.

    Rajib added that the chief minister boasts of West Bengal’s top position in the country in the 100-days’ work programme, but it only shows the bad job situation in the state that so many people have to get work through that scheme.

  • Shame that BJP leaders sung national anthem ‘incorrectly’: Trinamool Congress

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday claimed that BJP leaders have sung the national anthem incorrectly at a public rally in Howrah, a charge denied by the saffron party.

    Taking to Twitter, the TMC MP said that “those preaching patriotism and nationalism cannot even sing the national anthem correctly”. “This is the party which claims to uphold India’s honour and pride! SHAMEFUL! Will @narendramodi @AmitShah @BJP4India apologise for this ‘Anti-National’ Act?” he wrote.

    Those preaching about Patriotism & Nationalism can’t even sing our National Anthem correctly.This is the party which claims to uphold India’s honour and pride! SHAMEFUL!Will @narendramodi @AmitShah @BJP4India apologise for this “Anti-National” Act?#BJPInsultsNationalAnthem pic.twitter.com/fgdCEMPisk
    — Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) January 31, 2021

    TMC secretary general and West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee also stated in a tweet that the BJP has disrespected the national anthem. “The whole country is astonished at this shameful act,” he posted on the microblogging site.

    The Left Front also slammed the saffron camp over the incident. CPM politburo member Md Salim said it is an irony that those who cannot sing the national anthem properly give sermons on nationalism.

    However, BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya rubbished the allegations and said that the TMC was “indulging in politics over the national anthem, just like it did over Lord Ram and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose”. He said that it isn’t possible that so many senior leaders of the saffron party, including ministers, would together sing the national anthem wrong. “People will reject such politics,” he added.

  • RJD says in talks with Trinamool Congress to fight West Bengal polls together, TMC denies

    By PTI
    KOLKATA:  Bihar’s main opposition party RJD said on Sunday that it is in talks with the Trinamool Congress to fight the upcoming West Bengal elections together, but leaders of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party claimed that no such discussions are underway.

    RJD leaders claimed that the party’s principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui and national general secretary Shyam Rajak are in Kolkata to hammer a tie-up with the TMC for the Bengal polls. “We will be meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday to fight Bengal elections together,” Rajak told PTI.

    Siddiqui and Rajak met RJD leaders in the state ahead of the discussions with Banerjee. However, TMC leaders said that no talks of any tie-up with the RJD for the West Bengal polls are underway. RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary said over the phone from Patna that the party is exploring the possibility of contesting some seats on the Bengal-Bihar border.

    However, he did not give any numbers on which the party is planning to fight the state elections, likely in April-May. Banerjee has cordial relation with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and the party wishes to strengthen her hands in the Bengal polls, Tiwary said.

    He added that the primary objective of the RJD is to stop the “communal” BJP from increasing its influence in West Bengal and strengthen the secular forces under the leadership of the TMC chief.

    Though not a noticeable player in Bengal politics, the RJD, which emerged as the largest party in the recently concluded Bihar polls and enjoys considerable support among the Muslims besides the Yadavs, is eyeing a few seats on the inter-state border that have a sizeable number of Hindi- speaking voters.

    RJD had an MLA in the Bengal assembly between 2006 and 2011 during the Left Front rule.

  • At all-party meeting, Trinamool Congress requests Centre to repeal farm laws

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday appealed to the government to withdraw the three contentious farm laws at an all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the smooth conduct of the Budget Session of Parliament.

    According to sources, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay told the meeting that the prime minister must convene an all-party meeting for a threadbare discussion on the farmer issue.

    “This will send a good message that the government is democratic. Twenty opposition parties boycotted the President’s address (to the joint sitting of Parliament) which sent out a strong message for the government to withdraw the farm laws. Majoritarianism cannot let farmers suffer,” a source quoted the TMC MP as having told the meeting.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding the rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The protest took a violent turn during the farmers’ tractor rally on January 26.

    Addressing the all-party meeting, the prime minister said his government’s offer on agri laws made to protesting farmers “still stands” and it was a “phone call away” for talks.

    At Saturday’s meeting, several leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, Balwinder Singh Bhunder of the Shiromani Akali Dal and Vinayak Raut of the Shiv Sena raised the issue of protesting farmers, sources said.

    TMC MP Bandyopadhyay also asked how could the President in his address to Parliament note that the ‘one nation, one ration card’ policy had been introduced when the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution was discussing the matter.

    “The report is yet to be submitted. But (I am) surprised that the President’s address said the policy had already been introduced. This has to be clarified,” he was quoted as saying.

    Sources said the TMC MP also raised the issues of unemployment and hunger and proposed a comprehensive debate on them in the House.

    He also suggested that the federal structure has been weakened making it “very difficult” for states.

    “Our parliamentary democratic system has to be established firmly and the philosophy of secularism, communal harmony and unity of the country has to be reflected upon in a proper manner,” the TMC MP was quoted as telling the all-party meeting.

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  • Bengal BJP trying to rope in Yogi or Rajnath as Shah calls off visit

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI/KOLKATA:  Though Union home minister Amit Shah cancelled his trip to West Bengal at the eleventh hour, the BJP’s Howrah  rally on Sunday, where Trinamool Congress functionaries, including two MPs, four MLAs and a former minister, are expected to join the party, will take place as scheduled, BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh confirmed on Friday. 

    “Since the Union home minister’s visit has been cancelled, a senior leader from the party’s leadership will be present in the rally in Howrah to welcome the defectors from the TMC,’’ said Ghosh.

    Sources in the Bengal BJP said they are trying to bring any of the other big leaders like JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh or Yogi Adityanath to the event where the TMC’s functionaries are scheduled to join the saffron camp.

    Shah was set to address two rallies in West Bengal on Saturday and Sunday, and attend several programmes as the BJP steps up its campaign in the poll-bound state where assembly elections are expected to be held in April-May. 

    Shah’s Bengal visit was much awaited event aiming to the Matua vote-share ahead of the upcoming 2021 Assembly elections. 

    As the electorates of the religious sect wanted Shah to announce a deadline of giving them citizenship by implementing CAA, the promise that the BJP had made in 2019 general elections and secured electoral dividend riding on it. 

    During Shah’s visit last month, six TMC MLAs and an MP had joined BJP along with 45 district-level functionaries. 

    Meanwhile, the TMC was on Friday rocked by a fresh bout of desertions as former minister Rajib Banerjee quit the party and several other leaders rallied behind him, deepening the crisis in the party. After quitting the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, Rajib Banerjee on Friday resigned from the party and as MLA of the West Bengal Assembly.

    A slew of disgruntled TMC leaders, including some MLAs such as Prabir Ghosal and Baishali Dalmiya, who was recently expelled from the party and former Howrah Mayor Rathin Chakraborty, spoke out against the TMC leadership.

    Incidentally, Shah was scheduled to address a rally in Rajib Banerjee’s home district Howrah on January. 31. 

  • TMC issues show-cause notice to Uttarpara MLA after resignation from party posts

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to Uttarpara MLA Prabir Ghoshal after his resignation from two party posts, alleging he was not being allowed carry on work in his constituency by a powerful section within the TMC.

    Ghosal, who made it clear that he will continue to be a member of the assembly and did not have immediate plans to desert the TMC, was asked to explain “why he discussed internal party affairs with the press” and cautioned “not to do such things in future”, a source said.

    He resigned as a member of the Hooghly district committee and also quit as TMC spokesperson.

    “I have been forced to take this decision as there is an active lobby in the party that is not allowing me to do my work in my constituency. I will still continue to be MLA keeping in mind the needs of people,” Ghoshal told reporters here.

    He also alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to defeat him in the upcoming assembly polls “if I contest again from the Uttarpara seat”.

    Ghoshal claimed the TMC fared poorly in the Lok Sabha polls from the seat due to “infighting” within the party.

    “An important road connecting Kanaipur with Nabagram is in poor shape since long, and all my representations to the higher authorities have failed.

    It seems a vested interest is at work to not allow good people to stay in the party,” the disgruntled TMC leader said.

    In Uttarpara, a group of TMC supporters demonstrated before his office in Konnagar, demanding that “all rotten products within the party be removed with immediate effect before they can sabotage it”.

    A TMC district leader said Ghosal could have sorted out differences with the party instead of going public.

    Meanwhile, another rebel party leader Rajib Banerjee, who had recently resigned as the state’s forest minister, vowed to contest from the Domjur constituency in the elections, due in April-May.

    “Wherever I go, I will contest from Domjur.

    The people of the constituency know which person always stands by their side.

    People of Domjur will prove who is the true member of their family,” he said when asked if he would attend the scheduled meeting of Home Minister Amit Shah in Howrah later in the week.

    After Banerjee quit, Srirampore TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay had dared him to contest from Domjur if he decides to leave the party.

    Earlier Bally MLA Baishali Dalmiya was expelled from the party on grounds of breach of discipline.

    TMC sources said there was speculation that all the three might join the BJP during Shah’s meeting in the district.

    TMC turncoat and saffron party leader Suvendu Adhikari has said “they are welcome to join the BJP.”

  • No question of redrafting three farm laws, repeal them: Trinamool to Modi government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress on Monday urged the government to repeal the new contentious agrarian legislation in the upcoming budget session of Parliament and said there is no question of short cuts or rewriting the three farm laws.

    TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’ Brien alleged that the three laws were bulldozed through the Parliament’s monsoon session and remarked that he was among the eight Rajya Sabha MPs who were suspended over protesting against the passage of these bills.

    “All of you know TMC’s stand on the three farm laws and Mamata Banerjee’s commitment on the issue of land and farmers. In the upcoming session of the Parliament, the government must introduce a Bill and turn it into an Act to repeal the three farm laws. There is no question of taking any shortcuts or rewriting the present bills,” Brien said.

    “The nation saw how democracy was murdered in the monsoon session,” he said.

    The TMC leader also countered the BJP’s criticism of the West Bengal government alleging that it was stalling implementation of the PM Kisan Yojana in the state.

    He said West Bengal has already successfully implemented the Krishak Bandhu Yojana which is far more effective than the PM Kisan Yojana.

    “Under Krishak Bandhi, Rs 5,000 per acre, while in case of PM Kisan the government gives only Rs 1,214 per acre. The Krishak Bandhu scheme covers all farmers. While PM Kisan is only for farmers with land holding two hectares or less,” he said.

    Dismissive of the discourse of the BJP’s resurgence in the state, where nearly a dozen TMC lawmakers have joined the saffron party in the last few months, the leader said the big test will be in 2024.

    “The big election is not in 2021 but in 2024. In 2021, BJP has already lost elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. By 2024 elections, the opposition will once again have to fight for the constitution of India and the idea of India, what our founding fathers created over 70 years ago.”

    “There will be a lot of distraction, but this election will be fought on the development work done by the Mamata Banerjee government,” he added.

    He said the confidence in writing off the BJP came from working on the ground relentlessly.

    “It is the same confidence that a good student who has studied over a period of time goes into the exam with. There is no arrogance or cockiness, this is about believing that we have done a good job under Mamata Banerjee.”

    Questioning the BJP on its challenge to the TMC in the upcoming West Bengal polls, he said, “Under whose leadership is BJP fighting the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal? The BJP is desperate to appropriate the minds and soul of Bengal but their senior most leaders get confused about basic details such as the birthplace of literary giant Rabindranath Tagore”.

    BJP President J P Nadda in a speech in December last year had claimed that Tagore was born in Visva Bharati.

    On November 10, Union Home minister Amit Shah during his trip to Bankura had garlanded the statue of a local hunter mistaking it to be that of Birsa Munda.

  • TMC government in Bengal to table resolution against new farm laws in assembly on January 28

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal will table a resolution during the upcoming two-day assembly session, opposing the Centre’s new farm laws and demanding their immediate repeal, a senior minister said on Monday.

    The assembly session will begin on January 27 and the resolution will be tabled under Rule 169 during the second half on January 28, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

    A two-and-half-hour-long discussion will be held, he said.

    An all-party meeting was convened by Speaker Biman Banerjee at his chamber in the assembly during the day.

    ​ALSO READ | Bengal polls: Election Commission likely to deploy 1 lakh para troops

    The state government’s effort to bring the Congress and the Left Front on the same page to table a joint resolution failed as the opposition parties wanted to bring it under Rule 185.

    “They wanted to bring the same resolution under Rule 185. What is the point of bringing two resolutions on the same issue under two different rules? When the government has submitted a resolution, it is expected that it will be accepted,” Chatterjee said.

    Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan said that the TMC government does not have any moral authority to bring a resolution against the Centre’s new farm laws as the state administration too had passed similar laws a few years back.

    ​ALSO READ | Farmers’ rally: Hundreds of women to drive tractors, make their presence count

    “Unless the TMC government withdraws the similar laws it had passed a few years back, there is no meaning in bringing a resolution against the Centre’s new farm laws. The resolution that we had submitted had those points but the state administration was not willing to accept it,” he said.

    The Left Front and the Congress, however, said that they will take part in the discussion and place their views in the House.

    BJP legislative party leader Manoj Tigga said his party will oppose the resolution.

    Apart from the resolution, two bills pertaining to the establishment of an agricultural university and GST-related issues will be tabled.