News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • Bengal Polls: Stones ‘pelted’ at Shahnawaz Hussain in Howrah, Trinamool denies charges

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain alleged that stones were pelted at him in Howrah on Tuesday night when he was campaigning for the West Bengal assembly election.

    The BJP leader posted on social media a video in which he was seen showing two stones to the officer on duty and blaming the TMC for the alleged incident.

    “TMC workers pelted stones on me while I was addressing a meeting at Muzzafar Chowk,” Hussain tweeted, saying he was safe and the party workers had lodged a complaint.

    “It’s clear that TMC knew it is losing and hence is becoming desperate,” Hussain said.

    “I myself went to the Golabari Police Station & asked them why police personnel were not deployed according to my Y + CRPF cover security protocol. Strangely, they had no answers for that.”

    In his complaint, Umesh Rai, the BJP candidate from Howrah North, named few persons behind the attack, alleging they were all known TMC men in the area.

    Police confirmed the lodging of the FIR and visit of Hussain to the station, adding that the alleged incident was being investigated.

    The TMC denied any involvement of its workers and said the BJP was staging a “drama” to get attention as the roadshows and meetings of the saffron party were “failing” to draw crowds.

    Earlier on Sunday, a roadshow attended by Hussain and Domjur assembly candidate Rajib Banerjee was stopped by police at Bankra area on the ground that there was no earlier permission.

    Both Banerjee and Hussain had protested the action of police.

    Action will be taken against those who were involved in assault on candidates in some constituencies during the third phase of assembly elections in West Bengal on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab said.

    Aftab said his office has received a total of 1,802 complaints during the day and arrested 11 people for their alleged involvement in the attacks on candidates.

    “Polling was more less peaceful barring some sporadic violence. There have been some incidents of assault on candidates and we have sought reports. Action will be taken against those who are found guilty,” he said.

    In the third of the eight-phase elections, 31 constituencies went to polls in three districts Howrah (Part 1), Hooghly (Part 1) and South 24 Parganas (Part 2).

    The Election Commission has also suspended four officials in connection with the recovery of three Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and four Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) from the house of an alleged TMC leader in Tulsiberia in Uluberia Uttar (SC) assembly constituency, the CEO said.

    He said three home guards who were on duty there have been demobilised.

    Though the seals of the EVMs and VVPATs were “intact”, the machines will not be used any further, he said.

    Referring to the assault on Trinamool Congress candidates Sujata Mondal, Nimal Maji and Najmul Karim as well as BJP candidates Papiya Adhikary and Swapan Dasgupta, Aftab said, “Necessary and prompt action have been taken and investigation is underway”.

    ADG (Law and Order) Jag Mohan said video footages are being probed and those found guilty will be treated as per the law.

    Asked whether the EC has received any complaint regarding sexual assault of a Class 10 student allegedly by a central force personnel in Tarekswar late on Monday, the CEO said an FIR has been lodged and a probe initiated.

    “The personnel has been immediately removed from the posting,” he added.

    The poll panel on Tuesday also removed returning officers in eight constituencies of Kolkata to conform to regulations.

    Aftab said West Bengal registered at least 77.68 per cent voters’ turnout till 5 pm on Tuesday.

    Voting in 16 seats in South 24 Parganas district (part II), saw 76.68 per cent votes being cast by 5 pm.

    While 77.93 per cent votes were cast in seven seats in Howrah (part I) and 79.36 per cent in eight in Hooghly (part I), they added.

    “Voter turnout of 77. 68 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in 31 seats,” an EC official said.

    Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, alleged “blatant misuse” of central forces to “influence voters”.

    “The blatant misuse of Central forces continues unabated. Despite us repeatedly raising this issue, @ECISVEEP continues to be a mute spectator, while men in uniform are being misused at several places to openly intimidate TMC voters and influence many to vote in favour of one party,” she tweeted.

    Police arrested five persons — three members of the TMC and two of the BJP — for their alleged involvement in assaulting TMC candidate Sujata Mondal in Arambagh earlier on Tuesday, an officer said.

    Television grabs showed the TMC leader being chased in an open field by people wielding sticks and iron rods and then hitting on the head with sticks.

    Her security officer was also injured.

    The TMC claimed that BJP “goons” didn’t allow the party’s agents inside the polling stations.

    The BJP, on the other hand, accused Sujata of entering the area with TMC “goons” and creating unrest by threatening people.

    Police also said they had launched a search for those who assaulted BJP candidate from Uluberia (Dakshin) assembly seat Papiya Adhikary when she went to Uluberia hospital to call on an injured party candidate.

    The attacks were part of a series of clashes which were reported from several parts of Bengal, where polling is underway in the third phase of assembly elections.

    BJP candidate for Tarakeshwar Swapan Dasgupta was also allegedly abused by TMC supporters while going on a round of polling stations, party sources said.

    TMC candidate Dr Nirmal Maji claimed that he was “heckled” by BJP supporters and his vehicle vandalised when he tried visiting a booth in Uluberia (Uttar) constituency.

    In Khanakul, TMC candidate Najmul Karim was allegedly beaten up by the BJP activists and slogans were raised against him.

    Later, central forces rescued him from the area.

    In Falta, a BJP candidate’s vehicle was attacked.

    At least one person was injured when crude bombs were lobbed outside a polling station in the Canning Purba assembly seat.

    TMC candidate Shaukat Mollah accused Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front (ISF) of having organized the attack, a charge denied by the party.

    In some of seats in South 24 Parganas, TMC and ISF candidates clashed in some areas, including the Mandirbazar area, where 12 persons were injured.

    TMC turncoat and BJP candidate from Diamond Harbour seat, Dipak Haldar, alleged that his former party stalled voters from casting their votes.

    In the Dhanekhali seat, state minister Asima Patra accused central forces of high-handedness and alleged that voters were stopped by BJP “goons” from reaching polling stations, an allegation dismissed by the saffron party.

    A BJP supporter’s family member was allegedly killed in Hooghly district, hours before polling in the area, police said.

    Madhabi Adak succumbed to her injuries sustained while protecting her son from a few men who barged into their house, they said.

    In Durbrajpur, clashes broke out between the BJP activists and the police after the latter tried to recover the body of a saffron party worker found this morning.

    Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab has sought reports from poll personnel on all poll related violence which occurred on Tuesday, officials said.

    Banerjee later, while addressing a rally, claimed BJP activists were forcibly occupying polling booths and attacking TMC members, including party candidates, while asserting that she would not be bogged down by “intimidatory tactics”.

    BJP state president Dilip Ghosh dubbed the allegations as baseless and instead claimed that people had resisted TMC’s efforts to unleash a reign of terror.

    The violence occurred despite the Election Commission imposing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in all constituencies, after declaring them as ‘sensitive’.

  • Jadavpur: CPI(M)’s battle to save its last bastion in southern suburbs of Kolkata

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: At one time Jadavpur used to be called the ‘Leningrad of Calcutta’.

    Today it is the setting for an epic battle between CPI(M), which is trying to resuscitate its political fortunes in West Bengal, and Trinamool Congress that is trying desperately to get enough seats to ward off its main rival BJP, whose saffron surge has unnerved the ruling party, ten years since it uprooted the Left rule in the state.

    The upcoming election to the Jadavpur assembly seat in the southern suburbs of Kolkata on April 10 is perhaps symbolic of the larger battle for Bengal.

    The CPI(M) is fighting to protect its last bastion in the eastern metropolis after losing all other assembly constituencies falling under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to TMC.

    Jadavpur is the only seat that it managed to regain in the city in 2016.

    However, in the 2019 election to the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, Left Front candidate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya had trailed by over 12,000 votes to TMC’s Mimi Chakraborty in the namesake assembly seat.

    For the TMC, the fight is to regain the assembly seat it had lost to the CPI(M) in 2016 after snatching it from the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in 2011 when the party had stormed to power, ending the 34-year Left rule.

    Winning the seat will also be symbolic for the BJP as Jadavpur University, known as the stronghold of the Left and ultra-Left students unions and where Union minister and nominee in neighbouring Tollygunge seat Babul Supriyo was heckled in 2019, is the centrepiece of the constituency.

    It is one of the few seats in and around Kolkata which will witness a three-cornered contest.

    However, on the ground, problems faced by the locals may play a more important role than political or ideological symbolism.

    Sitting MLA Sujan Chakraborty, who had in 2016 clinched the seat from TMC’s Manish Gupta, who in turn had defeated Bhattacharya in 2011, is going to the polls with issues like unemployment, the law and order situation and fuel price rise.

    “People of Jadavpur, like across West Bengal, are politically aware. They understand the dangers they are facing, the ways the BJP and the TMC are betraying them. They want an end to all their problems.”

    “Voters understand that the politics of West Bengal is becoming polluted. They do not like it. They want a good future. Those who are giving slogans like ‘Khela Hobe’ (game will happen) know very well that they have already been defeated,” Chakraborty, also a CPI(M) central committee member, said.

    He said that in a democracy, people have the right to exercise their franchise to elect anybody.

    The same way people of Jadavpur had defeated Bhattacharya in 2011 but elected the CPI(M) again in 2016.

    Jadavpur, which has over 2.69 lakh voters, is dominated by descendants of people who had migrated from erstwhile East Bengal and then East Pakistan in waves following Partition in 1947.

    A feeling of deprivation among the refugee settlers saw Jadavpur turning decisively towards the Left when the first Jukta Front or United Front rode to power in 1967.

    The seat has since then remained a Left bastion, electing CPI(M) candidates, including Bhattacharya, who won five times since 1987.

    The BJP on the other hand is trying to muscle in by reviving the refugee feeling, harping on its poll plank of implementation of CAA.

    It is to be seen how much the promise of giving citizenship cuts ice with the erstwhile refugees.

    Riding on the ‘poriborton’ (change) wave of 2011, former state chief secretary Manish Gupta had defeated the then chief minister by over 16,000 votes.

    He, however, lost to Chakraborty by nearly 15,000 votes in the 2016 election, when a Left resurgence was visible in the constituency.

    The TMC has this time fielded four-time KMC ward councillor and a chartered accountant by profession, 56-year- old Debabrata Majumdar, aka Moloy, as its candidate for the seat.

    “As councillor for over 20 years, I have worked for the development and beautification of Jadavpur. I have a heart-to-heart connection with the people of the constituency, and they love me. I am seeking votes based on my work.”

    “Sujan-babu had wrested the seat from us in 2016. (But) As a result of his poor performance, voters had given us a lead in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The people of Jadavpur are with us,” Majumdar said.

    Like in other constituencies, in Jadavpur too, the TMC is flaunting the “achievements” of the state government’s pet projects such as Kanyashree, Khadya Sathi and Swasthya Sathi, among others.

    However, the Left has been targetting him over his past “connection” to the RSS.

    On the other hand, BJP candidate Rinku Naskar, a CPI (M) turncoat, feels that she is just a foot soldier as the people of West Bengal have already decided to bring her new party to power in the state.

    “People of Jadavpur are politically conscious. They will cast their votes keeping national politics in mind. I have been a councillor of ward number 102 for ten years. People of Jadavpur know my work.

    No allegation has ever been levelled against me.

    “Unemployment is the biggest issue of West Bengal now. There has been no industrialisation; people have to pay hefty sums to get government jobs. As the BJP is highlighting these issues, I am confident that the youth will back me,” Naskar, who had lost on a CPI(M) ticket from Mathurapur Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 polls, claimed.

    Naskar said that she joined the BJP because the party is concerned about the people’s betterment, and the CPI(M) never thought of utilising her potential as her new party did.

    While door-to-door visits have been the preferred mode of campaigning for the candidates, the CPI(M) is also canvassing through street plays and flash mobs.

    Voters of the constituency, however, reflected different moods.

    “The CPI(M) and Sujan-babu had played key roles during the COVID-19 pandemic by feeding poor people through the Shramajibi Canteen and helped in treating coronavirus patients in various hospitals.

    Voters won’t forget that while exercising their franchise,” Raju Boral, a tea vendor near 8B bus terminus, said.

    Others like Tamal Dasgupta of Bikramgarh feel that the impact of the ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorsteps) programme and various state welfare schemes will translate into votes favouring the TMC.

    The constituency has a total of 2,99,710 electors, of whom 1,44,921 are males, and 1,54,785 females.

    The votes of Jadavpur will be counted along with 293 other assembly constituencies of the state on May 2.

  • Bengal polls: Big fight for BJP in Trinamool’s bastion in phase three as election enters crucial stage

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In the first two phases on elections in West Bengal, BJP was in comfort zone. Polls were held in places like Junglemhal and East Midnapore.

    In the first, they had done well in 2019 Lok Saba elections. In the second, they have gained significantly in man power in recent times, notable being the inclusion of Suvenu Adhikari.

    In the third phase on Tuesday, BJP enters a tough terrain.  

    The 31 constituencies of this phase are TMC’s strongholds in the districts of South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly, where the saffron camp is desperate to hoist its flag. In the 2016 Assembly elections, TMC had won 30 of these 31 seats.

    Even during the saffrown wave in Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP had secured lead only in two of these seats. 

    “Real test of our strength in south Bengal will begin from Tuesday. In the first two phases, we enjoyed the result of our impressive performance in Junglemahal and in East Midnapore. Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee’s once-trusted aide, controls East Midnapore we rode his support base. But now, we are going for an eyeball-to-eyeball conflict in TMC’s citadel in southern Bengal districts. All 31 seats will be a challenge for our party,’’ admitted a senior BJP leader. 

    All seven Assembly constituencies under the Parliamentary seat of Diamond Harbour will go polls in this phase. Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee is the MP from this seat.

    “We lambasted the Bengal chief minister on the issue of her nephew.  Our national leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, never missed the opportunity to hit out at Abhishek on the issue of corruption and siphoning off relief fund for cyclone Amphan victims. This third phase covering vast parts of the Amphan-ravaged area in South 24 Parganas is crucial. The electorates’ political alignment will reflect whether our campaign attacking Mamata on the aunt-nephew issue has worked or not,’’ he said. 

    In a move to counter BJP’s deployment of actor Mithun Chakrabarty in poll campaign, the TMC held a roadshow with  actor turned Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachhan.

    She will again be part of other roadshows in southern Bengal districts in next few days, where polls will be conducted in coming phases.

    “My party leader Akhilesh Yadav asked me to come here to give my support to Trinamool Congress. I have utmost love and respect for Mamataji, a single woman fighting against all atrocities,’’ said Jaya, who is a Bengali and lived in the state  before shifting to Mumbai.

    TMC leaders said the presence of the actor in roadshows will not only blunt BJP’s attempt to bank on Mithun’s stardom but also secure electoral dividend in favour of the party to some extent. “No one can say we have brought an outsider. Jayaji is a daughter of Bengal,’’ said a TMC leader.

  • Bengal polls 2021: The strategist and the Muslim, SC/ST votebank

    Express News Service
    WEST BENGAL: “This election is bipolar. I don’t see anything else at the micro or macro level.”

    That’s one of Mamata Banerjee’s key strategists airing his views, post two volatile phases of polling, with six more to go, a process that cumulatively promises to run a bleeding-edge scythe through West Bengal’s political history.

    Bengal, particularly Kolkata, is of course teeming with election strategists, free-floating analysts and sundry do-gooders. That’s natural for a state with that kind of heightened political consciousness. But our man stands out for various reasons. For one, no one can be more free-floating than him in an election where the ‘outsider/insider’ binary has been quite pronounced, he’s an outsider on the inside, so to speak, having travelled across a few green fields, been on all sides, peddling his professional wares like a migrant labourer of strategic thought. And he has all the swagger of a new-age visionary.

    It’s quite a crowded field, though. Some have come to save Bengal from cultural corruption, others have come to rescue it from petty corruption—cut money, tolabaaji (extortion), political rent-seeking of many shades, all that. It has some benefits. The hotel industry and the fab cafes haven’t seen such brisk business in the last 10 years of Didi’s rule. None of them will say koro na (don’t do it) to this moveable feast, corona or no corona.

    Among the migratory flocks, some of the busiest are those who make managing elections their raison d’etre. Like our man. Quite apolitical, they look at elections clinically, through the prism of personality cults, creation of catchphrases and hashtags—all with bands of young, outsourced volunteers. “This election is about Mamata Banerjee,” claims one such strategist, “nothing else matters.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s thundering forth from more rally pulpits here in Bengal than he may have spoken on some other delicate occasions, pretty much confirms that in his own way. He doesn’t utter a line without mockingly invoking her, intoning the words “Arrey Didi….”

    The strategist obviously thinks he knows the best. But Mamata, being the Didi that she is, can’t be scripted to fit into any box—not even the one that’s labelled Banglar meye (daughter of Bengal). She’s too canny for that. In Cooch Behar, for instance, Mamata reminds voters: “This election is not about me. It is about saving Bengal.” Cooch Behar (nine seats) and Alipurduar (five seats), up north, nestled along the restive Chicken’s Neck, are going to polls on April 6. 

    Subaltern & Muslim votes count in poll fight for Mamata

    This border region, with Assam, Bhutan and the hills adding variety to the proximity of Bangladesh, has a slightly distinct air and culture, separate from the rest of Bengal. They represent a spot of bother for her, but she’ll certainly not let it go without a fight, whatever may the strategist’s view be. Quite surprisingly, here she focuses more on the bit players than on her main rival, the BJP. “Don’t fall for that man from Hyderabad” or “the other one from Furfura Sharif,” she says again and again.

    “Don’t divide your vote.” Lest her target audience misses the point, she clarifies: “My friends from the minority and SC/ST communities, don’t divide your votes.” That’s a nudge to them to stay away from Asaduddin Owaisi and Abbas Siddiqui, the man who floated a party (ISF) just last month and is in an alliance with the Congress-Left. The ISF, incidentally, has fielded more Dalit than Muslim candidates. Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e- Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (colloquially shortened to everywhere here as MIM) is testing the waters in a few, limited seats here—and that may just suffice to cut a few crucial TMC votes in Cooch Behar and adjoining Uttar Dinajpur. Siddiqui (or Abbas Baba, as he’s popularly known) is mostly present in the southern parts, where he has some strength.

    Not so much up there in the north. Not even in the central districts, which have a high Muslim concentration, and are going to polls in the last three phases. That’s left to its partners to harvest their old fiefs. The TMC does need to maximise its gains here, while cutting its losses elsewhere. The old status quo where central Bengal was seen as a traditional secular Congress stronghold, with a smattering of Left presence, has been broken with communal polarisation. Which is at an all-time high now. Hence, the scramble for 30-40% minority votes in about 70 constituencies between the Sanjukta Morcha (of the Congress- Left-ISF) and the TMC each rivalling the other to corner anti-BJP votes.

    Meanwhile, the BJP, which had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha seats in the north, particularly in Cooch Behar, is freely preying everywhere on anti-incumbency votes. And of course, that of neo-converts to Hindu identity politics—a new, burgeoning phenomenon in Bengal. Many districts go to polls only later this month, but work is in full swing. So are WhatsApp videos. The latest is from Siuri, Birbhum, where a Muslim congregation is seen supposedly pledging its votes to saffron! The TMC strategist, for his part, is least bothered. “Let them (as in, BJP) take all the 27 seats in the north. How does it matter? Contrary to propaganda, we’ve done well in the first two phases.

    And we’re winning Nandigram.” No escape from Nandigram! The BJP is all too happy to keep the narrative pinned to what they like to call “Didi’s Waterloo”. And thus conjuring up an image of Mamata leading a retreating army, and letting that flow into public consciousness. The strategist asserts all the Nandigram polling brouhaha and the battle of perspectives thereafter, around who won, will have “no impact” on the next rounds of polling.

    “It’s done and dusted.” Well…speculation is meanwhile rife that Didi may be looking for a second seat, perhaps in Birbhum. How come? It was sparked off by none other than the Prime Minister. TMC strategists and Didi’s war-room aides vehement ly deny any such possibility. If Didi has the final say on this or anything else, the strategist is poised as a prime influencer of sorts. The influence seems gradually waning, though. As of now, the strategist is discouraging Urban Development Minister Firhad (Bobby) Hakim and MP Nusrat Jahan, both articulate TMC leaders, from campaigning in non-minority-dominated areas. Demands from candidates notwithstanding.

    The polarisation is that complete. Didi herself, however, brooks no such rules. Reciting Chandipath on stage and mentioning her gotra (duly mocked by the ‘Hyderabadi’) is no longer her focus as she vociferously courts the minority and SC/ST voters. Didi knows if the TMC cannot maximise its seats in Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum and Burdwan, the game would close in on her. The Morcha may not be making headlines, and may be laughed off as ‘old nostalgia’ with no electoral impact on the ground by the strategist, but Didi clearly thinks otherwise.

    When every vote counts, she cannot allow even a semblance of Muslim-Dalit alliance a partly novel idea in these parts, emanating from Abbas Baba, his Morcha, or Oswaisi’s acid tongue—break her wider social alliance. Particularly, when in Nadia, Hooghly, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas, the BJP is mining local anger with a potent mix of religiosity, to its advantage. Tactically, Didi is now playing opposition politics to stop subaltern votes from deserting her. Didi can really get as bipolar as Bengal when she wants!

  • Trinamool fighting hard to retain hold over Abhishek Banerjee’s backyard Diamond Harbour

    By PTI
    DIAMOND HARBOUR: The Trinamool Congress is fighting hard to retain the seven assembly segments in Diamond Harbour constituency, represented by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee in the Lok Sabha.

    Apart from a surge in BJP’s support base, allegations of corruption in Amphan relief seemed to be a cause of concern for the TMC, despite the fact that Banerjee, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew had won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by more than 3.2 lakh votes.

    The Left front led-Sanjukta Morcha’s emergence as a third force has also queered the pitch as young CPM and ISF workers have been fanning out seeking support for their candidates.

    Out of the seven assembly segments in Diamond Harbour constituency, Banerjee had a huge lead in Muslim-dominated Metiaburuz and Budge Budge assembly segments, while he was ahead by a handsome margin in Maheshtala, Bishnupur, Satgachia, Falta and Diamond Harbour, all of which also have a sizeable minority population.

    While the CPI(M) is contesting Diamond Harbour, Satgachia, Bishnupur and Maheshtala, the Congress is fighting from Budge Budge and Falta, while the ISF has put up its candidate in Metiabruz, which is situated in the south-western outskirts of Kolkata.

    Allegations of irregularities in distribution of relief to those affected by the Amphan cyclone, in May last year have rocked the state government with the Calcutta High Court ordering an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

    The BJP top leadership have raked up the allegations in almost every election meeting, while the chief minister Banerjee has asserted that all affected have been given relief with the exception of a few possible glitches.

    There are 17,18,454 voters in the seven segments, with 8,32,059 being female and 8,86,339 male, while there are 56 from the third gender.

    With the Election Commission holding elections in the 31 assembly segments in South 24 Parganas district in an unprecedented three phases, four seats in Diamond Harbour – Falta, Satgachia, Bishnupur and Diamond Harbour will go for polls on April 6 while the voters in Maheshtala, Budge Budge and Metiaburuz will exercise their franchise on April 10.

    “We have got everything, our MLA Dilip Mondal has done a lot of work and we have electricity and good roads, there is peace in the area,” Basudeb Mondal, a local TMC leader at Companypukur village in Bishnupur assembly segment claimed.

    While the infrastructure does indeed look good with smooth roads replacing the older bumpy, pot-holed roads in the area, an undercurrent of discontent is discernible among a section of voters, who complain of partisan relief distribution and lack of jobs even as they also speak of infrastructural development.

    However, many others said that relief and dole had flowed without hitches.

    Habibullah Sheikh, a vegetable seller, said his family received funds from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Rupashri’ scheme for his sister’s marriage.

    TMC flags flutter in most places, but nearby flags with BJP’s lotus symbol, vie to catch the passerby’s eye.

    The CPM’s hammer and sickle however are few and far between.

    Said 25-year-old Palash Mondal, 25, an unemployed youth, “the tradition of having one party rule Bengal for decades should not continue as that breeds corruption and hampers development.”

    “Those who want jobs want a change,” added Mondal, a graduate.

    Discontent against local party leaders seems to have forced TMC to replace four-time MLA Sonali Guha as its candidate in Satgachia, prompting her to join the BJP.

    While this has led to confusion among voters it has also meant the party is a divided house.

    Auto-rickshaw driver Tulsi Pal claimed “many people could not vote in the panchayat elections, hope this time it will be different.”

    Falta, which has a sizable number of factories in the Special Economic Zone there, appeared peaceful with not much political sloganeering on.

    TMC worker Ranjit Das claimed the ruling party is sure of a win there.

    The TMC has fielded rookie Shankar Kumar Naskar from Falta following the death of three-time party MLA Tamonash Ghosh, who did not hide his uncomfortable relationship with the local MP, during the pandemic.

    At Chandnagar village, the air is full of optimism among TMC workers as many feel candidate Pannalal Halder will win handsomely from Diamond Harbour seat, while admitting that the BJP has emerged as the main opponent this time around.

    TMC’s sitting MLA Dipak Halder, who left the party to join the BJP and was nominated by it as its candidate from the seat, was at the receiving end of an attack allegedly by his former colleagues while campaigning at Haridevpur village on Friday.

    The ruling party has denied any role in the assault.

    Busy putting up posters of Mamata Banerjee on roadside walls with “Bangla nijer meyeke chai (Bengal wants its own daughter) written on the posters, Mir Alam Laskar of the TMC charged BJP and its leadership with dividing the riverine community on religious lines.

    “It is because of the saffron party that such things are happening.”

  • ‘Creating communal tension Mamata’s policy’: Dharmendra Pradhan lashes out at Bengal CM

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Ahead of the third phase of polling in West Bengal, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scared with the support people are showing to BJP and accused her of doing minority appeasement in the state. He alleged that creating communal tension has been her policy.

    Speaking to media in Kolkata after offering prayers at Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said, “The Chief Minister of West Bengal is scared with the support people showed to BJP in the first two phases. They will do the same in this phase too. She has resorted to using abusive language.”

    “On the one hand Mamata Banerjee considers ‘Jai Shree Ram’ as abuse, and on other hand, she is asking the minorities to vote for her. Creating communal tension has become her policy,” he added.

    Pradhan is in Kolkata for campaigning before the third phase of polling said people of Bengal voted for BJP in the first two-phase and will do the same in the third phase.

    He also talked about petrol, diesel prices in the country and said with a decrease in crude oil prices in international markets, fuel prices in India have also started reducing now and they will reduce further in the coming days.

    “Petrol, diesel and LPG prices have started reducing now and they will reduce further in the coming days. We had stated earlier also that we will transfer benefit from the decrease in crude oil prices in the international market to the end customers,” he said.

    Pradhan also held a roadshow in Kolkata today, before the campaigning for the third phase ends in the evening.

    Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal polls was held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The next phase of polling will take place on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • Mamata seen shaking injured leg in video sparks war of words between Trinamool, BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A purported video clip where Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seen sitting on a wheelchair and moving her plastered leg back and forth has gone viral on social media, giving her rivals an opportunity to claim that she was playing up her injuries to win sympathy.

    The TMC, however, has condemned the “manner in which the party supremo has been insulted”, and said the rival BJP should learn how to respect women.

    PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

    BJP spokesperson Pronoy Roy, who shared the 30-second clip on Facebook, said Banerjee should “stop putting up a drama over her injuries” to garner public support in the midst of the assembly elections.

    “This video grab which has surfaced on networking websites has not been filmed by anybody from the BJP. It was recorded by some TMC party workers. We want her to get back to normal life soon, we also pray for that. But she must stop putting up this drama by moving around in a wheelchair.”

    “If she was exercising her leg by shaking it then I suggest that she start walking as that will help her recuperate faster.”

    Taking a jibe at the chief minister, Rahul Sinha, a senior leader of the saffron party, said the TMC supremo’s bandage will not buy her votes.

    “The more she is losing confidence the bigger her bandage gets. People are not buying this. She must have forgotten which leg is injured, and shook the wrong foot. She has already lost the elections, the bandage won’t be able to save her from imminent defeat,” Sinha said.

    Taking strong exception to the remarks made by BJP leaders, state minister Shashi Panja said the saffron camp, by raising suspicion over Banerjee’s injuries, has not just insulted her but all the women of Bengal.

    “We condemn the manner the BJP is insulting our beloved CM. They are not just insulting our CM, but also the other women of the state. We urge them to show proper respect to the women of this state,” Panja said.

    Echoing her, former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who joined the TMC recently, said if anybody was churning out lies, it was the BJP and not the TMC.

    “Are they (BJP leaders) trying to say that a whole lot of people involved (in treating her) including eminent doctors are lying? It’s only the BJP which is capable of speaking such lies. I’ve no doubt in my mind that they are the ones behind this (propaganda),” Sinha, who had served as the finance minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, stated.

    TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also hit out at the BJP and said that the people of Bengal will give the BJP a befitting reply for its “dirty politics”.

    “If they (BJP leaders) are spending so much time staring at Didi’s feet, they might as well fall on her feet. We condemn such politics that targets a woman who is holding campaigns sitting on a wheelchair, after being attacked. This shows that the BJP has lost its plot,” Ghosh said.

    Banerjee sustained injuries on her left leg, waist, shoulder and neck as she fell down after allegedly being pushed by miscreants in Nandigram on March 10.

  • Bengal polls: Trinamool MP writes to official fearing disruption of ‘communal harmony’ in Nandigram

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Dibyendu Adhikari has written to the District Magistrate of East Midnapore and the District Election Officer over the security situation in Nandigram after reports of chaos during the second phase of polling and has requested to take precautionary measures in advance.

    “Considering the present political situation in the area, I personally apprehend that existing communal harmony may be blatantly disrupted…I request you to take precautionary measures in advance,” read the letter written by Adhikari on Thursday.

    “I therefore earnestly request your good office to take precautionary measures, well in advance, to maintain existing communal harmony for the greater interest of integrated and peaceful life of the people here,” his letter further read.

    TMC, on Thursday, had complained to the Election Commission that it had received a report from its representatives about Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) “jamming” eight booths in the Moyna constituency and said, “a mob of BJP workers has entered the booth”.

    The complaint said that BJP workers “are attempting to take control of EVM and are rigging the booth”.

    It had also alleged that Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployed at the booth had not taken any action.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who talked to media persons in Nandigram after casting her vote, said that the party lodged 63 complaints with the Election Commission.

    Nandigram witnessed a high-voltage “Khela” (game of power) on Thursday in the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls and saw a direct contest between Mamata Banerjee and her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December last year.

    The third phase of polling will be held on April 6.

  • BJP counting on ‘positive votes’, outcome of government schemes to win Assam and Bengal

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Move over positive vibes! ‘Positive vote’ is the new buzzword in BJP. The saffron outfit is confident and saying that the people’s endorsements of the work done by the government at the Centre will translate into votes in the states where Assembly elections are held. 

    BJP boses are hoping that the party’s consolidation over ‘positive votes’ will get them an extended run in Assam and a new term in West Bengal after it helped them deliver a much better performance than senior alliance partner JD(U) in the recent Bihar elections.

    “BJP is no more looking at anti-incumbency votes in Bengal against Trinamool Congress. BJP had already bagged anti-incumbency votes there in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Now, it’s the positive vote that is coming to the aide of BJP in Bengal and Assam,” said a Union minister, who recently returned from electioneering in the two states.

    For BJP, ‘positive vote’ means people supporting the party candidate in the state elections due to the work done by the Central government, its welfare measures, and the appeal of PM Narendra Modi. 

    However, the BJP’s electioneering in Bengal has focussed more on highlighting the failure of the TMC government,  with thrust on syndicate, organised corruption, lack of development, non-implementation of Central schemes.

    “In Assam, development done by the NDA government along with the achievements of the Centre will help BJP gain a straight second mandate on the basis of positive votes. In Bengal, BJP has worked up the aspirations of the people to expect better things, due to party being in power at the Centre. That aspiration will get the positive vote for BJP,” said another Union minister, who has also been on election campaiging duty in Assam and Bengal. 

    Reflecting on Bengal, the minister claimed that TMC and BJP are pitched in a direct contest, with the Left and Congress failing to find space in people’s attention during the build-up to polling. But he says the party has to better its 2019 performance by several notches.

  • Bengal elections: State witnesses close to 38% polling till 11 am, skirmishes reported in Nandigram

    By PTI
    NANDIGRAM/KOLKATA: The second phase of polling in West Bengal’s eight-phase elections, including in the high-stakes Nandigram seat, recorded a high voter turnout of 37.4 per cent till 11 am.

    Though the situation was tense in a few areas with a few skirmishes reported, tight security cover in all 30 constituencies which went to polls averted any major incidents.

    “We have 37.42 per cent voter turnout till 11 am in all seats where polling is underway for the second phase. The polling so far has been peaceful,” an Election Commission official said.

    The constituencies where polls are being conducted include nine seats each in Purba and Paschim Medinipur districts, eight in Bankura and four in South 24 Parganas.

    Strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols has been ensured in all places, officials said.

    More than 75 lakh voters will decide the fate of 191 candidates in the 30 constituencies for which voting ends at 6.30 pm.

    The entire Nandigram constituency where chief minister Mamata Benrjee is locked in a high-stakes electoral battle with her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari now with the BJP, has been placed under Section 144, to avoid any untoward incident.

    However, protesters blocked the road in Nandigram’s Block 1 alleging Central forces stopped them from going to the polling stations.

    “The CRPF personnel accompanying Suvendu Adhikari stopped us from casting our votes,” a protester said.

    The BJP however denied the allegations.

    In another incident, a person was detected with a fake voter ID and was subsequently arrested.

    Banerjee decided to stay at her `war room’ in the Reyapara area in Nandigram during the polls, to monitor the situation, according to party sources.

    The chief minister is slated to later visit various polling booths.

    Around 35 per cent of electors exercised their franchise till 11 am in the agrarian constituency in Purba Medinipur district, , an Election Commission official said.

    Barring an incident in the Bhimkata area in Nandigram where the BJP candidate faced an agitation by a group of TMC workers who shouted slogans against him, there were no incidents of face-offs or skirmishes in Nandigram, he added.

    However, TMC alleged the BJP had threatened its polling agents in various booths in Nandigram Block 2.

    “Our agents were not allowed to enter several polling booths in Nandigram Block -2. Voters have also been stopped from exercising their franchise in some areas. We will lodge complaints with the EC,” a TMC leader said.

    Adhikari cast his vote soon after polling began on Thursday morning and claimed he would win the seat by a record margin.

    Meanwhile, the Keshpur area in Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district remained tense after a TMC worker identified as Uttam Dolui was stabbed to death late last night, hours before polling started in the area, police said.

    Dolui’s family alleged that BJP “goons” attacked him to create tension in the area and intimidate voters ahead of the polling.

    The BJP however denied both the allegations.

    In Sabang seat in the West Midnapore district, BJP candidate Amulya Maity made a counter allegation that TMC had not allowed his booth agents to enter their designated booths.

    The TMC too denied the allegations.

    Meanwhile, in Debra seat, police detained BJP’s Mandal president Mohan Singh- for allegedly getting within 100m of a polling booth.

    In the Mahisadal seat, the TMC also alleged that BJP workers had stopped voters from going to the polling stations.

    Meanwhile, a BJP worker, identified as Uday Dubey, was found hanging near the Reyapara area in Nandigram Block-1.

    The BJP alleged that Dubey had ended his life after being threatened by TMC workers.

    Villagers in the Boyal area in Nandigram also alleged that BJP supporters had stopped them from going to the polling booths.