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.
the most accurate description for Nandigram is the one used by our Home Secretary, namely, it has become a "war zone". No Government or society can allow a war zone to exist without immediate and effective action.
Mamata Banerjee flayed the ruling Left Front government in West Bengal for failing to bring those 'guilty' in last year's violence in Nandigram to justice. She called on the people of West Bengal to observe March 14 as 'martyrs' day'. She also said that her party would hold a rally in Kolkata to pay tribute to the 'martyrs of Nandigram'.
Mass agitations are not particularly uncommon in India. But a mass agitation led by an environment-related issue that has gone out of hand is not something that can be easily recalled.
Former Bengal pace spearhead Ashoke Dinda, who is fighting from the Moyna constituency in Purba Medinipur district, said the BJP desperately wants BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly to join the party.
The brewing discontentment in the party may adversely impact the TMC's prospects in the next assembly polls due in April-May next year.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
Four days after Trinamool Congress heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari resigned from the state cabinet, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and election strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday met him, following which the party claimed that 'all the issues have been resolved'.
The much-awaited discussion on the nuclear deal was the highlight of the brief session as both houses debated the issue.
'If the chief minister says there are areas in her home state where she cannot enter, where has she driven the state to!'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government will roll back a steep interest rate cut on small saving schemes such as PPF and NSC -- saying it was an oversight, a move being seen as an attempt by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to contain the fallout of a decision hitting the common man in the ongoing elections in West Bengal, Assam and three other states.
The BJP on Sunday congratulated Mamata Banerjee and TMC for winning the West Bengal assembly election for the third successive term and assured that the saffron party will work as a constructive opposition.
The Trinamool Congress rose like a phoenix from the Singur and Nandigram movements chipping away at the hold of the Left Front to sweep into the portals of power in West Bengal after 34 years of uninterrupted Marxist rule. The land agitation in Singur and Nandigram is widely credited for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's meteoric rise and the dramatic change in her political fortunes
The Lok Sabha MP from Maldaha Dakshin said Congress' alliance partner Communist Party of India-Marxist forged a tie-up with Indian Secular Front of Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui as it feared it will not be able to win a single seat.
A purported video clip where Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seen sitting on a wheelchair and moving her plastered leg back and forth has gone viral on social media, giving her rivals an opportunity to claim that she was playing up her injuries to win sympathy.
BJP workers staged a protest in front of Nimta police station and burnt tyres on M B Road, even as the TMC claimed that its activists were not involved in any attack and she might have died due to age-related ailments.
He also accused her of nepotism by choosing to play the limited role of "bua" (aunt) to her "bhatija" (nephew) instead of becoming "Didi" (elder sister) to the people.
Ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on Thursday met the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and alleged that the Border Security Force (BSF) is threatening people in the border areas of the state to cast their votes in favour of a particular political party.
However, a few defectors, who joined the BJP, got the better of their TMC rivals, including Suvendu Adhikari who emerged as a proverbial giant slayer, by defeating Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee albeit by a narrow margin.
In a series of tweets, the Home Department of the West Bengal government said the Governor's act of making the letter public was "violative of all established norms, and disrupts sanctity of such communications".
'It doesn't help to transpose the Hindi heartland model on Bengal. Bengalis don't understand its dynamics. They won't comprehend the impact of Modi's dip in the Ganga because Bengal's political culture is different. Even in the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrams, Christ is worshipped on Christmas. It's difficult to polarise Bengal religiously'
Images that capture what it was like living through 2021.
Sporadic post-poll violence continued on Tuesday in West Bengal claiming several lives as chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked officials to act decisively and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to express anguish over the law-and-order situation.
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress overcame the might of the BJP and is all set to be CM for a third term.
Painting a gloomy picture of the human rights situation in India, Amnesty International on Wednesday alleged that there had been gross violation of human rights, including in Nandigram in West Bengal, and sought abolition of capital punishment.
From Lord Ram's birthplace to where Sita was held captive by Ravana, this trip will be full of mythical stories.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday assured farmer leaders led by Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh of support to their agitation against the new agriculture laws.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday elevated her nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee as the party's all-India general secretary, the second-most important post in the organisation, a senior leader in Kolkata said.
In a determined voice, she told rediff.com, "I beckon the people of the state and voluntary organisations to launch a well-concerted protest to counter the injustice meted out to the people of Nandigram. We cannot just sit idle and let a government destroy a state."
Mamata said her party will 'paralyse' West Bengal from Monday.
This is the first instance of violence since the Central Reserve Police Force was deployed in the area following the 'recapture' of the area by the CPI M. The forces were present at the village when the houses were set on fire.
While the leadership of the biggest Opposition party, the Congress, has not reacted, even non-Congress and (now) anti-BJP parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have voiced no view on Banerjee's appeal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Bengali intellectuals, who recently participated in a huge march in Kolkata to denounce the recapture of Nandigram, have floated a platform for a set of demands. These include immediate return of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen to the city and no further pressure on farmers of Nandigram for setting up industry.
According to the statement, "For the past few months, the administration and the police have been out of the area which has been utilised by the armed elements led by the Maoists to entrench themselves. Bunkers have been built and landmines laid."
A video of Bharatiya Janata Party state president Dilip Ghosh apparently suggesting West Bengal chief minister should wear bermuda shorts to display her injured leg has triggered controversy with the ruling Trinamool Congress slamming it as a 'distasteful comment' and women expressing outrage over the remark in social media.
Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India raised the issue in the Lok Sabha and asked the House to join him in condemning US attempt to bully the Left parties. "The nation has a view on Nandigram, but we cannot allow the US government to interfere in the internal affairs of India. I condemn the US report," he said in a brief mention in the Lower House.
Fresh from the Nandigram flashpoint, the West Bengal government is set to begin a two-way 'battle' to keep industrialisation going in the state.
The winter session of Parliament beginning Thursday will see sparks fly with a range of issues from Nandigram violence and the stalled India-United States nuclear agreement to problems faced by farmers and wheat imports providing the ammunition for rival parties. The Nandigram issue is expected to make the three-week session of Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha a stormy affair and may push the nuclear deal to the back seat amid signs of a thaw between UPA and the Left.
"We are seriously discussing that it may not be possible to continue any longer in the Cabinet because of unprecedented police brutalities in Nandigram," senior RSP leader and party member of Parliament Monoj Bhattacherjee told PTI.
Banerjee, whose party is spearheading the agitation against acquisition of farmland for a proposed SEZ by the Left Front government, entered Nandigram in a procession with members of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee.
