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Tag: Trinamool

  • Bengal polls debacle: With mere 5.47 per cent vote share, Left stares at existential crisis

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A graffiti on a central Kolkata wall said “Long live Marxism”.

    Someone with a wry sense of humour had cut out the word ‘live’ and scrawled ‘dead’ on top.

    The results of last week’s counting of votes cast in the crucial West Bengal elections seemed to bear this out.

    Not only had the combined Left parties drawn a blank in polls to the assembly which they had run with an overwhelming majority for 34 long years, their vote share had dwindled to a mere 5.47 per cent in 2021, down from 30.1 per cent in 2011 when they lost the elections to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s juggernaut.

    In the clash of the titans where the TMC was in a straight fight with the BJP in most constituencies, the once all-powerful Left seems to have been squeezed into oblivion.

    Even in the 2016 assembly elections, the Left parties had managed to get 25.69 per cent of the votes polled.

    “We lost because other factors like anti-incumbency were overridden by people’s anxiety to halt the BJP from capturing Bengal,” admitted Nilotpal Basu, CPI(M) Politburo member and former Rajya Sabha MP.

    Analysts said that the TMC’s win was in part powered by a gain of at least five per cent of the popular votes which normally go to the Left, as electors decided to ignore issues like corruption to exercise their franchise against the BJP.

    “In 2019, when the BJP won 18 Lok Sabha seats and bagged about 40 per cent of the votes cast, the Left and the Congress had ceded grounds to the rightist party, this time the Left votes went to the TMC,” said Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the CPI(ML)- Liberation party which came out with a ‘No Vote to BJP’ campaign.

    Bhattacharya, an alumnus of the Indian Statistical Institute and his team have been researching on the just- concluded elections at their office in Creek Row area.

    The sharp drop in votes polled has dismayed CPI(M) cadres, and the central leadership of the party will review the election results to analyse what went wrong and to chart out a future course of action.

    Even Jadavpur, long dubbed ‘Leningrad of the East’ which has elected a Left candidate in every election since 1967, except once, fell before the Trinamool onslaught.

    To rub in the humiliation, veteran CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty lost by a margin of nearly 40,000 votes to a little-known TMC debutante in a seat, where it was said that the Left “would win even if the party fielded a lamp post with the hammer and sickle sign on it”.

    “The Kolkata city voting patterns show that people decided to stop the BJP and they chose to gravitate towards the TMC it is a limited mandate from the Left-liberal- secular opinion against the BJP,” Basu said, adding “the ruling party should not consider this as their vote.

    As Leftist forces consolidate, it will regain this vote share”.

    However, independent analysts do not believe getting back vote shares will be a simple task for the Left parties led by the CPI(M).

    “The crisis the Left is facing is deep rooted. Its falling vote share is just an indicator of a deeper malaise,” said Rajat Roy, political analyst and member of the think tank Calcutta Research Group.

    The fall of the Left is underlined by the fact that just 17 years ago it was the third-largest party with 59 MPs of the 543-strong Lok Sabha, with 35 seats coming from West Bengal alone.

    Since then, its sway over the electorate has dwindled to a situation where it has no MPs from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha.

    CPI(M)’s vote share alone has fallen in recent years from 19.75 per cent in the 2016 assembly polls to 6.34 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when a whispering campaign “chup chap padma phoole chaap” (secretly vote for BJP) saw a section of its voters swung to the BJP as a reaction to TMCs attitude towards the Left.

    In 2021, the CPI(M) managed to garner just 4.73 per cent of votes polled as the pendulum shifted towards the TMC.

    “The once revolutionary party which rode to popularity on the back of peasants’ movements and trade union militancy has been living in a cocoon for long. Since the 1990s, instead of mass contact movements, it has depended on party apparatchiks like Laksman Seth of Haldia and Anil Basu of Hooghly to deliver votes. Their decline now defines the Left’s hold over voters,” Roy said.

    The CPI(M), which stormed into power in 1977 following a popular upsurge against then chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray’s brutal suppression of the Naxal movement, industrial stagnation and emergency excesses, had also failed to live up to people’s expectations with its inability to create jobs, encourage industry and by lowering public education and healthcare standards.

    However, insulated from the two major political upheavals that shook India in 1990s the Mandal agitation and the Ram Mandir stir and bereft of strong opposition, Bengal remained a unique Left citadel, even as the Communism crumbled in Eastern Europe and embraced capitalism in China.

    The rise of Mamata Banerjee’s strident street-smart politics in the late 1990s and 2000s, which used people’s movements against eviction of hawkers in Kolkata, agitations against land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram, severely challenged the Left.

    “The connect with ordinary people, which was their (Leftists) hallmark snapped. CPI(M) leaders were living in a world of doctrinaire, while the lower cadres were reaping the gains of office,” Roy explained.

    By 2011, Banerjee had breached the ‘Red fortress’ and by 2021, the Left was misreading its voters’ mind, Bhattacharya claimed.

    “The traditional Left completely misread the situation in this election. They should have seen the significance of the battle for Bengal. Here, we had a party backed by RSS, a ‘fascist’ organisation, out to capture Bengal. Yet they concocted slogans that equated the BJP and the TMC, and called them ‘two sides of the same coin’. This did not convince even their own people,” he said.

    The CPI(ML)-Liberation leader felt that class concerns where the “poor saw the BJP as a rich man’s party”, gender concerns raised by comments on “love Jihad and Romeo squads” and “issues of Bengali identity” united voters against “attempts to polarise them communally”.

    The Left’s electoral alliance with the newly-floated Indian Secular Front led by a conservative Islamic cleric, known for controversial comments, too did not go down well with Leftist liberals.

    “The tie-up with Abbas Siddique simply backfired on them,” said Bhattacharya.

    The Left, analysts believe, now has to reinvent itself and go back to mass contact movements to stay relevant.

    Cadres of Leftist students’ unions, who fanned out in districts of south Bengal to campaign for CPI(M)’s new faces such as JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh and party’s youth wing state president Minakshi Mukherjee, are expected to lead the mobilisation needed to bring back it into reckoning.

    “Our young candidates have got relatively good vote share. They are our hope,” Basu said.

    According to collated data based on Election Commission figures, the Left had registered its best-show in south-east Bengal where it received nearly nine per cent of the popular votes.

    This is also the region where most of the young faces were fielded.

    “Let us see what lessons the Left draws from its rout. We have to step up our role,” said Bhattacharya.

    While Roy added, “the key is mass connects, no party can survive without mass movements.”

  • Trinamool workers help cremate BJP leader as saffron camp looks away 

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress functionaries came forward to cremate the body of a BJP leader, who died of cardiac arrest in West Bengal’s East Burdwan district, after nobody from the saffron camp responded to repeated pleas by his wife. 

    Sixty-year-old Anup Banerjee, who was the BJP’s booth president, died on Friday. His wife Reena stood guard beside his body overnight.

    Her repeated pleas to the local BJP workers to help cremate him fell on deaf ears as they suspected Banerjee died of Covid-19.

    On Saturday afternoon, a local TMC leader Budun Sheikh instructed the party workers to go and help the family. They carried Banerjee’s body and cremated it.

    “It was around 1 pm when my husband died. He had no symptoms of Covid-19. He was suffering from physical ailments and had succumbed to a massive cardiac arrest,” Reena said. 

    “I informed the BJP’s local leaders and functionaries with whom my husband worked hard in the Assembly elections. Initially, they said they will come soon. Bu no one turned up,” she said.

    “I then heard a rumour that my husband died of Covid. I couldn’t arrange a vehicle to take him to the crematorium. It was stormy night with heavy downpour. I had to spend the night with his body,’’ Reena said.

  • Post poll violence continues in Bengal as one killed, six injured; Governor hits out at Mamata government

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: One person was killed and six others were injured in a clash between the TMC and the BJP in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, police said on Saturday.

    The incident occurred at Muktinagar village under Dubrajpur assembly constituency when a group of people, allegedly BJP workers, tried to enter the houses of villagers on Friday night, a police officer said.

    “Members of the Trinamool Congress, who were feasting nearby, came to their rescue and they clashed with the BJP workers leading to the death of one and injuries to six others,” the police officer said.

    The injured are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Suri.

    The incident took place when a fact-finding team of the Union Home Ministry is visiting the state to take stock of post-poll violence.

    The house of another TMC activist was ransacked at a place near the village on Saturday morning.

    Meanwhile, the four-member team of the Union Home Ministry on Saturday visited several violence-ravaged places of the state.

    The team, led by an additional secretary of the ministry, flew to Birbhum district in the morning and from there they proceeded to several places, including Nanoor, which have been witnessing post-poll violence following the announcement of assembly poll results on May 2.

    Members of the team then went to Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district and visited places like Kendamari Jalpai and spoke to locals.

    The team, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, had met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan on Friday.

    The ministry has sought a report from Dhankhar on the law and order situation in Bengal, in view of the violence that erupted in the state following the announcement of assembly election results.

    ALSO READ | Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee begins Assembly session with attacks on Centre, poll panel

    The team had visited Budge Budge and Satgachia in South 24 Parganas district on Friday.

    The panel had on Thursday, too, toured several places in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas, shortly after arriving here, and held meetings with the chief secretary, home secretary and the DGP at the secretariat, officials said.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that 16 people were killed in post-poll violence in the state.

    The BJP, on its part, alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked women members, vandalised houses and looted shops.

    Rejecting the charges, Banerjee maintained that clashes were taking place in those areas where the saffron party emerged victorious in the assembly polls.

    Dhankhar Saturday expressed displeasure at not being updated on the law and order situation in the state with regard to post poll violence by the chief secretary and director general of police (DGP).

    State Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and DGP Virendra called on the governor at Raj Bhavan on Saturday evening being asked by him over the law and order situation in West Bengal.

    “Unfortunately both came without any paper or reports sought. Directed them to send the same without delay. In a sense disgusted with such stance,” Dhankhar tweeted after the officers met him.

    Maintaining that the home secretary has failed to apprise him on the law and order situation vis a vis the post-poll violence, Dhankhar had asked the chief secretary to see him.

    Dhankhar had tweeted earlier in the day that the home secretary did not forward reports of the DGP and commissioner of Kolkata Police in this regard.

    “Chief Secretary @MamataOfficial has been called upon to see me today before 7 PM as ACS Home @HomeBengal failed to impart status report on law and order regarding post poll violence,” the governor tweeted.

    “Such drifting of governance @MamataOfficial from constitutional prescriptions is unfortunate and cannot be overlooked. While the State passes through most severe post poll violence, there is just NO input to the constitutional head. This is least expected,” Dhankhar wrote.

    The West Bengal has been rocked by large scale violence after the bitterly fought state elections.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that 16 persons of different political parties have lost their lives in clashes after the end of the polls.

    A four-member team of the union home ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in Bengal, had met Dhankhar at Raj Bhawan.

  • Post poll violence: HC asks Mamata government to file affidavit on law and order situation

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, taking cognizance of a PIL that claimed life and liberty of people in Bengal are in danger owing to post-poll violence, asked the state government on Friday to file an affidavit in three days, apprising it of the present law and order situation.

    The bench directed advocate general for the state, Kishore Dutta, to specify in the affidavit the names of areas where violence broke out, and the steps taken to prevent or control the same.

    The PIL would be heard again on May 10.

    It was initially taken up by a division bench — comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee — which then referred it to a larger bench for hearing after lunch recess.

    “Considering the importance (of the PIL) where life and liberty of the people in the state of West Bengal is at stake”, a larger bench comprising five judges was constituted to hear the plea.

    Petitioner Anindya Sundar Das, also a lawyer, has claimed in his plea that lives of people were in danger owing to alleged inaction of the state police force.

    A four-member team of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, on Thursday held a meeting with top state government officials and visited families affected by the skirmishes, sources said.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that 16 people have lost their lives in post-poll violence in various parts of the state.

    The BJP has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked women members, vandalised houses and looted shops.

    Rejecting the charges, Banerjee said that violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where saffron party candidates emerged victorious in the assembly polls.

    Led by an additional secretary of the MHA, the team visited the state secretariat and held over an hour-long meeting with the chief secretary, home secretary and the director general of police, officials said.

    To assess the ground situation, the central team also visited places in South 24 Parganas district’s Sonarpur and Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district, which witnessed post- poll violence.

    In Sonarpur, the team members spoke to family members of Haran Adhikari, who was killed in the violence, and local people, sources in the state police said.

    Afterwards, the team went to Bhatpara and took stock of the situation following the incidents of violence, they added.

    On Friday, the team would call on Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and seek a report on the post-poll violence, officials said.

    The MHA has asked Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the election results on May 2.

    The ministry had earlier asked the state government to submit a detailed report on the violence, but is yet to receive it, officials said.

    The ministry had on Wednesday sent a terse reminder to the West Bengal government to submit the report.

    Senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim hit out at the Centre for sending teams instead of COVID-19 vaccines.

    “They should send vaccines first, that’s the responsibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are grieved that some people have died, and action will be taken against the culprits.”

    “But, what will happen to the inoculation process which is stalled because of the vaccine crisis?” Hakim said.

    Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan’s car was attacked at Panchkuri village in Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday while he was visiting the area in connection with alleged assault on saffron party workers after the election.

    Muraleedharan claimed in a tweet that the “TMC goons” were behind the attack on his convoy.

    The chief minister, without naming anyone, said that some central ministers are going to villages after the elections are over and accused them of instigating violence.

    Meanwhile, senior TMC leader Udayan Guha was injured in an attack allegedly by BJP activists at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district on Thursday.

    A 22-year-old man died on Wednesday night after alleged TMC workers assaulted him in Purba Bardhaman district when he tried to save his father from their attack on the night of May 4, police said on Thursday.

  • Homemaker stands out amid BJP drubbing in Bengal, readies for MLA stint

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP might have fallen flat on its ambition to rule Bengal, but the party found the most unlikely winner in a 30-year-old homemaker of humble means who scripted a stunning victory, trouncing her nearest TMC rival by a margin of over 4,000 votes.

    A mother of three, newly elected Saltora MLA, Chandana Bauri, who followed in her husband’s footsteps and joined the saffron camp around five years ago, had never imagined she would ever be called upon to represent her constituency.

    As a party worker, she worked every day, cycling her way to various parts of the constituency from her home in Saltora, Bankura district, trying to “strengthen the organisation and ensuring that people in need get requisite help”.

    “I always thought contesting an election involved a lot of money, and that it wasn’t really a possibility, given the fact that we are not well-off.”

    “My husband is a mason, and the little that we save goes into funding my children’s education and meeting our daily expenses. However, when the local BJP leadership wanted to field me from Saltora, I realised that my work would speak for me,” Bauri said.

    Asked what prompted her to take the plunge into electoral politics, the newly elected MLA said “atrocities perpetrated by TMC activists” was a major reason behind her decision to contest the elections.

    “During the last panchayat elections, many from the BJP were not given a chance to file nomination, the legislator said.

    She alleged that party men and women were physically stopped from making an attempt to join the electoral fray and said, “I just wanted to do something to put an end to this anarchy.”

    She also stressed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s welfare initiatives, such as measures taken under Swachh Bharat Mission, were other reasons for her joining the saffron camp.

    Born in a humble family in Barjora area of Bankura, Bauri lost her father just two days before her Class 10 board exams began.

    Her mother did odd jobs to feed the family.

    “My mother weathered many a storm, washed dishes, sold cow dung cakes to eke out a living. I have four more siblings, and she made sure none of us went to bed hungry. She happens to be my inspiration. Women are capable of doing great things. I have learnt that from my mother and grandmother,” she said.

    Bauri, who still lives in a one-room mud hut, also thanked her husband and in-laws for being supportive.

    “I would wake up early, cook food and leave for mandal committee work. My in-laws and relatives, who live nearby, took care of my household when I was away. There are so many people who have helped me in my journey and I cant be grateful enough to them,” she told PTI.

    The BJP MLA said she wanted her children two daughters and a son — to pursue higher education and find jobs that would not just benefit them but touch other people’s lives, too.

    Talking about her plans to develop Saltora, she pointed out that the place still lacks proper roads.

    “I will definitely work towards developing the infrastructure in Saltora. Proper roads and clean drinking water top my list of priorities,” the BJP MLA said.

  • After Tathagata Roy lashing out at BJP over Bengal defeat, party veteran summoned to Delhi

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: BJP leader Tathagata Roy on Thursday said his party’s top brass has called him to Delhi at the earliest, a day after he criticised some of the measures taken by the saffron camp’s decision-makers ahead of the assembly elections.

    The BJP pocketed just 77 seats in the just-concluded Bengal polls, with the TMC having bagged 213 constituencies.

    The saffron party had set a target of winning over 200 seats.

    Taking to Twitter, the former governor of two northeastern states — Tripura and Meghalaya — said, “I have been asked by the party’s topmost leadership to come to Delhi ASAP. This is for general information.”

    Roy, during his interaction with reporters on Wednesday, had claimed that “unwanted elements” from the TMC was inducted into the BJP ahead of the assembly polls, and leaders having no idea or understanding of Bengali culture and heritage were made to helm the election campaign in the state.

    On the migroblogging site, he also wrote, “In the depths of my frustration I think of my icons Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay. How they had suffered and compared to that what is my suffering! Such thoughts, such suffering will not go in vain. Never!”

    In a no-holds-barred diatribe aimed at state BJP minders and the Bengal unit chief, he further tweeted, “Kailash-Dilip-Shiv-Arvind (KDSA) foursome have dragged the names of our respected Prime Minister and Home Minister through mud and have sullied the name of the biggest political party in the world. Sitting atop Agarwal Bhavan of Hastings (W Bengal BJP’s election headquarters).”

    On Tuesday, Roy, known for his controversial remarks and tweets, had said that three new female entrants in the BJP from the tinsel town, who got defeated by big margins, are “politically stupid”, raising several eyebrows.

    “What great qualities were these women possessed of? Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh & Co must answer (sic),” he had tweeted.

    Reacting strongly to Roy’s jibe at his industry colleagues, Kanchan Mallick, an actor who fought on a TMC ticket and won the Uttarpara seat, “It is insulting for them even though they belong to my rival party,” he said.

  • ‘Not even 24 hours since I took oath as CM, central teams have started arriving’: Mamata lashes out at BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said 16 people have lost their lives in post-poll violence in the state, and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for their families.

    Banerjee, during a press meet here, also said that her government will provide jobs of home guard to one family member each of all five persons killed in CAPF firing in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi area last month.

    She further said that a CID team has initiated a probe into the incident of firing in Cooch Behar that took place when the voting exercise was underway for the fourth phase of assembly elections, on April 10.

    “At least 16 persons – mostly from the BJP and the TMC and one of the Samyukta Morcha — died in post-poll violence. We will pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to their family members. Our government will also provide jobs of home guard to the next of kin of Sitalkuchi victims,” she said.

    Taking a swipe at the BJP, the CM said that the saffron party was yet to come to terms with people’s mandate.

    She accused central leaders of inciting violence in the state.

    “Not even 24 hours have passed since I was sworn-in as the CM, and letters, a central team have started arriving. This is because the BJP has not yet reconciled to the mandate of common people. I will request the saffron party leaders to accept the mandate,” she told reporters.

    “Please allow us to focus on the COVID situation. We do not want to engage in any squabble,” she added.

    A four-member fact-finding team of the Union Home Ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, arrived in the state on Thursday.

    Led by an additional secretary of the ministry, the team visited the state secretariat and held a meeting with the home secretary and DGP, sources said.

    The team, which will also assess the ground situation in the state, is likely to visit several areas in the city as well as South 24 Parganas, Godkhali, Sunderbans and Jaggadal, they said.

    The ministry had on Wednesday sent a terse reminder to the West Bengal government to submit a detailed report on the post-poll violence and to take necessary measures to stop such incidents “without any loss of time”.

    It has also asked West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the election results on May 2.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that 16 people have lost their lives in post-poll violence in the state.

    The BJP has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked women members, vandalised houses and looted shops.

    Rejecting the charges, Banerjee had Wednesday said violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where BJP candidates emerged victorious in the assembly polls.

    Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MLA Firhad Hakim hit out at the Centre for sending teams instead of COVID-19 vaccines.

    “They should send vaccines first, that’s the responsibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are grieved that some people have died, and action will be taken against the culprits.”

    “But, what will happen to the inoculation process which is stalled because of the vaccine crisis?” Hakim said.

  • WATCH | Union Minister V Muraleedharan’s convoy attacked in Bengal, BJP sees ‘Trinamool’ hand behind it

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan’s car was vandalised at Panchkuri village in West Midnapore district on Thursday while he was visiting the area in connection with alleged post-poll violence on saffron party workers.

    Muraleedharan alleged in a tweet that the “TMC goons” were behind the attack on his convoy.

    “I went to West Midnapore to meet party workers who have been attacked and their homes were vandalised. I was moving from one house to another with my convoy and then all of a sudden a group of people started charging towards us and attacked,” Muraleedharan said.

    “I am safe, but my driver was injured, few car windows were also smashed,” the minister told PTI.

    BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha who was accompanying the minister claimed that the attack took place despite the presence of the police personnel.

    TMC goons attacked my convoy in West Midnapore, broken windows, attacked personal staff. Cutting short my trip. #BengalBurning @BJP4Bengal @BJP4India @narendramodi @JPNadda @AmitShah @DilipGhoshBJP @RahulSinhaBJP pic.twitter.com/b0HKhhx0L1
    — V Muraleedharan (@VMBJP) May 6, 2021

    An officer of Kotwali police station in West Midnapore said that they are probing into the incident of the attack on the minister’s convoy.

    “It happened at around 12. 30 pm today when some unidentified people attacked the minister’s convoy,” he said.

    No one has been detained or arrested so far, the police officer said.

    BJP president JP Nadda on Thursday condemned the attack and claimed that “TMC-sponsored” violence was in full swing in state after the assembly poll results were declared.

    Condemning the attack, Nadda alleged that law and order has completely collapsed in West Bengal.

    “If an Union minister can be attacked then what would be the condition of common man?” he posed.

    “TMC-sponsored violence is in full swing in West Bengal after assembly elections in the state,” the BJP president alleged.

    He also claimed, “Murderous attacks on BJP workers, rapes happening in West Bengal and people in thousands are fleeing to save lives.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Post poll violence in Bengal: MHA asks Governor for report on law and order in state 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry has asked West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the election results last weekend, officials said on Thursday.

    The Home Ministry had earlier asked the state government to submit a report but has not yet received it, the officials said.

    The governor has been asked to assess the situation and submit his report to the ministry at the earliest.

    The ministry has formed a four-member, headed by an additional secretary ranked officer, to investigate the post-poll violence.

    The BJP claims six of its workers were killed by TMC supporters, a charge denied by the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

    The home ministry dispatched a terse reminder to the West Bengal government on Wednesday to submit a detailed report on the post-poll violence in the state, warning it that the matter will be taken “seriously” in case it fails to do so, and asked it to take necessary measures to stop such incidents “without any loss of time”, officials said.

    In a letter dispatched on Wednesday, the home ministry reminded the West Bengal chief secretary that on May 3, it had sought an immediate report from the state government on the post-poll violence.

    However, the West Bengal government is yet to send the report, the officials said.

    ALSO READ | Ministry of Home Affairs forms four-member team to probe post-poll violence in West Bengal

    According to latest inputs, the violence has not stopped in West Bengal and this means that effective measures were not taken by the state government to control it, the letter said.

    Therefore, necessary steps should be taken to prevent these incidents without any loss of time, it added.

    A detailed report should be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) immediately, it said.

    In case the report is not sent by the state government, the matter will be taken seriously, the letter added.

    After the third straight convincing victory for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, following a charged Assembly election campaign, West Bengal witnessed a number of violent incidents since Sunday, when the results were announced.

    At least six people were killed in post-poll violence in different parts of the state till Tuesday.

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked its women members, vandalised houses, looted shops of its members and ransacked its offices.

    Claiming that at least 14 BJP workers were killed and nearly one lakh people fled their homes in post-poll violence in West Bengal, party president J P Nadda alleged on Wednesday that the chief minister’s silence speaks of her involvement.

    Banerjee rejected the charges, saying violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where the BJP candidates emerged victorious in the election.

    Speaking to reporters at state secretariat Nabanna after taking oath, the chief minister also claimed that most of the videos of violence being shared on social media are either fake or old.

    “I have noticed that violence and clashes are taking place in those areas where the BJP have won the elections. These places can be seen as black spots,” she said.

    Banerjee said when these incidents happened, law and order in the state was under the Election Commission (EC).

    “Law and order in West Bengal deteriorated in the last three months. There were some sporadic incidents and not all were real, most were fake. The BJP is showing old videos,” she said.

    The TMC supremo said all the district magistrates (DMs) and superintendents of police (SPs) were asked to strictly deal with any emerging situation.

    “If someone is found involved in any incident, we will deal with it very strictly. We are not going to tolerate any lawlessness here,” she said.

    West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned him and expressed anguish over the law-and-order situation in the state following reports of post-poll violence from several districts.

    Banerjee had asked people on Sunday to show restraint and not indulge in any kind of violence.

    The BJP on Wednesday claimed that 14 party workers were killed and nearly a lakh people fled their homes in post-poll violence, charges which were denied as fabricated by the Trinamool Congress.

    ALSO READ | West Bengal: 50 per cent of BJP’s 77 seats in dalit strongholds

    BJP president J P Nadda at a press conference here claimed that 80,000 to one lakh people have left their homes in different parts of the state in the wake of Trinamool Congresss spectacular electoral victory and held Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible, alleging her silence (on the violence) speaks of her involvement.

    Earlier in the day, Banerjee after taking oath for a third term in office said she would take strict action to stop any lawlessness and pointed out till her swearing in, the states law and order were supervised by the Election Commission which had changed many top-level police personnel responsible for tackling such incidents.

    Condemning the “brutal killings after the (election) results”, Nadda alleged that 14 BJP workers have been killed and women molested and raped in various parts of the state.

    The assembly election results were declared on May 2 with the ruling Trinamool Congress winning 213 of the 292 assembly seats.

    “Mamata Banerjee’s silence (on the violence) speaks of her involvement. She has blood on her hand,” Nadda said.

    During his two-day visit to the state from Tuesday, the BJP president visited the residences of some party workers who allegedly faced atrocities at the hands of TMC supporters.

    Alleging attacks on BJP workers in Canning Purba constituency in South 24 Parganas district and destruction of villages, he said the people there have faced “(cyclone) Amphan last year and `Mamataphan this year”.

    TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh however labelled the rival partys claims as fabricated and said most violence was because of intra-party spats within the Bharatiya Janata Party.

    He also claimed that six TMC men had been killed.

    Nadda claimed that people in north Bengal districts have been fleeing to neighbouring Assam to save their lives.

    Asked whether the BJP was contemplating to seek imposition of Article 356 of the Constitution in West Bengal, he said that the procedure is that a report is sent by the governor, analysed by central agencies and Ministry of Home Affairs and a decision is then taken.

    “So, it is for them to make the decision”, he said.

    Under Article 356, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional provisions, the Centre can take direct control of the state machinery.

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    “As far as the BJP is concerned, even if it is a fit case (for the imposition of Article 356), we are people who fight democratically,” Nadda said.

    The chief minister speaking to reporters at state secretariat `Nabanna, claimed violence and clashes were occurring in areas where the BJP won the elections and added that most of the videos of violence being shared on social media were either fake or old.

    “I have noticed that violence and clashes are taking place in those areas where the BJP have won the elections.

    These places can be seen as black spots,” she said.

    The chief minister said that when these incidents happened, the law and order was under the Election Commission.

    “The law and order in West Bengal deteriorated in the last three months. There were some sporadic incidents and not all were real, most were fake. BJP is showing old videos,” she claimed.

    “I will appeal to all political parties to stop this (violence). Or else, law will take its course. Bengal is a land of peace, heritage and here we stay in peace with people from every section of the society,” she said.

    Hours after taking oath as the chief minister, Banerjee held a top-level meeting with senior officials of the state government, including Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Home Secretary HK Dwidevi on the present law and order situation.

    She also reinstated Virender, as the Director- General of Police and Jawed Shamim as the ADG (Law and Order).

    Both the officers were removed from their respective posts by the Election Commission ahead of the polls.

    Meanwhile, Mamata on Wednesday initiated a major reshuffle in the police hierarchy, transferring 29 top-level police officers, mostly those who were shifted by the Election Commission prior to the polls.

    Among the top-level officers who have been brought back to their former positions are DG Virendra, ADG (Law and Order) Jawed Shamim and DG Security Vivek Sahay, an order issued this evening said.

    The government also suspended Debashis Dhar, SP of Cooch Behar district where four persons were killed in CISF firing during polling on April 10 in Sitalkuchi constituency.

    Banerjee has already ordered a CID probe into the incident.

    Dhar was replaced by K Kannan who had been sent to OCW (officer-on-compulsory-waiting) during the election.

    Virendra, who was transferred by the EC, has been reinstated to his former position.

    ALSO READ | Centre asks West Bengal government to send report on post-poll violence ‘at once’

    Neeraj Nayan Pandey, who had been made the DG in place of Veerendra, was now posted as DG (Fire Services).

    Similarly, ADG (Law and Order) Jagmohan has been transferred to the civil defence and Jawed Shamim who was moved out by the commission for alleged police excesses during a Left rally has been brought back as the ADG (Law and Order).

    In a separate order, Vivek Sahay, former DG Security, who was removed by the poll panel alleging lapse in security arrangements of the chief minister after she was injured in a rally in Purba Medinipur district, has been brought back to his former position.

    Gyanwant Singh who worked as ADG Security during the election got back his earlier post and he has been given the additional responsibility of ADG and IGP of the Armed Police.

    Another transferred officer Sanjay Singh, officer-on- compulsory-waiting, has been posted as ADG and IG of Western range.

    In the morning, the chief minister had indicated that she was not happy with the ‘inefficiency’ of the police in different areas.

    “The administration was not under my control for the last three months. It was under the control of the Election Commission. There is some inefficiency. We will take decisions regarding this soon,” she had said.

    The state home department, in addition to this, has made some significant transfers like bringing back Monoj Verma as the commissioner of Barackpore Commissionerate.

    Verma was transferred from Barackpore and was made IG of Counter Insurgency Force by the commission.

    Similarly, Mitesh Jain who was made the commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate has been sent to compulsory waiting.

    Ajay Thakur, presently posted as DIG, CID in the state police, was brought in his place.

    Two more commissioners were transferred.

    Gourav Sharma presently working as Commissioner of Chanadannagar Police Commissionerate has been sent to Siliguri Police Commissionerate as commissioner and Arnab Ghosh, presently posted as member secretary of West Bengal Police Reform Board, has been made the commissioner of Chandannagar in his place.

    DIG, Barasat range, Mukesh has also been sent to officer-on-compulsory waiting.

    The government has transferred SPs of 16 districts.

    Among them are some officers who were shunted by the commission during the election.

    Bhola Nath Pandey who was transferred by the commission following the attack on BJP president J P Nadda’s convoy in Diamond Harbour has been made SP of Alipurduar.

    Soumya Roy who was transferred as his wife was contesting the election has been brought back as SP Howrah (Rural).

    Meanwhile, the government sent Rahul Majumdar who is presently posted as joint secretary at the Chief Minister’s Office as the DM of Purulia district in place of Abhjit Mukhopadhyay.

    Mukhopadhyay was sent to OCW in the personnel and administrative reforms department in the state secretariat.

  • Mamata Banerjee is leader of the country: Kamal Nath hails Trinamool supremo

    By PTI
    INDORE: Veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath on Wednesday described West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the “leader of the country” who defeated all her opponents, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Central agencies like the CBI and the ED, in the recently-held Assembly elections in West Bengal.

    When asked by reporters on the possibility of the TMC supremo being pitted against the prime minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Madhya Pradesh Congress president said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) would decide its electoral face at an appropriate time.

    “Banerjee is the leader of our country today. She has become the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third time in a row. She has reached this stage after a tough fight in the unprecedented assembly election,” he said.

    Nath said Banerjee had to fight against the Central government, PM Modi, his ministers, as well as the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department.

    “Yet she has kicked all them away (‘sabko lath markar bhaga diya’),” he said.

    Asked if Banerjee could be projected as the Opposition’s face against PM Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Nath said, “We don’t know that right now. This will be decided by the UPA”.

    Referring to the BJP’s protest against ‘political violence’ in West Bengal after the election results, the former chief minister said, “Now they (BJP leaders) are trying to say that violence is happening in Bengal. Adopting violent ways is very wrong.”

    “I have also spoken to Banerjee over the phone and told her to ask everyone to stay away from violence”.

    Nath also said that during his conversation with Banerjee, he also invited her to Madhya Pradesh.

    Earlier in the day, Banerjee was sworn-in as the chief minister for the third consecutive term after securing a massive mandate and vowed to not “give respite” to those behind political violence sweeping the state since the election results were announced.