'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
Mamata Banerjee's party won 132 seats and was all set to pocket two more to post a hat-trick of wins, decimating a frail challenge from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left Front and the Congress, officials said.
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday and Tuesday.
Eleven people died during a havan at Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore after they fell into a well as its cover caved-in under the weight of a huge crowd, while three others got fatally electrocuted during a Ram Navami procession in Rajasthan's Kota.
Candid moments at the Durga Puja pandal.
He, however, asserted that all infiltrators will be thrown out of the country.
While lashing out at Mamata Banerjee, the prime minister said he was going for a rally in Dum Dum later in the day but was not sure if the West Bengal Chief Minister will allow his helicopter to land.
'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Since the purported seizure on Friday night, social media has gone abuzz with gossip about her alleged relationship with the senior Trinamool Congress leader.
Those who have 'sold their souls to outsiders from Gujarat' are insulting the Nandigram movement by playing the communal card, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday, and rejected the claim that she was an outsider in Nandigram.
'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.'
'Much as I have been enjoying the anti-GST jokes on WhatsApp and also worrying about the economy in a tailspin in more serious moments, there is a tiny part of me that is thankful to Modi and Jaitley,' notes Keya Sarkar.
Speculations are rife that heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, who quit the Trinamool Congress and gave up cabinet portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee government, may join BJP during Shah's visit along with a slew of disgruntled TMC leaders, including some MLAs such as Silbhadra Dutta and Jitendra Tiwari.
Addressing a press conference in Siliguri as part of the BJP's 'Shahid Samman Yatra', Union minister John Barla said he would discuss the issue at the appropriate level to bring to fruition for creating a separate state.
Durga Puja, the festival that honours goddess Durga and celebrates her victory over the mythological demon named Mahishasura, kickstarts on Sunday.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday stirred a controversy by saying that she has every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess, as every person has the right to worship god and goddess in his or her own way.
Mamata said the saffron party could not build even a small Ram temple in the last five years.
We knew from the moment the pandemic took hold that this would be a long haul -- at least 12 to 18 months. Nothing should have changed that assessment, says Mihir S Sharma.
Faced with a barrage of criticism over her government's handling of the Burdwan blast, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she had no problem with the NIA probe since "terrorists are terrorists", but only wanted the Centre to consult the state before taking any decision.
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday unanimously elected as the leader of the Trinamool Congress legislature party at its meeting in Kolkata.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday hit out at the BJP for opposing Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's directive to state police to keep a record of migrants coming here from other states, claiming the BJP was raking up the 'outsider' card with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and Mumbai civic elections due next year.
'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'
Shifting positions on religiosity and Covid may confuse the Hindutva citizenry, but you can rely on Bengal to turn a non-arguable issue into a raging controversy, notes Kanika Datta.
The country's first point-to-point, non-stop train, Duronto Express was flagged off from Sealdah station on Friday by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee as a 'Durga puja' gift to the people.
The country's first point-to-point, non-stop train, Duronto express was on Friday flagged off from Sealdah station by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee as a 'Durga puja' gift to the people.
'No right thinking student of politics can name one state where the BJP gains in double digits.'
"This TMC government is anti-people, anti-democratic and have compromised with national security," Adityanath said.
'The condition in Bengal is such that if you chant Jai Shri Ram, you would be put behind bars
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday took a swipe at a section of the media, particularly some electronic news channels, for targetting her government by dishing out "canards and exaggerated and negative news items" to show the administration in bad light.
The court asked the state government to chalk out designated routes for immersion and tazia processions.
'A hugely dangerous game which she thought she had mastered has now found a stronger opponent,' points out Payal Mohanka.
'They have a voracious appetite.' 'But there are many places where they go and they lose.'
'Between now and 2021, Bengal's politics could change irrevocably,' predicts Kanchan Gupta, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation.
Images that capture what it was like living through 2021.
Satarupa Banerjee offers sweet recipes to celebrate the dazzling festival of lights.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at a Matua temple in Bangladesh's Orakandi, the birthplace of Hindu mystic figure and Matua community's spiritual guru Harichand Thakur.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs one lakh each to the injured from the state government.
In the first such move involving Narendra Modi during the current poll campaign, the Election Commission on Monday ought the CD and transcript of his speech in West Bengal in which he raised questions on the sale price of a painting of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
'If the Modi government doesn't act now, it will demoralise and hurt the people who voted in hope of a better times,' argues former BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
