Excerpt from the book R D Burman: The Man, The Music written by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal.
'People resent the fact that idiotic policies set by the Left Front -- banning English from primary schools, hampering the installation of computers -- have left them behind applicants from other states in the race for jobs. Above all, they are tired of the corruption of the Left Front.'
The long-awaited meeting between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss the law and order situation in the state would take place on January 19 in Delhi. The chief minister would also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the same day. "The chief minister is going to Delhi on January 18 to meet the home minister and prime minister the next day," the sources said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, once the poster boy of development for the Communist Party of India-Marxist, has come under fire in the party's latest 'rectification' campaign.
Continuing to bicker with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee through letters, Home Minister P Chidambaram has described the killings of political workers in the state as 'alarming' and said that the violence points to a virtual collapse of law and order in some parts of Bengal. He also said he used the word Harmad (hired killers) in an earlier letter because of its extensive usage in the media.
Karat admits that creation of the Third Front was a wrong move.
His own party -- the Communist Party of India Marxist -- might have sidelined him. But V S Achuthanandan -- the octogenarian chief minister of Kerala, has eventually found a place in the international arena of communism.And Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee -- once the 'poster boy' of communist governance in a capitalist society -- will miss a chair as his party organises the 11th Communist and Workers Parties International Meeting to discuss a rescue path from the financial crisis.
The war of words between Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday touched a new low with the chief minister alleging she was a 'liar' and the Trinamool Congress chief accusing him of being responsible for spurt in Maoist activities.
The West Bengal government on Thursday said it was formulating rules to ensure that schools do not create fear among students as physical and mental torture pose hindrance to their natural development.
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 district Congress has filed a complaint against West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accusing him of making "provocative" speech at a public meeting in Coochbehar.
The Bengal intelligentsia that stood by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee is now divided on how to resolve the fracas at Lalgarh -- a generic name that represents the Naxal-stricken tribal heartland of West Bengal.
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha today rejected West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's offer of more autonomy, power and funds for Darjeeling hills, saying it would not rest till its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland is met.
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 postman used to be a joy to behold when he knocked on the door for he brought news. These days, the postman knocks on the door fewer times, and when he does, he brings the letter late, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro, met the chief minister and formally accepted the plot offered in New Town Rajarhat, on the north-eastern fringes of this city.
Israel will discuss the issue of homeland security with West Bengal which is reeling under the brunt of Maoist extremism.
On his first visit to the heart of Naxal territory in West Bengal, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram ruled out the involvement of the military in anti-Maoist operations and made a fresh offer of dialogue with the left-wing extremists.
Admitting that the fire at Stephen Court has 'opened our eyes', West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said the civic administration will be under the scanner over illegal constructions in the city."The top floors of Stephen Court are illegal. We are investigating what the Kolkata Muncipal Corporation's role was at that time. The city has a coterie of illegal builders with whom administration is involved. Exemplary punishment will be given," said CM
West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, whose statement on Maoist links with the Trinamool Congress put the administration in an uncomfortable position, had more trouble on Tuesday, when a senior minister called for action against him for his remarks.
Rejecting the demands for withdrawal of security forces and release of prisoners by Maoist-backed tribal agitators, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on Tuesday night said the police have been asked to move to the detained Rajdhani Express to rescue the passengers."We can't just accept such demands like withdrawal of security forces and release of some prisoners," the chief minister told a press conference in Kolkata.
After a meeting with Buddhadeb, Indrani -- the wife of officer-in-charge of Sankrail police station, Atindranath Dutta -- said they had conveyed to the chief minister Maoist leader Kishenji's demand that the women arrested by joint forces in West Midnapore district be released immediately.
A poll update from Maharashtra's Nashik, where Raj Thackeray is on fire
Railway minister promises jobs for land deals for the project.
Call for fiscal autonomy to Union Territories with Assemblies may get louder with 'special status' to J&K in the Finance Commission, say experts.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee visited ailing Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu in a hospital in Kolkata on Saturday evening and said she was praying for the speedy recovery of the 95-year-old leader.
Chances are any such disruption will not occur on the major shipping lanes but on some edge of the ocean between India and China. Even if there is no actual disruption, the costs of averting one can be punitive. The setting for this is provided by the energy shortage both countries face, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
A 15-year-old boy was killed and four others were injured on Monday when the owner of a tea estate allegedly fired at angry protesters, who set ablaze two garden factories and the owner's residence near Guwahati, the police said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed on Monday that he had got specific information on the Trinamool Congress' link with the Maoists and warned the party not to join hands with it to put the Communist Party of India-Marxist in trouble.
Four Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans were killed in a surprise assault by Maoists in Gidhni in West Midnapore on Sunday, hours after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wrapped up a two-day visit to the violence-hit district. Claiming responsibility for the killings, top Maoist leader Koteshar Rao alias Kishanji dared the central government to deploy as many forces as they wanted in the embattled area.
Hours before Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's visit to Naxal-infested Midnapore on Saturday, three youths were shot dead by Maoists in Kusbani jungle in the district.Bullet-riddled bodies of the three youths -- Lakhi Das, Jayram Mandi and Manoranjan -- with their limbs tied with ropes, were found on a road near Kusbani jungle, police sources said. The Maoists had left behind posters near the bodies of the three, claiming that they had been 'punished'.
After two days of self-introspection, Karat, the party general secretary, retains his hold and instead the West Bengal lobby along with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will now be taking "corrective measures at the organisational and governmental level."
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted on Thursday that there was a definite lack of alertness on the part of the forces leading to the massacre of 24 jawans by Maoists in West Midnapore district.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday described Union Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee's remark as "juvenile disorder" after she demanded his arrest saying there was violence in the state whenever he was away.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday finalised a plan to rectify the 'wrong trends' in the party under which guidelines were formulated for an austerity drive and to make its ministers more accountable.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has announced that 10 per cent reservation in jobs would be given to socially, educationally and economically backward Muslims.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who paid homage to CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu, described the Marxist patriarch as a politician of "high values" and said he would be missed by all.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist Politburo on Saturday began a two-day meeting to finalise a document, to deal with its organisational problems, which led to its rout in the recent polls in its strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala. The purpose of the meeting is to give final touches to amend and strengthen its 'rectification document' that had been prepared several years ago. The meeting is being attended by all top leaders barring CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
A directional landmine blast took place at Baroa, 17 km from Salboni, from where the West Bengal CM, Paswan, state industry minister Nirupam Sen and industrialist Sajjan Jindal were returning after laying the foundation stone of Jindal Steel Works plant, police said.
Buddha countermands Forward Bloc's rejection of German wholesaler's permit.
