'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.'
One man follows Guru Nanak's visits to multi-faith sites across nine countries.
Undeterred by the pandemic, Deep Narayan Nayak, a school teacher in a village in Bengal, changes countless lives for the better. Payal Singh Mohanka reports on this Extraordinary Indian.
'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.'
'They have a voracious appetite.' 'But there are many places where they go and they lose.'
2020 has dimmed the animated bulbs that create magical images and transform Kolkata into a mesmerising fairyland during Durga Puja.
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.'
'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.'
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
'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.'
'If the chief minister says there are areas in her home state where she cannot enter, where has she driven the state to!'
'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.
Kolkata-based artist and co-worker of the Missionaries of Charity, Ritu Singh, who has had a long association with the order, fondly remembers the gentle Sister Nirmala, who passed away on Tuesday, sharing anecdotes that truly uplift the spirit.
Jasmit Singh, 85, recalls a horrific train journey to New Delhi on the day Indira Gandhi was killed.
Exactly 50 years ago, the first Indian team, led by Manmohan Singh Kohli, reached the summit of Mount Everest. As Kohli and his team are felicitated to mark the anniversary, he reminisces on the event that continues to inspire generations of Indian mountaineers. Payal Mohanka reports
With her trademark cotton sari and rubber slippers and her generous doles in rural Bengal, many describe Mamata Banerjee as "ultra left."
In 1998, the Congress asked her mother to campaign. 'We had a family discussion. We explained to our mother that you will be used, you will be discarded once you are done with the campaign.' 'A few days later I got a call from my mother. She said, "I have decided to campaign".' 'We were stunned. Why was she doing this?' Payal Mohanka listens in.
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