Tag: Mamata

India needs oppn that is not afraid of ruling party; Mamata should be PM: Swamy

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Kolkata: Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Subramanian Swamy said on Tuesday that the country needs a genuine opposition which is not afraid of the ruling party.
Describing West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee as someone who cannot be “blackmailed”, he said she should be the prime minister of India.
“I do think that the country needs a genuine opposition which cannot be blackmailed by people in power,” Swamy said while speaking at an interactive session organised by FLO, the women’s wing of FICCI, here.

“I know a lot of people today. They will not go beyond a point against the present government. Because they are afraid that ED will turn up or something else will turn up. That’s not good for Indian democracy,” the BJP leader said.
He also reiterated that India needs an opposition which is “not a friend” of the ruling party.
“You can find many people like that. Some do it boisterously and some do it quietly,” he said.
“Mamata Banerjee should be the prime minister of India. She is a gutsy woman. Look at how she fought the communists. I met her 10 days ago but nobody knows (that),” Swamy said, adding that he knows her since she was fighting the CPI(M).
Asked about what transpired between Banerjee and him in that meeting, he said it was on how 2024 would be and what would be the shape of the economy then.

Referring to the TMC supremo, Swamy said it is “impossible to blackmail” her.
Asked about his opinion on the most powerful woman in the country today, the former MP said, “There was a time Jayalalitha could have been; there was a time when I thought of Mayawati. In the present situation…Mamata Banerjee. She is the only woman leader who has the guts to stand up. She is not complicit. “
Referring to Hinduism, he said it is the longest-surviving religion in the world today. “With that, you have a broadminded attitude.”
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#India #oppn #afraid #ruling #party #Mamata #Swamy
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 9, 2023
Mamata Banerjee attacks BJP pointing out Tagore stood for secular vision

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Kolkata: Even as a controversy broke out over what political rivals saw as an attempt to usurp the legacy of national poet Rabindranath Tagore by the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a speech here on Tuesday to mark the Nobel Laurette’s birth anniversary pointedly spoke about his secular vision and his use of Raksha Bandhan to promote Hindu-Muslim unity.
Analysts saw this as thinly veiled attack on the BJP and Home Minister Amit Shah who is in the city to pay homage to the poet at a function organised by a BJP supported cultural NGO. TMC has long accused BJP and its top leadership of promoting a political ideology opposed to the tenets of secularism.
“We hardly have the qualifications to define the Poet Laurette he is in our soul, he is the poet of the freedom movement, the poet who stood against communal disharmony, who stood for Raksha Bandhan (Tagore tied Rakhis on the wrist of Muslim leaders to unite them with Hindus in the struggle against the British move to divide Bengal in 1905),” Banerjee said.

She also said that many things are being bandied about for the sake of electoral calculations such as that “Tagore was born in Santiniketan”.
“We should not think that for the sake of elections we can purchase someone spending Rs 5, or mistakenly we can say that Rabindranath Tagore was born in Santiniketan,” Banerjee said.
The TMC had two-and-a-half years ago gone to town with a screenshot of a tweet by BJP’s Bengal unit quoting the party president J P Nadda as making the claim as against the fact that he was born in Kolkata at Jorashankho Palace, where Shah had gone Tuesday morning. It has also long been claiming that the BJP hired people for its rallies and processions.
She also pointed to an incident which occurred a few years back when a bust of Bengal renaissance icon and educationist Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was destroyed in a college in Kolkata during a BJP rally some years back, shocking people in the state.
“We should not think that one can vandalise the bust of Vidyasagar,” Banerjee said.

“Those who have Tagore in their hearts always feel him. If ‘Ravi-upasana’ (Rabindranath homage) is done from the bottom of your heart, then that will be the real homage to the real Rabindranath,” Banerjee added.
Earlier in the day, one of Banerjee’s lieutenant’s, state urban minister Firhad Hakim alleged that the BJP was trying to reap benefits from Tagore’s cult status in the state by organising a visit by Shah’s to pay homage to the poet.
Hakim said, “The BJP is trying to woo Bengalis before next year’s Lok Sabha polls. But Rabindranath Tagore should not be used for political reasons or electoral benefits.
He said that Tagore’s ideology of secularism, humanism needs to be understood. “You need to follow his path of tolerance, harmony among all religions, which the BJP does not,” the minister said.
CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim also alleged that both TMC and BJP were trying to use Tagore politically.
“Today those who are playing with religion, are trying to use Tagore for their divisive politics. Tagore was against all this. Neither BJP’s nor TMC’s ideologies match with that of Tagore,” Salim told reporters.
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#Mamata #Banerjee #attacks #BJP #pointing #Tagore #stood #secular #vision
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 9, 2023
Legal notice to Mamata Banerjee for comments on ‘The Kashmir Files’

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Kolkata: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Tuesday informed that he had sent a legal notice to the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee for her alleged derogatory comments about the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ directed by him.
Agnihotri announced this through a Twitter message, where he has also uploaded a copy of the legal notice.
In his message, Agnihotri pointed out his objections to the chief minister’s announcing ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’ in the state on Monday, where she claimed that films like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’ were meant for humiliating a certain section of the society.

“I have, alongwith @AbhishekOfficl & Pallavi Joshi, sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the Chief Minister, Bengal @MamataOfficial for her false & highly defamatory statements made with malafide intention to defame us & our films #TheKashmirFiles & upcoming 2024 film #TheDelhiFiles,” Agnihotri said in his Twitter message.
“They are trying to create division among the people on the basis of religion and caste. That is why ‘The Kashmir Files’ was made just to malign the people of a particular community. And now we have ‘The Kerala Story’, which is yet another untrue story with distorted facts,” the chief minister said on Monday while announcing the ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’.
The announcement of the ban has attracted scathing criticism from the opposition BJP, which is even planning to challenge it in the court.
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#Legal #notice #Mamata #Banerjee #comments #Kashmir #Files
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 9, 2023
Efforts on to evacuate Bengal people stranded in strife-torn Manipur: Mamata

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said efforts are underway to evacuate people of the state stranded in violence-hit Manipur.
Expressing concern over the violent clashes in the northeastern state, which have claimed the lives of 54 people, Banerjee urged Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi to monitor the situation and make efforts to evacuate the stranded people.
“Deeply anguished by the kind of messages and SOS we are receiving from Manipur. I am concerned about the safety of the people of Manipur and others hailing from different parts of the country, now stranded there,” she tweeted.

“Govt of Bengal is committed to stand by the people and has decided to make every effort to evacuate people stranded there in coordination with the government of Manipur. The chief secretary has been directed to monitor the entire process, to help people in distress and despair. We are with the people at all times. Urge everyone to maintain peace,” she added.
Banerjee also provided helpline numbers for those seeking assistance.
The total number of people from West Bengal stranded in Manipur is not currently available.
The death toll in the ethnic violence which has engulfed Manipur increased to 54, officials said even as unofficial sources placed the figure at several scores dead and more than 150 injured.
Meanwhile, life limped back to a wary normalcy in Imphal Valley as shops and markets reopened and cars started plying the roads.

Violence first erupted in Torbung area in Churachandpur district of Manipur during the ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3 to protest the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
The march was organised by tribals — including Nagas and Kukis — after the Manipur High Court asked the state government last month to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the demand for ST status by the Meitei community.
During the march in Torbung, an armed mob allegedly attacked people of the Meitei community, leading to retaliatory attacks in the valley districts, which escalated the violence throughout the state, police said.
Multiple sources said the fighting between communities had left several scores of people dead and nearly a hundred injured. However, the police were unwilling to confirm this.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of the population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals, who include Nagas and Kukis, account for another 40 per cent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts which surround the valley.
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#Efforts #evacuate #Bengal #people #stranded #strifetorn #Manipur #Mamata
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 6, 2023
Avoid cross-voting among opposition parties in 2024: Mamata Banerjee

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday once again emphasised that the anti-BJP forces in the country should avoid cross-voting among themselves in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to prevent the saffron camp taking the benefit of division in opposition votes.
“Let all the opposition parties get united. Let us ensure a one-to-one fight. Let us all try to work together,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a rally at Samserganj in Murshidabad district.
However, she continued to remain silent as to whether the Congress is included in Trinamool’s blueprint for united opposition. Previously too, she had remained silent on this matter even during her recent meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav in Kolkata.

Political analysts feel that her call for avoiding cross-voting among opposition forces is a reflection of her strategy to ensure that Trinamool doesn’t have to make any compromise in West Bengal in any possible seat-sharing agreement.
According to political analysts, her call for avoiding cross-voting among opposition forces means those parties which are strong in their respective states should only contest against the BJP in that state, and by that calculation, Trinamool will get an upper-hand in West Bengal, where she will not have to make any compromise in any seat-sharing agreement.
Banerjee herself is aware that in West Bengal, multi-polar contest ha to be avoided at any cost. Already the Trinamool leadership has announced that the stand of the party is to maintain equal distance from the BJP as well as the Congress.
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#Avoid #crossvoting #among #opposition #parties #Mamata #Banerjee
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 5, 2023
Will never allow NRC in Bengal: Mamata

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Malda: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday maintained that she would “never allow” implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.
“No one has to worry about citizenship. That (NRC) won’t happen here (in West Bengal). I am the guarantor,” Banerjee said at an administrative review meeting here.
The CM had earlier, too, asserted that she would not allow NRC in her state.

Banerjee also advised people to exercise voting rights and ensure that their names appear on the voters’ list.
“You all must make sure to vote I would also advise people to update their Aadhaar card on time and in every 10 years,” she added.
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#NRC #Bengal #Mamata

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 5, 2023
Urge PM Modi and Amit Shah to restore peace in Manipur: Mamata

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed concern over the situation in violence-torn Manipur, and urged the prime minister and home minister to take steps to restore peace in the northeastern state.
The Trinamool Congress supremo also urged the people of Manipur to stay calm and uphold peace.
“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Manipur. Politics and elections can wait but our beautiful state of Manipur has to be protected first. I urge PM (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah (home minister) to take steps to restore peace there. If we burn humanity today, we will cease to be a human tomorrow,” Banerjee tweeted.

The Manipur government on Thursday issued ‘shoot at sight’ orders in “extreme cases” to contain spiralling violence between tribals and the majority Meitei community, which has displaced over 9,000 people from their villages.
Fifty-five columns of the Army and Assam Rifles had to be deployed to contain the widespread rioting that broke out across Manipur.
The Centre, which is monitoring the situation in Manipur, also dispatched teams of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialised force to handle riots, for deployment in violence-hit areas of the northeastern state.
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#Urge #Modi #Amit #Shah #restore #peace #Manipur #Mamata
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 4, 2023
Mamata Banerjee calls for unity of all anti-BJP forces ahead of Lok Sabha polls

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday gave a call to all non-BJP forces in the country to unite in order to bring about a change in the central regime in the Lok Sabha polls scheduled next year.
On competition of the second year of her third term as Chief Minister, Banerjee released a video message in which she said that there is an urgent necessity for unity of all opposition forces in order to make the 2024 polls an “election for change”.
“The next Lok Sabha polls will be for change. If all the opposition parties unite, the defeat of BJP will be inevitable. The country needs a change. Let the 2024 polls bring that change,” she said in the video message.

However, she did not make it clear whether Congress features in the blueprint of Trinamool Congress’ united opposition alliance.
In the video message, she also launched a scathing attack against the Centre on the twin issues of demonetisation and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“Does such a government deserve any further support? No power is absolute and bigger than the common people who will have the final word. This time we will not lose. We will win,” the Chief Minister said.
However, both the Congress and the CPI(M) ridiculed Banerjee over her call for unity of opposition forces against BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
According to state Congress President and veteran Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, such comments are meaningless especially when Trinamool was responsible for consolidating the strength of the BJP in West Bengal.

“I doubt whether Trinamool Congress at all enjoys any credibility in national politics. It has already lost its national party status. Probably, the Chief Minister has realised that she will lose her grip in West Bengal in the coming days and hence she is calling for opposition unity now,” Chowdhury said.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty almost echoed Chowdhury’s views when he said that such call for opposition unity does not suit the Chief Minister after she indirectly helped the BJP in the polls to elect the Vice President of India as well in the Assembly polls in Goa and Meghalaya.
“Trinamool Congress lacks credibility,” he said.
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#Mamata #Banerjee #calls #unity #antiBJP #forces #ahead #Lok #Sabha #polls
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 2, 2023
Despite Nitish’s meeting with Mamata, Oppn tie-up unlikely in Bengal

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Kolkata: The crucial meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterpart in Bihar, Nitish Kumar on April 24 to pave way for a grand anti-BJP alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll has prompted certain questions to float around in the political circles of the state.
The first question is whether Nitish Kumar was deliberately deputed to crack an understanding with the Trinamool Congress supremo considering that Mamata Banerjee’s party leadership has already made it clear that for the time they will be maintaining an equal distance with the BJP and Congress and instead try to develop an understanding between all the regional parties in the country.
The second question is how far even Nitish Kumar will be finally able to bring the Congress and Trinamool leadership on the same platform. The reply to this question remained unanswered at the joint press conference on April 24 which was attended by Banerjee, Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is the deputy chief minister of Bihar.

During the media interaction on that day while a couple of media persons questioned about the position of Congress in the opposition alliance model, Mamata Banerjee virtually stopped those scribes and said that the media does not need to get bothered by that.
“You do not need to think about all these things. We will be together. The people of the country will fight against the BJP. All parties will walk together,” Mamata Banerjee said on that day. During the press conference the chief ministers of both the states stressed that all the opposition parties will have to shed their egos to work unitedly in their joint move against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In fact, since the beginning, the lines of thinking of Banerjee and Kumar on this grand opposition alliance have been different. While Nitish Kumar, on one hand, has been maintaining a close coordination with the top Congress leaders, including the national Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on this count, Trinamool Congress has been maintaining a distance from the oldest national party of the country.
There the question becomes more pertinent on whether Kumar would be able to finally bring the two forces together, political observers say. They point that both the Congress and Trinamool Congress have some points of debate in the matter which does not really paint a rosy picture of the two forces coming on the same platform at least in the pre-poll scenario.
According to veteran political observer and analyst Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay, since a pre-poll alliance always come with the rider of a seat-sharing agreement, in case of West Bengal it is virtually impossible for Trinamool Congress to sacrifice a single of 42 Lok Sabha seat for the Congress or for any other party.

“Mamata Banerjee’s aim is to gain the maximum numerical presence in the Lower House of Parliament and she is quite aware that West Bengal is the only state that will provide food for her on this count. Precisely that is why since the time she started her dialogues with other regional parties, she had been insisting on the choice of opposition leader only after the polls. So, from the point of view of Trinamool Congress this is the principal barrier for an amicable understanding with Congress,” Bandopadhyay explained.
From the Congress’s point of view, especially from the party’s West Bengal unit, Bandopadhyay explained, the choice of an amicable understanding with Trinamool Congress will not be an easy task since in that case Congress’s existing understanding with CPI(M)- lead Left Front in West Bengal will receive a setback.
“The recently concluded bypoll to the minority-dominated Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, where Left Front- supported Congress candidate won with a handsome majority, had made both the parties more enthusiastic of carrying forward the understanding till the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. At the same time, the Congress will be at a bargaining position on seat sharing agreement with the Left Front rather than with Trinamool Congress. So, from the Congress’s point of argument, accepting Trinamool Congress as a partner will not be that easy,” Bandopadhyay explained.
However, political analysts and columnist Amal does not agree that the Sagardighi bypoll results cannot be an ultimate indicator of the Congress-Left Front equations all the time.
“CPI(M) or Left Front being a regimented force can always mobilize their traditional voters behind a Congress candidate as part of an alliance formula. But can the Congress leadership achieve the same mobilization of their dedicated voters in support of a Left Front candidate? So, it cannot be said for certain that the success of the Sagardighi model will be the sole factor that will ensure Congress- Left Front understanding till 2024,” he said.
According to him, the results for forthcoming polls for the three-tier panchayat system in West Bengal scheduled this year, which in all probability a three-corner contest between the Trinamool Congress, BJP and Left Front-Congress alliance, will be a crucial indicator on this count.
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#Nitishs #meeting #Mamata #Oppn #tieup #Bengal
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 30, 2023
BJP-backed goons from Bihar behind Kaliyaganj violence: Mamata

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Wednesday that the violence in Kaliyaganj in North Dinajpur district on Tuesday was triggered by BJP-backed goons who came from Bihar.
Parts of Kaliyaganj turned into a virtual battlefield on Tuesday following violent protests by the locals against the death of a 17-year-old girl in the area last week. A local police station was set on fire by the angry mob, while a couple of police vehicles were also torched by the protesters, who claimed that the girl was raped and murdered.
On April 21, the body of the 17-year-old girl was found in a canal in Kaliyaganj. Alleging that she was raped and killed, the locals had blocked roads besides setting some shops on fire. Four ASIs were suspended in connection with the minor girl’s death case, who were seen dragging the body of the teenage victim.

Speaking to mediapersons at the state secretariat Nabanna on Wednesday, the Chief Minister admitted that some police personnel did not do the right thing by dragging the body of the victim, for which four ASIs have been suspended.
“However, the manner in which the police station was attacked and set on fire by some goons coming in from Bihar on Tuesday is unpardonable. Even the women police personnel were not spared by the attackers. I have asked the police to take strong action, arrest the culprits irrespective of their political affiliation, and confiscate their properties,” the Chief Minister said.
Holding the BJP directly responsible for the incident, Banerjee said that the only aim of the opposition party is to create violence and destabilise the law and order situation in the state.
Reacting to Banerjee’s comments, state BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya said that such comments from the Chief Minister are meant to hide the incompetence of the police administration.
“Whenever there is any tension in any part of the state, the Chief Minister always floats the theory of outsiders coming in from Bihar. She has no control over her own administration,” Bhattacharya said.

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#BJPbacked #goons #Bihar #Kaliyaganj #violence #Mamata
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 26, 2023