For the first time ever in the history of the Indian Railways, the Indian Air Force was used for rescuing victims at Jhargram heralding a new era in rescue operations at rail accidents sites.
With the Maoists striking once again, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday accused the government of lacking "will power" to fight Naxals in a firm manner and suggested that all parties should be consulted on dealing with the challenge, which is assuming enormous proportions.
Mangled heaps of bogies lying off the tracks, passengers in bandages and plasters and a row of hearse vans lined up -- the scene at the site of the derailment of the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express near Jhargram virtually resembled a war zone.
Maoists blew up a building housing the office of a farmers' organisation and set afire a community hall in Jhargram sub-division of West Midnapore district early on Friday.
Maoists on Thursday called for a 48-hour bandh in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa from April 26 in support of their demand for producing four of their arrested cadre before court. Chandrasekhar, Rajen, Krishna and Rajesh were arrested by security forces between April 14 and April 15 from different areas in Jhargram subdivision of West Midnapore district, but have not been produced in court, a Maoist leader claimed.
Ending uncertainty and suspense, the Maoists have released Atindranath Dutta, the police officer, whom they abducted last week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again led the BJP's campaign holding several rallies and stepping up his attack on Opposition parties, particularly the Congress.
Suspected Maoists triggered a landmine blast on a railway track near Jhargram in West Midnapore district on Wednesday, injuring two drivers of a goods train and leaving the engine of the freight train damaged.
Maoists killed a man in West Bengal and set off a blast partially damaging tracks in Bihar on the second day of their two-day bandh in six states.
The First Information Report that was filed against the hijackers of the Rajdhani Express doesn't mention the role played by the Maoists or the armed wing of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities, both of which claimed responsibility for the incident.The FIR filed by railway authorities in West Midnapore's Rajdhani hostage case is being seen as a move to shield the Maoists. The FIR was lodged with the Jhargram Government Railway Police.
Passengers of the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had a harrowing time on Tuesday, when armed tribal agitators halted their train, smashed glass panes of the AC compartments and forcibly opened the doors, before taking away the drivers, at Banstala in Maoist-infested West Midnapore district. "The train had just crossed Jhargram Station and was passing through a densely forested patch when a large mob attacked it with stones," recalled a passenger.
Tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato has refused to give a sample of his handwriting to a local court in Midnapore.
Rejecting Mamata Banerjee's call to lay down arms before talks, elusive Maoist leader Kishenji on Monday said the Trinamool Congress chief was "welcome without the police".
Joining the rescue operations, the Indian Air Force pressed a Chetak and two medium-lift MI-17 helicopters from Kalikunda air base on Friday to assist relief work at the site of the train derailment in Jhargram in West Bengal.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
Normal life was affected for the second day on Tuesday in West Bengal's Maoist-infested districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the 48-hour bandh called by the ultras in five states to protest the offensive by security forces against Naxalites in Lalgarh.
It's a political gambit aimed at the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari who won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate, while also retroceding to the land movement that catapulted her to power.
In a surprise attack by the Maoists, four security personnel were killed and their arms looted in Jhargram sub-division of Naxal affected West Midnapore district on Sunday.
The list, which is a mix of seasoned political players and greenhorns, has 17 women candidates, five more than the last elections, constituting roughly 41 per cent of the candidates.
Three TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh were sworn-in virtually. Mitra is unwell and both Basu and Ghosh are recuperating from COVID-19.
Adhikari, the face of the Nandigram movement that catapulated Mamata Bannerjee to power in 2011, sent his resignation letter to the chief minister by fax, which he then forwarded to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar by e-mail.
As the West Bengal chief minister was busy containing the fallout of an internecine feud in her TMC following a rebellion by a redoubtable Suvendu Adhikari, the Centre shot off a fresh letter to her government to immediately relieve three IPS officers for central deputation.
The brewing discontentment in the party may adversely impact the TMC's prospects in the next assembly polls due in April-May next year.
The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore, he said.
Scattered incidents of violence, including torching of buses and clashes, occurred and 1,600 people were arrested during the 12-hour bandh.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
Results of the panchayat polls indicated a paradigm shift in state politics with the baton of main opposition party passing from the Left to the BJP.
The BJP has identified West Bengal as a priority state for the upcoming national elections and Shah has set a target of 22 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats.
Lalgarh, once a nerve centre of Naxal insurgency in West Bengal, now represents a different place.
The polling for the sixth phase on May 12 covers 6 states and one Union Territory.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
The Congress failed to win even a single seat in the polls.
Stirring up a fresh controversy for the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek claimed that the state government should be credited for 'murdering' dreaded Maoist leader, Kishenji.
Several police officers who followed the Election Commission's orders during the recent West Bengal assembly polls get punishment transfers. Payal Mohanka reports.
The EC issued a show cause notice to CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for allegedly violating the model code of conduct.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
BJP chief Amit Shah had set a target of winning 22 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 seats in West Bengal.
The storm is India's strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in 20 years.
This is the first time in many years that the BJP has been elected to the gram panchayat level in every district of the state.
