At the height of the agitation against Tata Motors and after, the decibel level at Singur has always been high. The coronavirus scare, however, appears to have tempered it. The lockdown has hit Singur's inhabitants hard in more ways than one, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
'One of the reasons for the BJP's recent resounding success in West Bengal is the resentment of the locals against the Trinamool Congress for failing to maintain law and order.' 'So, it isn't only the supposed pampering of the Muslims by the Trinamool Congress which has undermined its base among the Hindus,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
Trinamool Congress-led alliance was on the cusp of a historic victory in West Bengal while Congress appeared set to capture Kerala and retain Assam but its ally Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam was facing rout in Tamil Nadu in the elections to state assemblies.
Expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker said on Friday the trends indicated that the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance was coming to power in West Bengal.
From almost being politically wiped out after the West Bengal assembly polls in 2006 to being touted as the woman who will single-handedly usher in the winds of change in the state, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has come a long way. She opens up in a rare interview
But the 'tantri family' will accept it, Sabarimala head priest Kandararu Rajeevarau said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday said there was no evidence linking any Indian politician or government agency with the Purulia arms drop case of 1995, dismissing claims of accused Kim Davy that the clandestine work was carried out by "political forces" at the Centre to destabilise the Left front Government of West Bengal.
Five years after the Tatas abandoned their small car factory in favour of Gujarat frustrated by the land acquisition controversy, politics in the Singur assembly constituency still revolves around the failed project.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that the decision of the Tata Group to withdraw from the Singur project was a colossal one.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that the Left Front had not done any development work or set up any industry in West Bengal in its 34 year-rule.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said it would be unfair on the part of the Left Front government to blame the Centre if it failed to pay salaries to its employees April onwards. Quoting from a local daily, which reported that payment of salary for state government employees would become uncertain from April, Mukherjee said, "If it comes to such a pass, then the state government may say that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is not giving funds," he said.
For Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the transition from a 'people's man' to corporate India's preferred chief minister was rapid, albeit with a cataclysmic effect.
Former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi was on Friday made the Congress candidate from Bhabanipur seat in West Bengal to take on Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in the assembly elections.
If Mamata Banerjee is a fighter jet bombing the Left Front fortress of West Bengal, Gautam Deb is the Communist Party of India-Marxist's anti-aircraft gun.
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
In a fresh bid to end the Parliament deadlock, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will on Friday meet leaders of the Left Front and other non-Bharatiya Janata Party opposition parties. Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav are among those who will attend the meeting.On Thursday, the Speaker met BJP leaders but failed to bridge the differences as they insisted on a JPC.
May 13 will be etched in the history of Bengal for two reasons: it brought to an end the 34-year-old Left Front regime in the state and it also marked the demise of the legendary playwright and theatre director Badal Sircar
With political equations changing in bastions of Left unionism, stiff challenges await the soldiers of strikes and bandhs.
The map of West Bengal has turned green with intermittent patches of red as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress swept to power bulldozing the CPIM-led Left Front with a success rate of over 81 per cent.
Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee will hold another round of discussions with the Opposition on Monday in yet another bid to break the logjam in Parliament over the telecom scam. This was decided at a meeting of Congress core group attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party President Sonia Gandhi, as Parliament meets on Monday after a virtual washout for the last two weeks. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram also attended the meet.
It is the last place where the dinosaurs who once dreamt of ruling the Earth can still be seen in their natural habitat, says T V R Shenoy.
Launching a frontal attack on the ruling Left Front government, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the law and order situation in West Bengal was a matter of "grave concern" and called for a change to give a fresh lease of life to the state.
'The present government's greatest weakness is its intolerance. Tolerance is the key tenet of democracy. How can any government stop someone from speaking one's mind?'
Kerala state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala has called for the resignation of the state Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan from the post following the defeat of the Communist Party of India-Marxist led left front in the local body elections.
The outrageous remarks by Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Pal reflect the reality of "politics of terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Thursday, as it moved Parliament to seek action against him.
Rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra caught up with Abhijit Mukherjee, son of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his campaign trail.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose held both Maoists and Trinamool Congress responsible for the firing incident at Lalgarh which has claimed six lives.
Union Defence Minister and senior leader of the Congress party AK Antony said on Thursday that no force can stop the Congress-led United Democratic Front from coming to power in Kerala and forming a government in the state.
It is a mixed bag for the Congress in the upcoming elections to five state assemblies, says a pre-election survey of the 5 assemblies commissioned by the party.
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress inflicted a crushing blow to the ruling Left front in the civic polls on Wednesday, capturing the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation and bagging 36 other municipalities in the "semi-finals" ahead of next year's assembly elections.
The pole was Hamilton's eighth in nine races this season and the 46th of his career for the championship leader, who won at Silverstone last year and has a 10 point advantage over the German.
In a fashion, his political life may yet be only beginning. Seared by the anguish of the past week's hellish experience, he may henceforth see things and India's political culture in a new, mature perspective. His 'homecoming' may have become complete.
The condition of veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Jyoti Basu has worsened, sources in Kolkata said.
Yechury claimed people want a 'good' government at the Centre and 'not led by leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, who indulge in politics keeping an eye on elections'.
Eminent economist and noted author Ashok Mitra, who served as the finance minister of West Bengal in 1977 and 1982, worked closely with Jyoti Basu. In his autobiography Apila-Chapila, Mitra fondly recalls his bitter-sweet association with Basu, and the latter's penchant for clipped sentences, good food and note-taking.
Admitting that the police and administration had failed to rid Maoist menace in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that the ultras have to be tackled politically as it was done in 1977 when the Left Front came to power.
In a snub to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Mamata Banerjee-led Railways kept the Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran away from the ceremony attended by President Pratibha Patil to mark the start of a new Metro Rail project in Kolkata.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Front on Monday slammed the Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas issue for recommending that the government pick up the tab on payment of compensation to victims."The GoM report has disappointed the people," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said. Communist Party of India - Marxist leader Nilotpal Basu told PTI, "It is unfair that the taxpayer has to pick up the compensation bill."
With successive electoral setbacks in Panchayat, Lok Sabha and municipal polls in the past three years, Left leaders in Bengal have realised that there has been a steady and serious erosion in their traditional vote bank among the urban and rural poor.
The Left Front government has roped in UK-based Saffron Brand Consultants, headed by image artist Wally Olins, to rebuild the image of brand Bengal.
