All stories by Swarupa Dutt
'Bengal has a lot to learn from Gujarat'
Rediff.com30 Mar 2021'Look at the number of billionaires, the number of new billionaires in India.' 'Adani and Ambani are not the only ones.' 'What's wrong with people making money as long as it benefits us?'
Why TMC's 89-year-old MLA joined BJP
Rediff.com26 Mar 2021'The TMC did not bother telling me, a sitting MLA for 20 years, why I was not being given a ticket.'
'Mamata is mentally and physically finished'
Rediff.com23 Mar 2021'Our honourable CM is so shameless that she will say the state is among the safest for women.'
'Alas! Mamata has become a machine'
Rediff.com16 Mar 2021'Mamata is an emotional person, she follows her heart.' 'We loved that Didi, we still love her, but she is a changed person.' 'Why and how the change happened, who is responsible, I can't say.'
'There are people in TMC who are termites'
Rediff.com15 Mar 2021'The TMC forgets that if people don't stand by you, your party will never win.'
Will Aditi Munshi hit the right notes for Mamata?
Rediff.com12 Mar 2021'People say my personality doesn't have sharp edges, but politics doesn't have to be about pulling down your opponents or bad mouthing them.'
Why Sarala Murmu went to BJP after getting a TMC ticket
Rediff.com10 Mar 2021'I did get a ticket, but getting nominated isn't enough.' 'The people in Habibpur, my own party workers, are my opponents.' 'Is it possible to win?'
'Hindus don't vote according to religion'
Rediff.com9 Mar 2021As their parties are locked in a fierce battle for Bengal, Tathagata and Saugata Roy, siblings who belong to the BJP and the TMC respectively, answer the same questions put to them about the assembly election.
'BJP is not banking on Hindu voters'
Rediff.com9 Mar 2021'Whether the Hindu voter will vote for us or not, we can't say, can we?'
'I gave Suvendu my blessings when he joined BJP'
Rediff.com1 Mar 2021'The TMC has become a private limited company.'
'Amit Shahji, Naddaji, all of us do the same work'
Rediff.com25 Feb 2021'You may be an MP or an MLA; when we go to Bengal, we go as cadre.'
'BJP in Bengal is nothing but TMC 2.0'
Rediff.com22 Feb 2021'Tell me, one BJP policy that Mamata has opposed and is fighting tooth and nail?' Be it Article 370, instant triple talaq, be it CAA/NRC/NPR, be it notebandi, FDI, she has aligned with the BJP.'
'When Modi chants Ram, Ram, the youth chant kaam kaam'
Rediff.com22 Feb 2021'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
'BJP's dream of Ram Rajya will fail in Bengal'
Rediff.com22 Feb 2021'If the BJP thinks it is going to overnight transform Bengal into Madhya Pradesh, sorry, that's not going to happen because I have faith in our ethos and culture.'
Jalsaghar is a viewing treat you owe yourself
Rediff.com8 Jan 2021Exquisitely shot, with shadows and light capturing the hypnotic mood of the film, Jalsaghar is a viewing treat you owe yourself.
Why this MLA returned to TMC 1 day after quitting
Rediff.com20 Dec 2020'The ground reality is that Banglar manush Didir shonge aachhe (The people of Bengal are with Didi).' 'Even as the BJP is still looking for a CM candidate, the elections will be over and we will form government with a two-thirds majority.'
Farewell, Astad
Rediff.com11 Dec 2020'Gone too soon, Astad, but I know whenever we meet in that world beyond, I will watch you dance.' Swarupa Dutt remembers a remarkable human being and a magnificent performer who left the world poorer when he passed into the ages on Thursday.
How COVID-19 affects your brain
Rediff.com13 Nov 2020'There are different reasons for brain involvement depending on how the virus has entered the body.' 'If the virus enters the brain from the nose, the impairment will be different as opposed to if the virus impairs other organs which in turn impair the brain.' 'If it affects the lungs or heart, there can still be brain changes from secondary effects of reduction in oxygen delivery, or reduction in blood supply to the brain.'
From the Raj to Azadi, how I saw India change
Rediff.com2 Jun 2020Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.