News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • BJP seeks action against Mamata for statement ‘amounting to incite mutiny in CAPF’

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP on Monday complained to the Chief Electoral Officer accusing Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee of making a statement that amounts to incite “mutiny” in the central armed police force (CAPF) deployed in West Bengal for the assembly elections.

    Alleging that Banerjee, through her comment as published in a vernacular daily on Monday, has also violated provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the BJP called for action to be taken against her by the Election Commission.

    The BJP claimed that at a public meeting in Nadia district, the chief minister appealed to the CAPF personnel “not to shoot on the orders of the BJP. They are today but will not remain tomorrow.”

    In its complaint to the CEO, the saffron party alleged that the statement casts aspersions on the authority of the Election Commission.

    “The CAPF personnel during the election duty remain under the overall supervision of Commission and their superior officials deployed on ground,” the BJP said, adding that political parties who are stakeholders in the elections have no command over the forces deployed.

    “This amounts to incitement to mutiny in barely concealed language,” the complaint by the BJP over Banerjee’s alleged statement said.

    The BJP claimed that Banerjee made the statement on Sunday in reference to the firing by CAPF in Cooch Behar district on April 10 during polling, “violating provisions of Model Code of Conduct and provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951.”

    Four persons were killed in the firing which took place during the fourth phase of polling.

    “The statement deserves to be condemned and much stricter action is to be taken against her,” the BJP demanded in the complaint.

    The Election Commission had banned Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hours last week over her remarks against central forces and a statement that had “religious overtones”.

  • Bengal polls: BJP member found dead at Chakdah, saffron party alleges Trinamool hand

    By PTI
    CHAKDAH: The body of a BJP member was found at Chakdah in West Bengal’s Nadia district in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

    After the body of Dilip Kirtania (31) was found, BJP activists in the area started protest demonstrations staging roadblocks alleging that he was murdered by miscreants belonging to the rival TMC, the police said.

    Kirtania’s family members alleged that he had gone out in the night to attend to nature’s call, but did not return home, police said quoting the complaint lodged.

    “As he did not return home for a long time they started a search and found him lying injured a few metres away from his residence. Doctors declared him brought dead when he was rushed to Chakdah state General hospital. He had several injuries in his private parts,” a police officer added.

    BJP party activists started protests as the news of Kirtania’s death spread in the area.

    Demanding arrests of those behind the murder, the BJP activists also staged protests putting up a blockade on NH 34, police said.

    Polling for the Chakdah seat was held on Saturday during the fifth phase of the West Bengal Assembly election.

    Police had arrested one Independent candidate Koushik Bhowmick for carrying a country-made pistol outside a polling booth during Saturday’s polling.

  • Bengal polls: Trinamool MLA alleges bombs hurled by BJP-backed goons in North 24 Parganas

    By ANI
    NORTH 24 PARGANAS: TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh has alleged that miscreants backed by the BJP hurdled bombs in the Panihati area on Saturday night.

    According to TMC workers, BJP miscreants hurdled bombs on BT Road in Panihati after the polling for the fifth phase ended on Saturday. The miscreants threw the bombs from running vehicles and fled immediately.

    “BJP is trying to create unrest in the area. They (BJP) hurdled bombs to panic people. The BJP goons came from Bhatpara, Kamarhati and Titagarh. People cannot tolerate this kind of violence,” TMC MLA from Panihati Assembly Nirmal Ghosh told ANI.

    However, the local BJP workers denied the allegations.

    Police reached the spot after the information. The investigation is underway.

    In another incident, BJP workers were allegedly attacked by TMC workers in the Madhyamgram area on Saturday night after the conclusion of polls. Four BJP workers sustained serious injuries in the incident.

    “Raj Kumar Ghosh sustained critical injuries. Initially, he was taken to Madhyamgram Rural Hospital but later referred to Barasat State General Hospital. The other injured are admitted to Madhyamgram Rural Hospital,” a BJP worker told ANI.

    The polling in the Panihati and Madhyamgram assembly constituencies were held on Saturday during the fifth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections.

    The state has a history of violence during elections. Keeping this in mind, the Election Commission has been conducting this year’s assembly polls in eight phases.

    The voting for the sixth phase will be held on April 22.

  • Attack on BJP candidate’s convoy in Bengal: Party protests outside police station

    By ANI
    SAINTHIA: The convoy of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Sainthia Priya Saha was allegedly attacked on Saturday by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers.

    “TMC miscreants attacked my convoy, bombs were hurled at our workers,” Saha said.

    Saha, along with other party workers, protested outside a police station late on Saturday night.

    “If the police don’t take any action against the culprits, we’ll sit here in front of the police station 24 by 7,” Saha said.

    BJP leader and candidate from Nandigram Suvendu Adhikari also commented on the incident saying that resorting to violence is TMC’s habit.

    “It is their habit. There’s no one with the TMC, besides goons,” Adhikari told media.

    The voting for the sixth phase will be held on April 22, where in 306 candidates will contest for 43 constituencies across four districts.

  • Bengal polls phase five: BJP booth worker dies in Kamarhati, EC seeks report

    By ANI
    NORTH 24 PARGANAS: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) polling agent died inside a booth in Kamarhati while voting was underway for the fifth phase of West Bengal Assembly polls on Saturday.

    “His name is Abhijeet Samanta. Nobody helped him, there is no facility for treatment here,” the brother of the deceased BJP polling agent told ANI.

    Another BJP worker said, “We do not know what exactly happened as we are not allowed in a radius of 200 metres. I went with water after seeing him lying on the ground.”

    Meanwhile, the Election Commission has sought a report over the sudden death of the BJP polling agent at booth number 107 in Kamarhati on Saturday.

    Voting for the fifth phase of West Bengal assembly polls began at 7 am on Saturday amid tight security.

    Polling is underway in a total of 45 constituencies covering the districts of Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling and a segment of Nadia, North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman in the fifth phase. A total of 319 candidates, including 39 women are in the fray in Phase-V.

    There are 15,789 polling stations designated for this phase. The security for this phase has been beefed up with the deployment of 1,071 companies of central forces for ensuring a peaceful election.

    The voting for the sixth phase will be held on April 22.

  • COVID is Mamata’s new weapon against BJP as the Bengal reports nearly 7000 new cases

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  The TMC has found a new weapon to attack BJP. It’s the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the saffron party of bringing in outsiders for election work, which she claims, has caused a surge in numbers.

    Addressing a rally at Nabadwip in Nadia on Friday, Mamata said: “Do not spread coronavirus in Bengal Narendra Modiji. I am repeatedly saying this. You can visit Bengal and address rallies. But your party is bringing in people from Gujarat and Rajasthan for erecting stages and doing other works for BJP rallies. These outsiders are spreading Covid in Bengal,” she lashed out.

    Mamata Banerjee at a public meetingin North 24 Parganas districtClaiming that the pandemic scenario in Bengal was under control, the CM continued lambasting the BJP. “We kept cases under control. But since the outsiders started stepping in, cases are rising alarmingly.’’

    Without naming BJP’s heavyweights visiting Bengal, Mamata said: “The situation was alright for five-six months. Modiji could have saved all by giving vaccines. But he did not do that. Now they are bringing thousands of people in Bengal who are going back after spreading the virus.”

    Mamata requested the Election Commission to make Covid-19 tests mandatory for outsiders.

    UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who visited the state on several occasions and addressed rallies, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.

    Bengal recorded its highest single-day spike of 6,769 cases in the last 24 hours.

    Mamata used the ‘outsider’ jibe on several occasions in the past while attacking BJP. She labelled the saffron camp a party of outsiders who do not understand Bengal’s culture. As the state is witnessing a fierce electoral battle, she has given a new twist to the narrative by adding the Covid-19 angle.

    Referring to her promise to give free Covid vaccines, Mamata accused the Centre of doing politics.

    “I wanted free vaccination for all. But the Centre is not giving us adequate doses. BJP is doing politics over this which is shameful,” she said.

    Local labourers and decorators can be engaged for the purpose after necessary COVID-19 tests, Banerjee said.

    At another meeting at Jagatdal, the TMC supremo said that COVID test of those coming from outside, the decorators and workers should be made mandatory.

    She claimed that the Covid situation in states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat was far worse than Bengal.

    “In UP they (the BJP government of that state) have built walls around cremation sites to secretly burn bodies. The situation in Gujarat is alarming. A Bengali lady professor died there of coronavirus due to lack of treatment.”

    She also alleged that untrained non-medical persons were administering “so-called vaccines from BJP party offices in Gujarat”.

    Blaming the BJP of trying to stop her from canvassing by “targeting her leg”, Banerjee said she has been able to overcome the situation with the blessings of the people.

    “The injury has healed 75 per cent,” she said.

    Hitting out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the TMC supremo said he is repeatedly telling in meetings that Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja are not allowed in West Bengal.

    “This is nothing but a bunch of lies”.

    “And what kind of lies! We don’t allow Durga puja, Kali puja, Saraswati puja, Chhat Puja in Bengal? What does he know about our pujas, our culture? Do we sit at home wearing new clothes on Durga puja days and don’t go to pandals to offer pushpanjali? “Don’t we hold Lakshmi puja and Saraswati puja at almost every home? Don’t we celebrate Chhat puja? Despite being ignorant about Bengal, Amit Shah is repeatedly saying the same thing at every meeting! Will he quit politics if he is proved wrong?,” Banerjee asked.

    BJP is following the ‘Goebbels theory’ to establish a falsehood by repeating it every day.

    “But people of the state know the real situation,” she asserted.

    She accused BJP of plotting to delete names of bonafide citizens, who had settled in the country decades ago.

    “Those who came to the country till March 1971 are citizens. Why will they have to prove their citizenship? Those refugees who have been given land deeds for settling on private or government lands are citizens and cannot be sent to detention camps by BJP.

    “Cast your vote and ensure that they (BJP) are not elected and cannot delete your names in any National Population Register exercise,” she said.

    Addressing the Matua community, whose members form a significant chunk of the electorate in the border areas of North 24 Parganas district, she said “Only Trinamool Congress had been on your side for three decades. We had conferred the Bangabibhusan award to Baroma (Binapani Devi, the matriarch of the community), we had supervised all her treatment. Where were those who have suddenly surfaced at Thakurnagar now? “From building higher educational institutions to rail stations and development of the Matua community headquarters at Thakurnagar, from constituting a board to improve the condition of Namasudras our (TMC) government took up many measures to improve your (Matua community’s) condition. BJP only makes empty promises”.

    At another meeting at Noapara, Banerjee claimed that her car had been chased by saffron party workers at Bhatpara, an area which is the stronghold of its leader Arjun Singh, in 2019 and that TMC office had been forcibly painted saffron so that BJP could lay claim to them.

    “I stood against that terror and we have to resist BJP terror this time,” she added.

    The COVID-19 tally in West Bengal mounted to 6,43,795 on Friday after the highest single-day spike of 6,910 new cases were reported in the state, the health department said.

    On Friday the Revolutionary Socialist Party candidate for Jangipur assembly constituency, Pradip Kumar Nandi who tested positive for COVID-19 died in a Berhampore hospital, health department officials confirmed.

    The toll rose to 10,506 with 26 deaths registered in the state in the last 24 hours, it said in a bulletin.

    The city accounted for the highest single-day jump of 1,844 new cases and nine deaths, the bulletin said.

    Of the rest 17, seven deaths were reported in North 24 Parganas, three each in Howrah and Malda, two in Murshidabad and one death each in Purba Medinipur and Nadia districts, it said.

    Sixteen out of the 26 deaths were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.

    North 24 Parganas district accounted for 1,592 new cases, while Howrah reported 420 cases, the bulletin said.

    At least 2,818 recoveries were reported in the state and the discharge rate continued to slip and was 91.99 per cent.

    Till Friday, 5,92,242 people have recovered from the disease in the state.

    Since Thursday 40,153 samples have been tested in West Bengal taking the total number of such clinical examinations to 97,15,115, the bulletin said.

    Nandi’s death took the number of candidates who died due to the disease to two, they said.

    Nandi (73), who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, was in home isolation and was rushed to the hospital on Thursday night after his condition deteriorated, the official said.

    Nandi had certain comorbidities and he passed away at around 6PM, he added.

    On Thursday Congress candidate for Samsherganj constituency in Murshidabad district, Rezaul Haque, who too had tested positive for COVID19, passed away at a city hospital.

    Following Nandi’s death, the Election Commission declared polling at Jangipur assembly constituency void, an official said.

    Meanwhile, owing to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, hospitals in the city have decided to postpone planned surgeries for at least next two weeks, an official of the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCREC) said.

    The decision was taken at a meeting held between WBCREC and private hospitals on Friday.

    WBCREC chairman Justice (retired) Ashim Kumar Banerjee said that requests to increase COVID-19 hospitals by at least 30 per cent was made to the authorities of the medical establishments.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Bengal polls: Long schedule, lack of fresh issues force parties to rekindle NRC debate

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In the seemingly endless election campaign trail in West Bengal, issues often keep resurfacing. It’s understandable. When the election battle is held over eight phases and four weeks, it becomes difficult for political parties to discover new issues on a daily basis. 

    As a result, things keep circling in a loop. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is one such point.

    Time and again, Trinamool Congress and BJP have traded barbs over this. Ahead of the fifth phase of polling on Saturday, it was no different as Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee engaged in a war of words over NRC.

    At a rally in Nabadwip, the birthplace of Sree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Mamata said if BJP wrests power in the state, it will send refugees to detention camps and cited the example of Assam.

    In response, Shah accused her of depriving refugees of citizenship by opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). He was addressing a rally in Tehatta, which is in the same district.

    “Do not trust them. In Assam, the BJP-led government has started serving notices to refugees, who were left out of the final list of NRC, asking them to explain why they should not be evicted. The Assam government is also serving notices to send refugees to detention camps. If they come to power in Bengal, they will follow the similar route and send refugees to detention camps,” said Mamata, reiterating that she would allow neither NRC nor  CAA in Bengal if she wins this electoral battle.

    Shah, who had earlier said in north Bengal that there are no plans of implementing NRC right now, said Mamata was misleading the refugees. 

    “CAA is aimed to give citizenship to refugees who had to migrate from Bangladesh because of religious persecution. Mamata didi is opposing it. She is against refugees’ citizenship. She is depriving them of their rights,” Shah told the gathering in Tehatta, which has a sizable population of Hindu refugees.

    Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT Cell head and co-observer for Bengal, accused Mamata of spreading fear over the issue of NRC despite the Union Home Minister’s announcement that there is no plan to implement it. 

    He also claimed by releasing an audio tape that Mamata has been instructing her party candidates to spread fear over the contentious issue.

    “In the audio tape, she is heard telling her candidate at Sitalkuchi, where four persons were killed in Central paramilitary firing, to spread fear over NRC. She also directed him to lodge an FIR in connection with the firing instead of allowing the families of the deceased to lodge a formal complaint. She is also heard telling the candidate to engage professional lawyers to lodge the complaint. This is evidence showing that the chief minister is doing politics over dead bodies,” alleged Malviya.

  • EC issue notice to Trinamool leader Sujata Mondal Khan over comments on scheduled castes

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Friday issued a notice to Trinamool Congress leader Sujata Mondal Khan for her alleged comments on scheduled castes and gave her 24 hours to make her stand clear.

    The notice said that she should also explain why her status as ‘star campaigner’ should not be withdrawn.

    The BJP had moved the poll panel with a complaint against Khan, it said.

    According to a portion of her remarks reproduced in the notice, the TMC leader had reportedly said that “as there is a scarcity of resources in the schedule caste families, no matter how much, Mamata Bandyopadhyay has helped them, the scarcity will not go”.

    “As there a is a saying, some are actually beggars and others are beggars by nature. the schedule castes here are beggars by nature, and in spite of Mamata Bandyopadhyay (CM Mamata Banerjee) helping them so much, still they have been sold to BJP at a petty amount and are now torturing us,” according to Khan’s remarks reproduced in the notice The notice said the poll panel has found her remarks violative of the model code and provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

  • Mamata’s purported conversation with Trinamool nominee after Sitalkuchi firing stirs row

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A controversy erupted on Friday after the BJP released a purported audio clip in which West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is heard telling the Trinamool Congress nominee of Sitalkuchi to hold rallies with bodies of the four persons killed in CISF firing during polling on April 10.

    Claiming that such a conversation never took place, the TMC described the audio clip as “bogus” and wondered whether the Centre is tapping a chief ministers phone.

    PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio clip which was released on the eve of the fifth phase of the polls.

    Releasing excerpts of the telephonic conversation between Banerjee and Partha Pratim Ray, the TMC candidate of the Sitalkuchi seat, the BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya claimed that the “chief minister is trying to instigate riots by asking her party leaders to take out rallies with bodies”.

    “She is heard asking her party candidate to frame the case in such a way that both the superintendent of police (of Cooch Behar) and other central forces personnel can be framed. Is this expected from a chief minister? She is trying to instil a sense of fear just for minority votes,” he said.

    BJP president JP Nadda alleged that the ruling party of the state signifies the culture of vultures.

    “TMC signifies VULTURE CULTURE- of feasting on death for petty political gains. TMC should be ashamed of themselves,” Nadda said in a tweet.

    Four persons were killed as central forces opened fire allegedly after coming under attack from locals, who “attempted to snatch their rifles”, near a booth in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district during the fourth phase of polling.

    According to BJP sources, the saffron party has decided to move the Election Commission over the audio clip.

    In the purported audio clip, Banerjee is heard instructing Ray to keep his cool till the polling is over.

    “Don’t panic. You should make arrangements for conducting a rally with the bodies the next day. And also consult a lawyer and file a police complaint so that neither the SP nor IC can escape,” she is heard saying.

    The TMC’s Sitalkuchi candidate termed the audio clip as “bogus”.

    “Such a conversation never took place. This audio clip is totally bogus. The BJP is just trying to confuse the people before the fifth phase of polling,” he said.

    TMC spokesperson Derek O’ Brien and his Rajya Sabha colleague Sukendu Sekhar Roy asked the BJP not to play mind games with the people of the state.

    “Did the Centre tap the private phone conversations of a sitting CM? We condemn this blatant breach of privacy and illegitimate usage of state machinery for petty political agenda,” Roy said at a late-night press conference.

    “We will trounce BJP in this election. Don’t play mind games with the people of Bengal!” O’Brien said.

    Earlier, Banerjee has described the firing as genocide by central forces and termed it as a conspiracy by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Out of the eight-phase assembly elections in the state, four phases have been completed and the remaining four are scheduled to be held between April 17 and 29.

  • ‘Mamata getting disturbed despite PM giving her respect’: Smriti Irani on Modi’s ‘Didi, o Didi’ slogan

    By ANI
    NORTH 24 PARGANAS: Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani on Wednesday lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that while she talks of ‘khela hobe’, the people of the state are saying there will be slogans for lotus.

    Addressing a public gathering in Shikarpur, Irani said: “Didi is getting disturbed on being called ‘Didi’ and is stating why PM Modi is saying ‘Didi, o Didi’. She is getting disturbed. PM Modi is giving her respect and she is insulting him. But her ‘khela’ means insulting others.”

    “Before this election, she told every person ‘khela hobe’. But she does not know that after each phase, people of Bengal are telling her ‘Didi, you are saying khela hobe, people are saying ‘poddophooler naara hobe’ (there will be slogans for the lotus),” she added.

    Lotus is the election symbol of the BJP.

    She further targeted Banerjee, saying that the party which talks of ‘Ma, Mati and Manush’ is “insulting women, bloodying the soil and handing over homes to syndicates”.

    She alleged that Mamata Banerjee came to power on the claims of bringing ‘poriborton’ (change) and ending the atrocities inflicted by the Left government but the “previous government’s goons have now turned into the goons of Trinamool Congress (TMC).”

    Irani also claimed that a video clip has emerged in Ashok Nagar where Mamata Banerjee allegedly told a TMC candidate “to stop his smuggling”.

    “This is not an ordinary election. This election is for the development of every poor person and family, the respect of every woman in Bengal,” she said.

    “Didi says’ Bangla nijer meyeke chaaye’ (Bengal wants her own daughter). I said earlier that which daughter are you talking about? What situation she and her goons had left the state in after the Amphan cyclone? Did the rice sent by the PM Modi reach the people? TMC’s goons have stolen the rice of poor people,” the Union Minister said.

    Irani said once a BJP government is formed in the state, “every TMC goon will be sent behind bars”.

    “Every vote for the TMC is an insult to women, poor people, and the state. If you want to protect the state and preserve the culture, press the lotus and give your blessings to BJP,” she added.

    The high-decibel campaigning for the fifth phase of the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections concluded at 6 pm on Wednesday, as leaders of the political parties taking part in the high-stakes polls left no stone unturned to woo the voters of the state.

    The campaigning ended early today as the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday said the silence period for the fifth phase shall be extended to 72 hours. The decision came after violence in the fourth phase of the election in which five persons died.