News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal

  • TMC, BJP, Left-Cong to fight it out in Bengal’s Sagardighi by-poll

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The stage is set for a three-cornered contest in the by-poll to the Sagardighi assembly constituency in Murshidabad district on Monday, as the ruling TMC, opposition BJP and the Congress-Left alliance are ready for the fight to bag the minority-dominated seat.

    The TMC, which has been winning the seat since 2011, won in 2021 by a margin of nearly 50,000 votes, securing more than 50 per cent of the total votes polled, whereas the BJP and the Congress-Left alliance had bagged 24 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

    The TMC has fielded local leader Debashish Banerjee, who is up against Dilip Saha of the BJP, and the Left-supported Congress candidate Bayron Biswas who is known as the beedi-baron in the area.

    The constituency is known for its beedi industry and is also a cradle of migrant labourers, who venture out to various parts of the country in search of jobs.

    Apart from more than 60 per cent minority population, the rural seat also has around 18.5 per cent Scheduled caste and 6.5 per cent Scheduled Tribe population.

    It has approximately 2.3 lakh voters.

    The by-poll to the Sagardighi assembly seat was necessitated by the death of its three-time TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.

    The TMC, confident of winning the seat for the fourth consecutive time, has employed party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and a host of other top leaders and ministers to campaign in the area.

    “In the by-poll, we must improve our margin further and expose the unholy opposition nexus of BJP, CPI (M) and Congress. I wish to tell everyone here that a vote for the Congress will strengthen the hand of the BJP and its designs to implement NRC in future,” Banerjee had said during a recent election campaign.

    His reference to NRC was a reminder of the violent protest the district had witnessed in December 2019 against the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament.

    The recent IT raids on TMC MLA Jakir Hossain from the district have left the ruling party fuming, accusing it of using central agencies to threaten the party leaders ahead of the by-polls.

    The BJP’s big guns — Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, and state president Sukanta Majumdar – have carried out a whirlwind campaign in the constituency. “If the elections are free and fair, the BJP will win the seat by a record margin. The Sagardighi assembly by-poll will kick off the downfall of the TMC in future,” Adhikari had said.

    Congress state president and an MP from the district, Adhir Chowdhury, who is crisscrossing the entire constituency, is confident that of winning the seat. “The minorities have realised that the TMC and the BJP are both sides of the same coin. The death of student leader Anish Khan and recent graft cases where deserving candidates have been denied jobs as the posts were sold will have an impact on this by-poll,” he said.

    The seat was considered a Congress bastion since the early 1950s till the then-ruling CPI (M) snatched it from the grand old party in the assembly election of 1987.

    Riding on the winds of change, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) snatched it from the Left in 2011.

    The Election Commission, in a bid to ensure free and fair polls, has deployed 30 companies of central forces in the area.

    KOLKATA: The stage is set for a three-cornered contest in the by-poll to the Sagardighi assembly constituency in Murshidabad district on Monday, as the ruling TMC, opposition BJP and the Congress-Left alliance are ready for the fight to bag the minority-dominated seat.

    The TMC, which has been winning the seat since 2011, won in 2021 by a margin of nearly 50,000 votes, securing more than 50 per cent of the total votes polled, whereas the BJP and the Congress-Left alliance had bagged 24 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

    The TMC has fielded local leader Debashish Banerjee, who is up against Dilip Saha of the BJP, and the Left-supported Congress candidate Bayron Biswas who is known as the beedi-baron in the area.

    The constituency is known for its beedi industry and is also a cradle of migrant labourers, who venture out to various parts of the country in search of jobs.

    Apart from more than 60 per cent minority population, the rural seat also has around 18.5 per cent Scheduled caste and 6.5 per cent Scheduled Tribe population.

    It has approximately 2.3 lakh voters.

    The by-poll to the Sagardighi assembly seat was necessitated by the death of its three-time TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.

    The TMC, confident of winning the seat for the fourth consecutive time, has employed party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and a host of other top leaders and ministers to campaign in the area.

    “In the by-poll, we must improve our margin further and expose the unholy opposition nexus of BJP, CPI (M) and Congress. I wish to tell everyone here that a vote for the Congress will strengthen the hand of the BJP and its designs to implement NRC in future,” Banerjee had said during a recent election campaign.

    His reference to NRC was a reminder of the violent protest the district had witnessed in December 2019 against the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament.

    The recent IT raids on TMC MLA Jakir Hossain from the district have left the ruling party fuming, accusing it of using central agencies to threaten the party leaders ahead of the by-polls.

    The BJP’s big guns — Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, and state president Sukanta Majumdar – have carried out a whirlwind campaign in the constituency. “If the elections are free and fair, the BJP will win the seat by a record margin. The Sagardighi assembly by-poll will kick off the downfall of the TMC in future,” Adhikari had said.

    Congress state president and an MP from the district, Adhir Chowdhury, who is crisscrossing the entire constituency, is confident that of winning the seat. “The minorities have realised that the TMC and the BJP are both sides of the same coin. The death of student leader Anish Khan and recent graft cases where deserving candidates have been denied jobs as the posts were sold will have an impact on this by-poll,” he said.

    The seat was considered a Congress bastion since the early 1950s till the then-ruling CPI (M) snatched it from the grand old party in the assembly election of 1987.

    Riding on the winds of change, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) snatched it from the Left in 2011.

    The Election Commission, in a bid to ensure free and fair polls, has deployed 30 companies of central forces in the area.

  • BJP’s North Bengal MLA Suman Kanjilal joins TMC

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: In a jolt to BJP’s north Bengal stronghold, an MLA from Alipurduar of the saffron camp on Sunday defected to the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

    Suman Kanjilal, a BJP MLA from the north Bengal constituency, joined the Trinamool Congress in presence of Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress’s national general secretary and nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.  

    With the defection of Kanjilal, BJP’s strength in the Assembly has come down to 69 from 77 as five other MLAs had joined the ruling TMC earlier. Two MPs, who had contested in the 2021 Assembly elections and won, decided to function as representatives in the lower house of the Parliament.

    “As an MLA, I want to work for the common people. I discussed it with the chief minister. I decided to join the TMC to work better for the people. I wanted to perform more when I was a BJP MLA using the schemes of the Union government. But I could not because many projects were stalled by the BJP-led Centre,’’ said Kanjilal.

    Kanjilal’s change in political allegiance is said to be significant ahead of the panchayat elections in the state.

    Though the TMC had secured a sweeping victory by bagging 214 seats out of 292 in the 2021 Assembly polls, the party failed to leave a footprint in the Alipurduar district as the BJP secured victory in all five seats.

    “The people who voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2021 Assembly polls are disappointed. They realised there is no alternative political force other than the TMC which can offer good governance,” said a senior TMC leader, adding that there were more surprises waiting for the BJP in North Bengal.

    In the 2019 general elections, the BJP bagged 18 seats out of 42 in Bengal of which seven were from north Bengal.

    Previously, two other BJP MLAs from north Bengal – Krishna Kalyani of Raiganj and Soumen Roy of Kaliaganj joined the TMC at different times.

    Three other saffron party legislators from the southern part of the state, including former Union minister Mukul Roy, also switched sides.

    Lok Sabha MP and former West Bengal BJP vice-president Arjun Singh had also joined the TMC.

    KOLKATA: In a jolt to BJP’s north Bengal stronghold, an MLA from Alipurduar of the saffron camp on Sunday defected to the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

    Suman Kanjilal, a BJP MLA from the north Bengal constituency, joined the Trinamool Congress in presence of Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress’s national general secretary and nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.  

    With the defection of Kanjilal, BJP’s strength in the Assembly has come down to 69 from 77 as five other MLAs had joined the ruling TMC earlier. Two MPs, who had contested in the 2021 Assembly elections and won, decided to function as representatives in the lower house of the Parliament.

    “As an MLA, I want to work for the common people. I discussed it with the chief minister. I decided to join the TMC to work better for the people. I wanted to perform more when I was a BJP MLA using the schemes of the Union government. But I could not because many projects were stalled by the BJP-led Centre,’’ said Kanjilal.

    Kanjilal’s change in political allegiance is said to be significant ahead of the panchayat elections in the state.

    Though the TMC had secured a sweeping victory by bagging 214 seats out of 292 in the 2021 Assembly polls, the party failed to leave a footprint in the Alipurduar district as the BJP secured victory in all five seats.

    “The people who voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2021 Assembly polls are disappointed. They realised there is no alternative political force other than the TMC which can offer good governance,” said a senior TMC leader, adding that there were more surprises waiting for the BJP in North Bengal.

    In the 2019 general elections, the BJP bagged 18 seats out of 42 in Bengal of which seven were from north Bengal.

    Previously, two other BJP MLAs from north Bengal – Krishna Kalyani of Raiganj and Soumen Roy of Kaliaganj joined the TMC at different times.

    Three other saffron party legislators from the southern part of the state, including former Union minister Mukul Roy, also switched sides.

    Lok Sabha MP and former West Bengal BJP vice-president Arjun Singh had also joined the TMC.

  • Mamata launches TMC’s new outreach drive ahead of Panchayat polls in Bengal

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee launched her party’s latest outreach programme titled ‘Didir Suraksha Kavach’ (sister’s protective shield) ahead of the Panchayat polls slated to be held later this year.

    Around 3.5 lakh Trinamool Congress workers and 350 party leaders comprising of MPs and MLAs will act as ‘Didir Dyut’ (sister’s messenger) and carry out the programme’s objective of reaching out to 10 crore people across the state. The party’s lawmakers and other leaders have been asked to spend 10 days in villages to identify the ground-level problems and find out whether the state government’s flagship projects are reaching them.

    The new initiative follows two similar outreach drives from the past —’Didi Ke Bolo’ (tell your sister) and ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at your doorstep) and comes amid a series of corruption charges levelled against TMC functionaries.

    “Didir Suraksha Kavach is another shape of Duare Sarkar. The state government is doing its own job. But as the ruling political party, we cannot skip responsibilities. Because more than 85 gram panchayats are dominated by our party. The government’s doorstep initiative sorted many issues. The new outreach drive will focus on other issues which the government is yet to address,’’ said chief minister Mamata Banerjee while addressing a workers’ meet in south Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha.

    The drive will continue for two months covering both the rural and semi-urban pockets of the state. The initiative is said to be an initiative mainly aimed at the rural polls at a time when the ruling TMC is facing large-scale complaints of corruption in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), while the CPI(M), continues its resurgence as the second political outfit in the state.

    Asked whether the new outreach drive is aimed at the panchayat polls, Mamata said the Duare Sarkar drive was initiated after the 2021 Assembly elections. “It is our part of a continuous effort for the development of the state. Elections have nothing to with it.”

    Replying to her frequent allegation against the BJP over “destroying” the federal structure of the country, the Bengal CM said, “My ideology is clear. We want unity in diversity. The federal structure of the country must be strengthened.”

    Meanwhile, Mamata’s nephew and TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said, “The party will start the new initiative from January 11 and continue it for the next 60 days. Our party leaders will spend 10 days at villages, and our 3.5 lakh party workers reach out to the people in remote pockets to verify whether the state government’s welfare projects are reaching them.”

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee launched her party’s latest outreach programme titled ‘Didir Suraksha Kavach’ (sister’s protective shield) ahead of the Panchayat polls slated to be held later this year.

    Around 3.5 lakh Trinamool Congress workers and 350 party leaders comprising of MPs and MLAs will act as ‘Didir Dyut’ (sister’s messenger) and carry out the programme’s objective of reaching out to 10 crore people across the state. The party’s lawmakers and other leaders have been asked to spend 10 days in villages to identify the ground-level problems and find out whether the state government’s flagship projects are reaching them.

    The new initiative follows two similar outreach drives from the past —’Didi Ke Bolo’ (tell your sister) and ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at your doorstep) and comes amid a series of corruption charges levelled against TMC functionaries.

    “Didir Suraksha Kavach is another shape of Duare Sarkar. The state government is doing its own job. But as the ruling political party, we cannot skip responsibilities. Because more than 85 gram panchayats are dominated by our party. The government’s doorstep initiative sorted many issues. The new outreach drive will focus on other issues which the government is yet to address,’’ said chief minister Mamata Banerjee while addressing a workers’ meet in south Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha.

    The drive will continue for two months covering both the rural and semi-urban pockets of the state. The initiative is said to be an initiative mainly aimed at the rural polls at a time when the ruling TMC is facing large-scale complaints of corruption in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), while the CPI(M), continues its resurgence as the second political outfit in the state.

    Asked whether the new outreach drive is aimed at the panchayat polls, Mamata said the Duare Sarkar drive was initiated after the 2021 Assembly elections. “It is our part of a continuous effort for the development of the state. Elections have nothing to with it.”

    Replying to her frequent allegation against the BJP over “destroying” the federal structure of the country, the Bengal CM said, “My ideology is clear. We want unity in diversity. The federal structure of the country must be strengthened.”

    Meanwhile, Mamata’s nephew and TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said, “The party will start the new initiative from January 11 and continue it for the next 60 days. Our party leaders will spend 10 days at villages, and our 3.5 lakh party workers reach out to the people in remote pockets to verify whether the state government’s welfare projects are reaching them.”

  • BJP will come in Bengal through election, not by poaching TMC MLAs

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: West Bengal’s leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said the BJP has no intention to derail the Trinamool Congress-led Bengal government by poaching MLAs of the ruling party as the saffron camp will come to power in the state through election.

    Referring to his earlier December deadline announcing three dates hinting that the TMC would not be able to run the government, Adhikari, while addressing a rally at his Kanthi hometown in East Midnapore, said, “I meant about important developments in Bengal politics. I never meant that we will derail the TMC government. Do you want to derail the government by poaching TMC MLAs? The BJP doesn’t want it. The BJP will come to power through elections.”

    Adhikari also said that after coming to power in Bengal, bulldozers will run in the state like Uttar Pradesh. Opposition parties alleged the use of bulldozers in UP emerged as a new source of hate in the saffron camp’s politics.

    Adhikari’s rally in Kanthi was said to be a counter event of TMC’s national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s rally in the same place recently.

    Giving a call to ensure victory in the next year’s panchayat elections, Adhikari said the candidates winning in the rural polls will get houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).     

    “We will field candidates in each and every seat in the panchayat elections and you will have to ensure the victory. I am announcing without any doubt the winning candidates will get houses under the PMAY,” he said.

    The PMAY scheme created embarrassment for the TMC presently as thousands of the ruling party’s panchayat functionaries and their relatives, who are not eligible, enrolled themselves under the central scheme.

    KOLKATA: West Bengal’s leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said the BJP has no intention to derail the Trinamool Congress-led Bengal government by poaching MLAs of the ruling party as the saffron camp will come to power in the state through election.

    Referring to his earlier December deadline announcing three dates hinting that the TMC would not be able to run the government, Adhikari, while addressing a rally at his Kanthi hometown in East Midnapore, said, “I meant about important developments in Bengal politics. I never meant that we will derail the TMC government. Do you want to derail the government by poaching TMC MLAs? The BJP doesn’t want it. The BJP will come to power through elections.”

    Adhikari also said that after coming to power in Bengal, bulldozers will run in the state like Uttar Pradesh. Opposition parties alleged the use of bulldozers in UP emerged as a new source of hate in the saffron camp’s politics.

    Adhikari’s rally in Kanthi was said to be a counter event of TMC’s national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s rally in the same place recently.

    Giving a call to ensure victory in the next year’s panchayat elections, Adhikari said the candidates winning in the rural polls will get houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).     

    “We will field candidates in each and every seat in the panchayat elections and you will have to ensure the victory. I am announcing without any doubt the winning candidates will get houses under the PMAY,” he said.

    The PMAY scheme created embarrassment for the TMC presently as thousands of the ruling party’s panchayat functionaries and their relatives, who are not eligible, enrolled themselves under the central scheme.

  • None can do any harm to TMC, says jailed ex-minister Partha Chatterjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, who is in jail for his alleged involvement in a school recruitment scam, claimed on Monday that none can do any harm to the Mamata Banerjee-led party, indicating that he was still trying to curry favour with its leadership.

    The former Bengal minister, who was arrested on July 23 following recovery of cash, jewellery and property deeds from his alleged close associate, prayed for his bail before a special CBI court, which has reserved its order.

    The CBI is probing the recruitment scam on directions of the Calcutta High Court, and the Enforcement Directorate is looking into the money trail associated with the case.

    As Chatterjee got off a vehicle for his court hearing, he was asked by reporters to comment on Leader of Opposition in Bengal Suvendu Adhikari’s assertion that the days of the TMC are numbered and “major developments involving its leaders are on the cards in December”.

    The suspended leader was quick to reply that “none can do any harm to the TMC; none can damage TMC’s prospects”.

    The ruling party in Bengal had removed Chatterjee from the state cabinet and all party posts, besides suspending him, shortly after he was arrested in July.

    Distancing the party from Chatterjee, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, when asked about his comment, said the TMC does not need Chatterjee’s certificate and has no relation with him.

    Ghosh, however, asserted there is no threat to the TMC, and BJP leaders are making absurd claims.

    Besides Adhikari, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar claimed on occasions that “the downfall of Mamata Banerjee government will begin from this month (December).”

    The TMC spokesperson, talking to reporters, said, “Leaders like Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar have no relevance, and they are making such claims just to remain in them news.

    People of Bengal are with the TMC and everyone knows that,” he said.

    BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya claimed that Chatterjee, former School Service Commission adviser SP Sinha and others arrested in connection with the case had just “followed instructions of the top leadership”.

    “Partha had always adhered to the programmes of the party.

    Hence it is not surprising that he is still speaking in the same voice as TMC,” Bhattacharya told PTI.

    Chatterjee held the education portfolio between 2014 and 2021 when the irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in state government-sponsored and -aided schools had allegedly taken place.

    He held several portfolios, including Industry and Commerce, during the time of his arrest.

    KOLKATA: Suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, who is in jail for his alleged involvement in a school recruitment scam, claimed on Monday that none can do any harm to the Mamata Banerjee-led party, indicating that he was still trying to curry favour with its leadership.

    The former Bengal minister, who was arrested on July 23 following recovery of cash, jewellery and property deeds from his alleged close associate, prayed for his bail before a special CBI court, which has reserved its order.

    The CBI is probing the recruitment scam on directions of the Calcutta High Court, and the Enforcement Directorate is looking into the money trail associated with the case.

    As Chatterjee got off a vehicle for his court hearing, he was asked by reporters to comment on Leader of Opposition in Bengal Suvendu Adhikari’s assertion that the days of the TMC are numbered and “major developments involving its leaders are on the cards in December”.

    The suspended leader was quick to reply that “none can do any harm to the TMC; none can damage TMC’s prospects”.

    The ruling party in Bengal had removed Chatterjee from the state cabinet and all party posts, besides suspending him, shortly after he was arrested in July.

    Distancing the party from Chatterjee, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, when asked about his comment, said the TMC does not need Chatterjee’s certificate and has no relation with him.

    Ghosh, however, asserted there is no threat to the TMC, and BJP leaders are making absurd claims.

    Besides Adhikari, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar claimed on occasions that “the downfall of Mamata Banerjee government will begin from this month (December).”

    The TMC spokesperson, talking to reporters, said, “Leaders like Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar have no relevance, and they are making such claims just to remain in them news.

    People of Bengal are with the TMC and everyone knows that,” he said.

    BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya claimed that Chatterjee, former School Service Commission adviser SP Sinha and others arrested in connection with the case had just “followed instructions of the top leadership”.

    “Partha had always adhered to the programmes of the party.

    Hence it is not surprising that he is still speaking in the same voice as TMC,” Bhattacharya told PTI.

    Chatterjee held the education portfolio between 2014 and 2021 when the irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in state government-sponsored and -aided schools had allegedly taken place.

    He held several portfolios, including Industry and Commerce, during the time of his arrest.

  • Woman, brother-in-law seriously injured in blast in West Bengal

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A woman and her brother-in-law were seriously injured in a blast in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday, police said.

    The incident took place in their house in Ramnagar in Pipha gram panchayat area on Wednesday morning, in which Sonia Bibi and Rakibullah Mondal sustained severe injuries, a senior officer of Basirhat Police said.

    Police claimed that it was an LPG cylinder blast but locals alleged that the “ball”, with which the teenager was playing after bringing it from a nearby ground, exploded, indicating at an accidental crude bomb blast.

    “The woman and her brother-in-law were injured in what seems to be a cylinder blast, but we have got a different version from the locals and are probing the matter,” the officer said, adding that the injured are being treated at a nearby hospital.

    Panchayat elections are likely to be held in the state early next year.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP of smuggling arms and ammunition and pumping money into West Bengal from neighbouring states to create law and order issues ahead of the rural polls.

    KOLKATA: A woman and her brother-in-law were seriously injured in a blast in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday, police said.

    The incident took place in their house in Ramnagar in Pipha gram panchayat area on Wednesday morning, in which Sonia Bibi and Rakibullah Mondal sustained severe injuries, a senior officer of Basirhat Police said.

    Police claimed that it was an LPG cylinder blast but locals alleged that the “ball”, with which the teenager was playing after bringing it from a nearby ground, exploded, indicating at an accidental crude bomb blast.

    “The woman and her brother-in-law were injured in what seems to be a cylinder blast, but we have got a different version from the locals and are probing the matter,” the officer said, adding that the injured are being treated at a nearby hospital.

    Panchayat elections are likely to be held in the state early next year.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP of smuggling arms and ammunition and pumping money into West Bengal from neighbouring states to create law and order issues ahead of the rural polls.

  • Bengal: Four injured in bomb blast; war of words erupt between BJP, TMC

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Four persons were injured, one of them seriously, when several bombs exploded at the Jagaddal area in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district early Sunday triggering panic in the area.

    An official of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said as per information, an altercation took place between some wedding party members and a local resident over playing music at the marriage hall on Saturday night.

    Several crude bombs exploded before the marriage hall injuring four wedding party members early Sunday, the official said.

    Five persons were detained in connection with the incident as police conducted raids in the area. Two more unexploded bombs were seized from the area during raids.

    The incident triggered a political blame game as the BJP accused TMC of “stockpiling” bombs across the state ahead of the panchayat polls in 2023. However, the TMC countered the charges saying BJP is levelling “false” charges.

    BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar told reporters that local TMC leaders have “stockpiled” bombs in the area and whenever there is a dispute, bombs are hurled by the ruling party miscreants.

    “Several bomb blasts and recovery of explosives had taken place in the Bhatpara-Jagaddal belt under Barrackpore sub-division in North 24 Parganas district and the involvement of TMC has been proved in every incident,” Majumdar said.

    TMC state spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar said “BJP is levelling false charges against the TMC.

    “Our men are not involved in such incidents. There have been stray incidents. Our party has no association with any of them. Police are taking action…,” he added.

    KOLKATA: Four persons were injured, one of them seriously, when several bombs exploded at the Jagaddal area in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district early Sunday triggering panic in the area.

    An official of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said as per information, an altercation took place between some wedding party members and a local resident over playing music at the marriage hall on Saturday night.

    Several crude bombs exploded before the marriage hall injuring four wedding party members early Sunday, the official said.

    Five persons were detained in connection with the incident as police conducted raids in the area. Two more unexploded bombs were seized from the area during raids.

    The incident triggered a political blame game as the BJP accused TMC of “stockpiling” bombs across the state ahead of the panchayat polls in 2023. However, the TMC countered the charges saying BJP is levelling “false” charges.

    BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar told reporters that local TMC leaders have “stockpiled” bombs in the area and whenever there is a dispute, bombs are hurled by the ruling party miscreants.

    “Several bomb blasts and recovery of explosives had taken place in the Bhatpara-Jagaddal belt under Barrackpore sub-division in North 24 Parganas district and the involvement of TMC has been proved in every incident,” Majumdar said.

    TMC state spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar said “BJP is levelling false charges against the TMC.

    “Our men are not involved in such incidents. There have been stray incidents. Our party has no association with any of them. Police are taking action…,” he added.

  • West Bengal: Cabinet decides to allow trans people to apply for govt jobs under general category

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The West Bengal Cabinet on Friday decided to allow people from the transgender community to apply for government jobs under the general category, an official said.

    A bill in this regard will be introduced during the next budget session, he said.

    “This new law will be helpful for transgenders in getting jobs. It will be formulated in the next budget session,” the official said.

    Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the new rules will be worked out based on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, earlier on Friday, asked the social welfare department to formulate rules that will enable transgenders to have equal opportunities in all fields.

    KOLKATA: The West Bengal Cabinet on Friday decided to allow people from the transgender community to apply for government jobs under the general category, an official said.

    A bill in this regard will be introduced during the next budget session, he said.

    “This new law will be helpful for transgenders in getting jobs. It will be formulated in the next budget session,” the official said.

    Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the new rules will be worked out based on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, earlier on Friday, asked the social welfare department to formulate rules that will enable transgenders to have equal opportunities in all fields.

  • Main enemy RSS, electorally will fight both TMC and BJP: CPI(M)’s Salim

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal’s Marxists who are looking to regain a foothold in the state, which once used to be called the ‘Red Fort’, will focus on RSS as ‘the main enemy’, though electorally the CPI(M) will fight both BJP and TMC.

    Md Salim, CPI(M)’s West Bengal state secretary and former Lok Sabha MP, in a free-wheeling interview to PTI, said that to revive his party’s fortunes in the state which it ruled for 34 long years before losing out to the TMC, he was grooming a cadre of “presentable, ideologically-educated” younger leaders.

    “We have identified the RSS as the biggest danger to the country as we believe it is against the tenets which our country stands for ” secularism and democracy.

    ‘It has promoted an atmosphere of hate, espousing a dangerous cocktail of pseudo-science and mythology. This is what we are fighting,” he said.

    However, in terms of electoral contests, Salim made it clear that his party would “continue to fight both BJP and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. We are not a fake opposition. We will oppose both.”

    For long, CPI(M) ideologues in the state could not decide on who the party’s main enemy was — the Trinamool Congress which ousted it from power in 2011 and has been wooing its voters and cadres away or the BJP whose ideology of ‘religion-based politics and right-wing market economics’ is anathema to them.

    However, Salim’s nuanced statement seems to place the main enemy as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Nagpur-based body which describes itself as a ‘social organisation’ but is known to influence BJP’s ideology.

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

    However, the advent of TMC as a political force and the rise of BJP in eastern India have seen the CPI(M)’s seat and vote shares tumbling over the last decade.

    Salim said the CPI(M) viewed the TMC “more as a platform created to take on the Left and not an ideologically driven party.”

     He claimed that the TMC which had drawn people from all political parties was influenced by “RSS, Muslim League and failed Naxalites”, none of whom had anything in common except dislike for the CPI(M) and the earlier Left Front government.

    “Please note that the Muslim League and minority cell of the BJP both merged with the TMC,” Salim asserted.

    The Left as a force has been dwindling in strength not only in West Bengal but also in the country over the years and this is underlined by the fact that just 17 years ago, it was the third-largest party in the country with 59 MPs in the 543-strong Lok Sabha, with 35 seats coming from West Bengal alone.

    Today, it has no MPs from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha and no MLAs in the state.

    The fall in CPI(M)’s vote share has been dramatic over the last decade: From 30.1 per cent in 2011 when its long reign was ended by TMC, it fell to 19.75 per cent in the 2016 assembly polls.

    This went down further to 6.34 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to less than 5 per cent in the assembly polls held last year. Since then, the party has been trying to re-invent itself banking heavily on a cadre of younger workers and leaders.

    “The survival of Bengal as we know it with its rich culture, liberal thoughts and education and that of the CPI(M) are intertwined,” claimed Salim.

    The way forward that the party has decided on, outlined the 65-year-old leader, is to groom a cadre of — 100 presentable, ideologically committed young leaders.

    This will check the greying of our leadership, induct fresh blood and fresh thinking.

    “We have made progress.  My job is more of a mentor. The youngsters will lead the way,” he asserted.

    A corps of “Red Volunteers’ was developed during the Covid years which did relief work, distributing oxygen cylinders to patients, organising blood supplies and hospitalisation.

    It also worked among migrant workers, helping in their progress; and set up cheap canteens.

    “Our party drew on its traditions of similar work during the Great Bengal famine of 1942 and partition,” Salim, an alumnus of Jadavpur University said.

    While the social work has not managed to help it win elections yet, it has certainly raised cadre morale as was evident at recent by-elections where red buntings and banners made a comeback on Kolkata’s streets.

    In the prestigious Ballygunge constituency where by-elections were held earlier this year, it came second notching up more than 30 per cent of the votes polled, way ahead of BJP.

    Similarly, the Left Front was runner-up to the TMC in 65 wards in the 144-ward Kolkata Municipal Corporation election held in December last year in which the TMC recorded a landslide victory.

    Rallies often accompanied by clashes with the police or supporters of rival parties have become more commonplace for the party as it works to get out of the rut into which it believes it had fallen.

    “We are going back to areas which we had given up on. We have expanded our mass contact programmes,” the leader said.

    However, despite the clawback that the party said it has unleashed, the once bustling Alimuddin Street headquarters where the state’s top leaders used to congregate at one time had a deserted look as Salim propounded the new connect theory of the party.

    Perhaps to explain that, the veteran Marxist said, “Our new slogan to link up with people is”net e aar hete’ (on the net or by walk-arounds).”

    KOLKATA: West Bengal’s Marxists who are looking to regain a foothold in the state, which once used to be called the ‘Red Fort’, will focus on RSS as ‘the main enemy’, though electorally the CPI(M) will fight both BJP and TMC.

    Md Salim, CPI(M)’s West Bengal state secretary and former Lok Sabha MP, in a free-wheeling interview to PTI, said that to revive his party’s fortunes in the state which it ruled for 34 long years before losing out to the TMC, he was grooming a cadre of “presentable, ideologically-educated” younger leaders.

    “We have identified the RSS as the biggest danger to the country as we believe it is against the tenets which our country stands for ” secularism and democracy.

    ‘It has promoted an atmosphere of hate, espousing a dangerous cocktail of pseudo-science and mythology. This is what we are fighting,” he said.

    However, in terms of electoral contests, Salim made it clear that his party would “continue to fight both BJP and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. We are not a fake opposition. We will oppose both.”

    For long, CPI(M) ideologues in the state could not decide on who the party’s main enemy was — the Trinamool Congress which ousted it from power in 2011 and has been wooing its voters and cadres away or the BJP whose ideology of ‘religion-based politics and right-wing market economics’ is anathema to them.

    However, Salim’s nuanced statement seems to place the main enemy as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Nagpur-based body which describes itself as a ‘social organisation’ but is known to influence BJP’s ideology.

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

    However, the advent of TMC as a political force and the rise of BJP in eastern India have seen the CPI(M)’s seat and vote shares tumbling over the last decade.

    Salim said the CPI(M) viewed the TMC “more as a platform created to take on the Left and not an ideologically driven party.”

     He claimed that the TMC which had drawn people from all political parties was influenced by “RSS, Muslim League and failed Naxalites”, none of whom had anything in common except dislike for the CPI(M) and the earlier Left Front government.

    “Please note that the Muslim League and minority cell of the BJP both merged with the TMC,” Salim asserted.

    The Left as a force has been dwindling in strength not only in West Bengal but also in the country over the years and this is underlined by the fact that just 17 years ago, it was the third-largest party in the country with 59 MPs in the 543-strong Lok Sabha, with 35 seats coming from West Bengal alone.

    Today, it has no MPs from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha and no MLAs in the state.

    The fall in CPI(M)’s vote share has been dramatic over the last decade: From 30.1 per cent in 2011 when its long reign was ended by TMC, it fell to 19.75 per cent in the 2016 assembly polls.

    This went down further to 6.34 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to less than 5 per cent in the assembly polls held last year. Since then, the party has been trying to re-invent itself banking heavily on a cadre of younger workers and leaders.

    “The survival of Bengal as we know it with its rich culture, liberal thoughts and education and that of the CPI(M) are intertwined,” claimed Salim.

    The way forward that the party has decided on, outlined the 65-year-old leader, is to groom a cadre of — 100 presentable, ideologically committed young leaders.

    This will check the greying of our leadership, induct fresh blood and fresh thinking.

    “We have made progress.  My job is more of a mentor. The youngsters will lead the way,” he asserted.

    A corps of “Red Volunteers’ was developed during the Covid years which did relief work, distributing oxygen cylinders to patients, organising blood supplies and hospitalisation.

    It also worked among migrant workers, helping in their progress; and set up cheap canteens.

    “Our party drew on its traditions of similar work during the Great Bengal famine of 1942 and partition,” Salim, an alumnus of Jadavpur University said.

    While the social work has not managed to help it win elections yet, it has certainly raised cadre morale as was evident at recent by-elections where red buntings and banners made a comeback on Kolkata’s streets.

    In the prestigious Ballygunge constituency where by-elections were held earlier this year, it came second notching up more than 30 per cent of the votes polled, way ahead of BJP.

    Similarly, the Left Front was runner-up to the TMC in 65 wards in the 144-ward Kolkata Municipal Corporation election held in December last year in which the TMC recorded a landslide victory.

    Rallies often accompanied by clashes with the police or supporters of rival parties have become more commonplace for the party as it works to get out of the rut into which it believes it had fallen.

    “We are going back to areas which we had given up on. We have expanded our mass contact programmes,” the leader said.

    However, despite the clawback that the party said it has unleashed, the once bustling Alimuddin Street headquarters where the state’s top leaders used to congregate at one time had a deserted look as Salim propounded the new connect theory of the party.

    Perhaps to explain that, the veteran Marxist said, “Our new slogan to link up with people is”net e aar hete’ (on the net or by walk-arounds).”

  • Bengal: 12 injured, 50 houses gutted in Siliguri slum blaze 

    By PTI

    SILIGURI: At least 12 people were injured and around 50 houses gutted, after a fire broke out in a slum in West Bengal’s Siliguri city, officials said on Sunday.

    Of the injured, three persons, including a firefighter and a child, are undergoing treatment in hospital, while the others were discharged after administering first aid, they said.

    The blaze erupted around 8 pm on Saturday in Rana Bustee in ward number 18, and eight fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, the officials said.

    The occupants of the houses have been shifted to temporary shelters, and are being provided with food and clothes, they said.

    Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar, who was in the city, visited the spot and took stock of the situation on Saturday evening, while several local political leaders also went to the fire site during the day.

    Commissioner of Police Akhilesh Chaturvedi said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

    Several cylinders had exploded in the houses, causing the blaze to spread rapidly in the densely populated slum, which was home to nearly 2,000 people, the officials said.

    SILIGURI: At least 12 people were injured and around 50 houses gutted, after a fire broke out in a slum in West Bengal’s Siliguri city, officials said on Sunday.

    Of the injured, three persons, including a firefighter and a child, are undergoing treatment in hospital, while the others were discharged after administering first aid, they said.

    The blaze erupted around 8 pm on Saturday in Rana Bustee in ward number 18, and eight fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, the officials said.

    The occupants of the houses have been shifted to temporary shelters, and are being provided with food and clothes, they said.

    Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar, who was in the city, visited the spot and took stock of the situation on Saturday evening, while several local political leaders also went to the fire site during the day.

    Commissioner of Police Akhilesh Chaturvedi said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

    Several cylinders had exploded in the houses, causing the blaze to spread rapidly in the densely populated slum, which was home to nearly 2,000 people, the officials said.