News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal Assembly Polls 2021

  • BJP cites audio tapes to target Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Citing some audio tapes, the BJP on Saturday alleged that people enjoying “protection” from the Mamata Banerjee-led government have been running an “extortion racket” in West Bengal.

    “What has come out is so ugly that we just wish to say that Mamata Banerjee and her relatives have let down the people of West Bengal. She should apologise and seek forgiveness from people for cheating them,” BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told reporters here.

    He was referring to three audio tapes shown in a section of the media, and said they feature people considered close to the state government, including Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

    There was no immediate response from the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress.

    “Such is the audacity of extortionists that in one such meeting an extortionist who is close to Abhishek Banerjee sat close to commissioner and was making illegal demands from various people who wish to invest or undertake a legal activity,” Bhatia alleged.

    The contents of these audio tapes show how an “extortion racket” is being run in an organised manner under the nose of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led government, he said.

  • West Bengal Assembly elections: TMC candidate Koushani Mukherjee courts controversy as video goes viral

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Actor-turned-Trinamool Congress contestant Koushani Mukherjee courted controversy on Saturday as a video with her purported comment “Please think before you cast votes, you have mother, sister at home” went viral.

    Koushani, who had joined Trinamool Congress two months ago and is in the fray in Krishnagar seat claimed that a part of her comment was taken out of context and put in the video by BJP’s IT cell to give it a different meaning.

    “I had sought to project the fact that Bengal is the safest state for women, unlike BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh where women were raped in Hathras and their parents were shot at for protesting. The BJP IT cell edited the footage for cheap politics,” she said in a statement.

    Koushani also posted a video of what she claimed was her original comment on her Facebook page in which she is seen walking in her constituency canvassing for votes and telling voters “Think twice before voting for BJP, you have your mother and sisters at home”.

    She is also seen saying, “In Didi’s Bengal women are safe. Don’t vote for BJP if you don’t want Bengal to turn into another Hathras in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.”

    Actor-turned BJP leader Rupa Bhattacharya hit out at Koushani in a post saying, “The utterances of the so called actress turned politicians like you make our heads hang in shame.”

    “An actress should have a refined taste…If you think that by making such an ugly comment you will endear yourself to Trinamool Congress workers, rest assured they will hate your hypocrisy from the bottom of their heart,” Bhattacharya said.

    Trinamool Congress minister Sashi Panja said part of Koushani’s comments were kept in the edited video but not the entire footage.

  • Yogi Adityanath calls for Mamata Banerjee’s ouster, says BJP to ensure women’s safety in Bengal

    By PTI
    FALTA/ KULTULI/ULUBERIA: Calling upon people to oust the Mamata Banerjee government, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday that the BJP, if voted to power in Bengal, will ensure security for all women and create job opportunities for the youth.

    Adityanath, who addressed two rallies during the day, also said that those who had tried to stop Durga puja and Saraswati puja will be put behind bars, if the saffron party forms government in Bengal.

    “You had given 50 years to the Congress, 30 years to the communists and 10 years to the Trinamool Congress, I urge you to give five years to the BJP…We will change the face of West Bengal.

    “The BJP will stop all tortures perpetrated on the women of West Bengal. It will ensure that youths get employment opportunities,” the Uttar Pradesh CM said at a public meeting in Falta area of South-24 Parganas district.

    Raising anti-TMC slogans such as “Doo Maaye (May), Didi gaaye”, (May 2, Didi gone), the senior BJP leader also said that his party will guarantee ration for everyone, provide pension to the old, houses to the poor, while also making sure that the people of the state get to avail the benefits doled out under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi and Ayushman Bharat health scheme.

    “No one will be allowed to play with the emotions of people. We will see to it that Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja are held in Bengal without any hindrance. Jail doors are open for the ones who wish to stop such religious festivals,” Adityanath asserted.

    Controversy had erupted in 2017 at a school in Tehatta, Nadia district, over celebration of Saraswati puja, with a section of students apparently trying to stop another group from observing the festival.

    In that very year, the West Bengal government had imposed curbs on Durga idol immersion, as the occasion coincided with Muharram, but the high court later eased the restrictions.

    Adityanath further said that properties of goons, who threaten people to have their way, will be confiscated, and they would be made to beg on the streets.

    “In the past, the situation was somewhat similar in UP. Now where are those people (goons)? None will be able to find a single one of them,” he said.

    Speaking at another rally in Kultuli, the UP CM, listing the benefits available to the people of his state, sought to know why government employees in West Bengal were not getting salaries in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission.

    “Why hasn’t Didi implemented central schemes here? It’s for her that the people of Bengal have been deprived of the doles offered by the central government. What has Didi done for the people of the state other than pursuing appeasement politics? The TMC supremo has just one agenda promoting her nephew Abhishek Banerjee,” he alleged.

    Earlier in the day, Adityanath held roadshows in Howrah district’s Uluberia to bolster the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal, ahead of the third phase of assembly elections.

    Standing atop a vehicle, decked up with flowers and BJP flags, he waved at enthusiastic crowd that gathered along the road in the Gangarampur area of the subdivision where two constituencies — Uluberia Uttar and Uluberia Dakshin — will go to polls on April 6.

    Locals had queued up on both sides of the road and watched the procession, which inched its way through the narrow streets amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

  • BJP seeks EC action against West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for ‘violating’ poll norms in Nandigram

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A BJP delegation Friday met Election Commission officials here and demanded action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging she violated elections norms in her Nandigram constituency while votes were being cast during the second phase of polling on Thursday.

    The delegation comprised Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, and the party’s national media incharge Anil Baluni.

    “For the first time in the country’s history, a chief minister sat on a dharna in a polling booth when polling was on. Before she (Mamata Banerjee) sat on her dharna, 74 per cent votes were polled in Nandigram and the polling was by and large peaceful,” Javadekar told reporters after meeting the EC officials here.

    He further alleged as soon as the Trinamool Congress chief sat on the “dharna”, her party workers started pelting stones at the polling booth.

    “We have given all proofs including photographs of her misconduct. A chief minister, which is a constitutional post, sitting on a dharna while the polling was on is against democracy and also against the Election Commission’s norms for polling. Therefore, we have demanded urgent action against her from the poll panel,” Javadekar said.

    The BJP leader also hit out at both the TMC and the Congress for questioning the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines, saying as soon as these parties sense their defeats, they start looking for something to blame their defeat on.

    Later in a tweet, Bhupender Yadav said, “Met poll panel officials with party leaders seeking action against Mamata Banerjee for protesting at a polling booth and provoking TMC workers to disturb peace. Her name must be removed from TMC’s star campaigner list for peaceful polls.”

    The BJP has also demanded action against about DMK supremo MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi for his “indecent” remarks against late BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.

    Udhayanidhi raked controversy by saying that both Jaitley and Swaraj died due to political pressure.

    Chief Minister Banerjee on Thursday visited several booths across the high-profile Nandigram constituency, where she is pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, as sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of booth jamming marred the voting process in the second phase.

    Both Banerjee and Adhikari fanned out to various polling booths in Nandigram to take stock of the situation after reports of stray violence and booth ‘jamming’, a bid by workers of one party to crowd out voters from a polling booth by forming long queues.

  • TMC dismisses PM Narendra Modi’s speculation, says Mamata Banerjee not contesting polls from another seat

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a dig at TMC boss Mamata Banerjee, sought to know if she would contest the polls from another seat, implying her loss in Nandigram is imminent, the ruling camp in Bengal clarified that she harboured no such intention.

    Sporadic incidents of violence, allegations of booth capturing and clashes on Thursday marred the second phase of assembly polls in Bengal, especially in the high-profile Nandigram constituency, even as 80 per cent turnout was recorded till 5 pm.

    ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee’s body language shows that she has accepted defeat in Nandigram, says PM Narendra Modi

    The EC has sought a report in connection with an incident in the Boyal area of Nandigram — where the feisty TMC chief was held up for more than two hours following a siege allegedly laid by saffron camp supporters.

    BJP leader Jaiprakash Majumdar, echoing the prime minister, said that Banerjee is “likely to contest from another seat after sensing defeat in Nandigram”, an assertion rejected by the TMC leadership.

    Slamming the BJP for “causing disturbance” in the high-stake constituency — where the chief minister is pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari — TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the PM must “apologise for such wild and baseless claims”.

    ALSO READ: Battle for Nandigram – Massive face-off between Mamata and Suvendu on polling day

    “What happened today in Nandigram reflects BJP’s frustration. The party will lose the election not just from the Nandigram constituency, but also other seats that went to polls in the first two phases,” he told reporters.

    Another TMC leader, who did not wish to be named, said the question of Mamata Banerjee fighting from another constituency does not arise as she will be winning the Nandigram seat comfortably.

  • Polling was not disrupted at booth no.7 in West Bengal’s Nandigram: Election Commission

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) cited the report of its general observer in West Bengal on Thursday to say voting was not disrupted at any moment at polling station number 7 in Nandigram, from where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting.

    In a statement, the commission said “many sections of media have been covering the incident of alleged gherao of Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal and crowding at Polling Station No.7 at 210 Nandigram AC (assembly constituency) today that inter alia resulted in disruption of poll process”.

    It said general observer Hemen Das, an IAS officer, and police observer Ashutosh Roy (IPS) were asked to go to the spot immediately.

    The panel said the general observer’s report was received at 4.06 pm.

    The statement quoted the report: “…Polling at PS no 7 (Boyal Moktab Primary School) is going on smoothly. Hon’ble CM, who is also a contesting candidate, has left the place at about 3.35 pm after staying here for nearly one and half hour. It may kindly be noted that polling was not disrupted at any moment. Till now, 702 votes, out of 943, have been polled. It is 74 per cent.”

    The observer said nearly 3,000 people were there when he and the police observer reached the polling station.

    “All have left now,” he said in his report.

    The EC statement also said a separate handwritten complaint was received from the chief minister via the chief electoral officer (CEO) of West Bengal late in the afternoon.

    The same has been forwarded to Special General Observer Ajay Nayak and Special Police Observer Vivek Dube under intimation to CEO.

    They have been asked to send a report by 6 pm on Friday.

  • People of village in Nandigram seat hounded out by BJP goons; EC should take note: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Mamata Banerjee spares no chance to accuse BJP of wrongdoing. On the last day of campaigning before the second polls on April 1, the West Bengal Chief Minister said the saffron party has  brought in people from adjoining states to terrorise voters.

    She said that people from her constituency were hounded out by BJP goons and urged Election Commission to take note. “Villagers are being hounded out of Balarampur by BJP goons. The EC must ensure their safety,” she said. Mamata was also seen consoling family members of those allegedly hounded out.

    She sounded confident of a massive win. In a veiled threat to her opponent Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata said, “They (police forces from outside) will be here only for a few days. Make no mistake, we will be back and give the betrayers a befitting reply.”

    Mamata also alerted the people of Nandigram of possible attacks. “They (BJP) have plans to kill their own people and pass it off as our handiwork to engineer riots. We have information. Be on guard,” she said.“Nandigram stood united in the battle against forcible land acquisition in which people from all communities participated. Be on guard against any bid to fuel tension by keeping any object in places of worship. We are united.”

    Referring to the controversy over an audio clip in which Mamata was heard cajoling a BJP leader from Nandigram to help her win the seat, she said that she had indeed called him up after learning that he wanted to talk to her. “I told him to keep well, to take care of his health. So what is my crime?” the TMC supremo said.

    “As a candidate of the constituency, I can seek the help of any voter, I can call up anyone. There is no harm in that,” the TMC supremo said. “If someone makes the conversation viral, that is an offence. Action should be taken against those who did that.”

    A controversy erupted amid the first phase of polling after BJP released an audio clip in which Mamata was heard talking to a former TMC leader who has joined BJP. “You should help us win Nandigram. I know you have some grievances, but that’s due mostly to the Adhikaris who didn’t let me come here.”

  • Bitter war of words between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Adhikaris in Nandigram

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The poll campaigning at Nandigram reached its crescendo and there was a bitter war of words Monday between the main rivals – Trinamool Congress’ Mamata Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, her close follower-turned-political foe.

    The lights are trained on the high voltage campaign for the prestigious seat in Purba Medinipur district, which is set to conclude on Tuesday evening as the polling there is slated to be held in the second phase on April 1.

    In a barb aimed at Adhikari and his father Sisir Adhikari, who are influential political leaders of the area, Banerjee claimed that the entry of police in Nandigram on March 14, 2007 which had led to the killing of 14 supporters of the historic anti-farmland acquisition movement, could not have taken place without their knowledge.

    ALSO READ: ‘Greedy Suvendu Adhikari na ghar ka na ghat ka’, says Mamata Banerjee

    “Without the knowledge of the father-son duo, police could not have entered Nandigram on that day,” she said.

    “It is my fault that I had showered so much love on them,” said the TMC supremo, who has in her campaign meetings branded the Adhikari family without naming them as “traitors” after Suvendu, his father Sisir and brother Soumendu Adhikari quit her party to join BJP.

    “What did I not do for them. I had made him (Suvendu Adhikari) transport, environment, irrigation minister, I had made him the chairman of Hoogly River Bridge Commissioner. I made his father (Sisisr Adhikari) chairman of Digha Development Authority, I made his brother (Soumendu Adhikari) chairman of Haldia Development Authority. I made his brother the chairman of Contai Municipality.

    “I had given at least 10 plum postings to a single family and this is how they reciprocated, this is how they betrayed as venomous traitors,” she said.

    ALSO READ: Amit Shah should focus on UP, Bengal doesn’t tolerate violence against women, says Mamata Banerjee

    Banerjee told a public meeting in Nandigram during the day that while those involved in the movement were framed at the behest of BJP government at Centre, the Adhikari family, which too was involved in the agitation, had remained unscathed.

    “This showed the extent of understanding and setting between them.”

    She claimed that goons of the then ruling CPI(M) had entered Nandigram in police uniform but wore slippers which gave away their identity.

    “Similar planning is being done here again,” she alleged.

    “Didn’t the traitor (Suvendu Adhikari) know that the police will enter Nandigram on that fateful day and that there would be trouble? How many times did they speak to Buddhadeb Bhattacharya (the then chief minister)?” Banerjee asked, claiming that she has some information as the chief minister.

    ALSO READ: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s brother’s vehicle attacked in Contai, blames TMC

    Reacting sharply to Banerjee’s charges, Sisir Adhikari said, “She is speaking nonsense as she has understood that she is going to lose in Nandigram.”

    “Banerjee has reaped the benefits of the Nandigram movement due to Suvendu who had risked his life in the fight against the CPI-M terror. She had used him, she had used me in her rise to the seat of the CM. Now she is speaking against us as we had protested against her way of functioning. She stands exposed before the people of Nandigram and Bengal,” he said.

    He hit back at Banerjee for her allegations that the Adhikari family had shifted allegiance to BJP to save themselves from being hounded by the central agencies after amassing huge properties in the Kanthi-Digha-Nandigram belt.

    “We had shifted to BJP after being ill treated and abused by the TMC leadership for the past several months despite giving our best for the TMC. People of Purba Medinipur (district) will give her a befitting reply,” Sisir Adhikari said.

    “The TMC supremo is mouthing inanities after seeing the poor turnout in her meetings and becoming certain that she will be defeated by a huge margin in Nandigram,” Suvendu Adhikari said.

    On Banerjee’s allegations that he is polarizing voters in Nandigram and engineering riots, the BJP leader said “In fact it is she who is communalising the atmosphere to get more votes.”

    “She had been pursuing the politics of appeasement for all these years and had sown the seeds of division. We (BJP) believe in taking along all in the path of development; we don’t believe in preferential treatment to one community.

    “In Nandigram those supporting her policy are getting isolated. She can see the writing on the wall,” he said.

    CPI-M leader Bikash Bhattacharya said, “The Nandigram incident was a conspiracy, an attempt to malign the then CPI-M led Left Front government”.

    Party leader Sujan Chakraborty said Banerjee is getting exposed by her own utterances.

    “She will be unmasked as more days go by,” he added.

  • TMC, BJP brought West Bengal to ruins: Former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya came down heavily on the ruling TMC and the BJP on Monday, accusing them of ruining the state and its secular credentials.

    Bhattacharya, 76, said it is only the Left-Congress-ISF alliance that can bring the state out of the darkness.

    Noting that “the silence of a crematorium” prevails in Singur and Nandigram, he alleged that under the present dispensation, the state has gone backwards in agriculture, while no industry was established during its 10-year-tenure.

    Anti-land acquisition movements led by the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee at Singur and Nandigram in 2007-08 had jolted the mighty Left Front government and laid the foundation of the TMC rule in West Bengal.

    “The conspirators of the devious play of that period are now divided in two groups engaged in mudslinging against each other,” Bhattacharya said.

    Young people of Bengal have lost employment opportunities and the meritorious and skilled left for other states owing to the situation, the CPI(M) veteran said in a statement.

    “Corruption, extortion and syndicate-raj have made the lives of the state’s people unbearable,” he said, adding, security and respect of women are endangered due to antisocial activities.

    “Religious harmony, which used to be West Bengal’s pride, has been poisoned,” the ailing former CM claimed.

    Bhattacharya said the TMC’s autocratic rule on one hand and the BJP’s politics of divide and religious polarisation on the other have brought the state to ruins.

  • TMC MP Nusrat Jahan loses temper during roadshow, stokes controversy

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Actor and TMC MP Nusrat Jahan has courted controversy after she apparently lost cool and abandoned a roadshow midway in North 24 Parganas district, contending that she does not take part in any rally that lasts over an hour, even if it is in support of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    Jahan, who was recently campaigning for TMC candidate Narayan Goswami at Guma in Ashoknagar segment, suddenly refused to take part in the roadshow notwithstanding party workers’ fervent pleas to stay back.

    “I am participating in the roadshow for more than an hour, (which) I don’t do even for the chief minister; Are you joking?” the Basirhat MP could be heard telling TMC supporters.

    Goswami later said that Jahan had suffered a sprain due to which she could not continue to be a part of the roadshow.

    Looking to seize the initiative, opposition BJP posted a video of the episode on Twitter with the hashtag ‘#MamataLosingNandigram’.

    Banerjee is locked in a fierce contest with her protege-turned-adversary and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, which will go to polls in the second phase on April 1.