'Mamata will beat the living daylights out of BJP workers with the result that people who are not totally committed, they will promptly leave the party and go back to Trinamool.' 'Or when they find they cannot get what they came to the BJP for they will go back to Trinamool.'

'There is arson, loot, rape of women, traumatising children, destruction of property, homes, shops and offices by workers and elements of the ruling dispensation.' 'What is most painful is while all this was taking place there was stunning silence by the chief minister.' 'Not one tangible step was taken.'

'I urged the chief minister even before she took her oath requesting her to send a tough message to the police and the administration that any violent activity, any destruction of property, any arson, loot in your area, they will be held accountable.' 'Her silence on this speaks volumes.'

'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'

'For the first time one single party is getting 49% which is a record of its own.'

'The BJP's modus operandi is not just to be intolerant of dissent, it is to create mistrust and doubt between communities and the electoral process itself.'

If the BJP wins Bengal, would Kishor's indiscretions have played a significant role in that victory? Victory for the TMC would be another badge of honour in his CV, but defeat would raise an unsavoury question: Which party was Kishor actually working for? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.

'If the chief minister says there are areas in her home state where she cannot enter, where has she driven the state to!'

'I am as Bengali as they come in my cultural and personal orientation and I think probably all the BJP candidates who are contesting are pretty non-vegetarian in their food and as Bengali in their cultural orientation.'

Will appeasement, rising unemployment and her dictatorial style become major obstacles in her path? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.

'I could have joined the BJP in 2014, the doors were open.' 'I stayed on with the TMC, a party I was involved with since its very inception.' 'But today enough is enough.'

'They have a voracious appetite.' 'But there are many places where they go and they lose.'

'I have interacted with Muslim women in rural Bengal, they are scared of the BJP.'

It was truly heartening to see how the Sikh community had risen to the occasion during the Black Lives Matter peaceful protests and the coronavirus pandemic and selflessly served those looking for nourishment.

'It will be normal, regular, everyday politics whether you like it or not.' That's what this country needs,' a New Yorker tells Payal Singh Mohanka.

What startles a visitor like me from India is how the 2020 US presidential election has divided families, husband and wife, parents and children, observes Payal Mohanka.

2020 has dimmed the animated bulbs that create magical images and transform Kolkata into a mesmerising fairyland during Durga Puja.

The constitution of the Missionaries of Charity that declares, 'We shall not impose our Catholic faith on anyone, but have profound respect for all religions.'

'Koi Sardar hai? Goli se maar dalenge...' 'The only sardars who were spared in the train were the six with us. And the credit goes to the innate goodness of the passengers in our coach.' Payal Singh Mohanka remembers that horrifying train journey in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination.