The incident happened when BJP supporters were campaigning in Naohati village in the district #39;s Memari police station area on Saturday afternoon with their candidate Bhismadeb Bhattacharya.
Tag: West Bengal
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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.
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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.
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Amit Shah claims Mamata Banerjee has clearly lost the poll battle in West Bengal
By PTI
BARUIPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has clearly lost the poll battle in West Bengal and said the Citizenship Amendment Act will be on the agenda in the first meeting of the new BJP government which will come to power in the state.Shah held two roadshows in the state during the day one at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas and another at Arambagh in Hoogly district.
The top BJP leader claimed that going by the feedback he has received the party has already won 50 out of the 60 seats, election to which was held in the first two phases and will bag more than 200 of the total 294 assembly.
“We will definitely win over 200 seats altogether,” he told a TV news channel during his roadshow at Baruipur.
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To a question he said The Citizenship Amendment Act will be taken up in the first meeting of the new BJP government which will come to power in West Bengal.
The party will give top priority to the safety of women in the state.
Asked to comment on Banerjees claim that she will win from Nandigram with a comfortable margin, Shah said “It is clear that she has lost the battle.
She is making such tall claims now as she has no option. She has to make such a statement.” Banerjee took on her former lieutenant turned BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the hotly contested seat, election to which was held in the second phase on April 1.
BJP workers, carrying high the partys lotus symbol and balloons in its colors shouting Jai Shree Ram and Aar Noy Annay (no more injustice) were seen following the flower bedecked truck on which Shah stood waving as a large number of onlookers gathered on both sides of road braving the summer heat.
At Baruipur the roadshow covered 1 km and at Arambagh 1.5 km.
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Mamata government runs on 3T model of ‘Tolabaji, Tanashahi, Tushtikaran’: Amit Shah
By PTI
SITALKUCHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of running the TMC government in the state on the 3T model of ‘Tolabaji’ (extortion), ‘Tanashahi’ (dictatorship) and ‘Tushtikaran’ (appeasement).Shah exuded confidence that Banerjee, who is contesting her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat, will lose from the constituency in Purba Medinipur district.
Identifying cross-border infiltration as the biggest problem of the north Bengal region, which he claimed faced injustice at the hands of the TMC government, the Union home minister promised to completely stop illegal immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh if the BJP is voted to power in the state.
He also promised that the BJP will spend Rs 2,000 crore annually on north Bengal’s development and establish an AIIMS to cater to the medical necessities of the people of the region.
Addressing an election rally in Coochbehar district’s Sitalkuchi, situated near the India-Bangladesh border, he said, “Cross-border Infiltration is north Bengal’s biggest problem.
ALSO READ | Bengal, Assam polls: Doom of Opposition in Modi’s crystal ball
The TMC government can never stop it, only we can.”
“Mamata Banerjee runs the state government on the 3T model of ‘Tolabaji’ (extortion), ‘Tanashahi’ (dictatorship) and ‘Tushtikaran’ (appeasement),” he said.
Exuding confidence of coming to power in the state with a massive mandate, Shah said, “We are winning in the first two phases of elections (held on March 27 and April 1). Mamata didi is losing in Nandigram.”
Shah accused the TMC government of meting out injustice to the north Bengal region.
“Mamata didi has done nothing for the development of the region.
After coming to power, the BJP will constitute a North Bengal Development Board and spend Rs 2,000 crore annually on the region’s development.
“We will also establish an AIIMS, which will cater to the medical necessities of not only Coochbehar district but also of the entire region,” he said.
The constituencies in Coochbehar district will go to polls in the fourth phase on April 10.
Results of all the 294 assembly seats will be declared on May 2.
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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.
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Bengal man sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for raping minor
By PTI
SURI: A court in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment in the 2019 rape case of a seven-year-old girl.Additional district and sessions judge Sujay Sengupta convicted Jagan Mardy under various sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court also ordered the state government to pay Rs 2 lakh to the victim as compensation.
Mardy had lured the girl, his neighbour in their village near Bolpur town of the district, on some pretext, took her to a secluded place and raped her on April 4, 2019.
The class 2 student was critically injured and had to be treated for a long time in hospitals in Birbhum and Purba Bardhaman districts.
Altogether 16 people were examined as witnesses in the case.
The girls mother said she is happy with the judgment.
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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.
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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.
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Bengal couple will drive to Central Asian nations for raising mental health awareness
By PTI
KOLKATA: Around three years after travelling to 32 countries in a car to make people aware of pain management, a couple of West Bengal are set to drive to four countries of Central Asia for raising awareness on mental health.Dr Debanjali Roy and her entrepreneur husband Koushik Roy said that they will visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, covering a distance of around 4,000 km, in May.
Given the stressful life during the COVID era, stable mental health has become as important as any medicine, they said adding that a healthy mind allows a person to work productively, which in turn raises his or her contributions to society.
“We are keen to spread the awareness of mental health across age groups.
“Last time, we spread awareness about Safe Drive to a Pain-Free Life in association with West Bengal Government and travelled almost 45,000 km across 32 countries,” said Debanjali, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist.
In 2021, they plan to travel through the ancient and unexplored Silk Route, with the message of being stress-free and having sound mental health, said Koushik who is an entrepreneur.
“In Kyrgyzstan, we will experience the nomads’ life, their food, their culture, and how to be happy against all odds,” she said. They have planned to cover the four countries in 18 days. In 2018, the couple visited 32 countries in Asia and Europe in over seven months by car.
“In 2020, we all had to keep our wandering souls hibernated, as the world went through a transition unexpectedly. We all can hope that 2021 will be much better and safer,” Koushik said.