Whatever the outcome from the assembly elections, what's evident is that West Bengal has entered an era of identity politics, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
It was a sea of saffron in Kolkata on Tuesday when Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah held a roadshow taking the battle against arch-rival Trinamool Congress to Mamata Banerjee's den. BJP supporters chanted "Jai Shri Ram" as activists dressed up as Lord Ram, Sita and Hanuman walked along, not often seen on the streets of the city of Kolkata. Shah meandered through Kolkata on a truck, decked up with marigold, as the crowd carried BJP flags.
The abusers probably mistook the students with mongoloid features for nationals of China from where novel coronavirus had spread worldwide.
Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, on his part, gave assurances that normalcy would be restored in a week, as government officials were working round the clock to improve the situation.
The combined Left parties drew a blank in the polls to the assembly which they had run with an overwhelming majority for 34 long years, with their vote share dwindling to a mere 5.47 per cent in 2021.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O' Brien met the agitating farmers at the Singhu border in the afternoon.
The Supreme Court said no coercive steps, including Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar's arrest, will take place during the course of the investigation.
Award winning director Rituparno Ghosh passed away in Kolkata on the morning of May 30. He was 49. His unexpected death left his colleagues and fans stunned.
The Chinese community in the city is one of the largest in the country and is apprehensive that the escalation of the conflict between the two Asian giants would hamper their lives and livelihood.
Kolkata is on the boil after the gang rape and subsequent murder of a teenager in Madhyamgram area in the northern fringe of the city. Rediff.com's Indrani Roy met the girl's father Ramshankar Jha.
Bengal is seething with anger over the death of a young Students' Federation of India leader Sudipta Gupta on Tuesday.
Hundreds of Muslims on Thursday held protests against an anti-Islam video and tried to march to the American Center here, which closed down for the second half of the day.
Though senior TMC leader Saugata Roy, Union Minister of State for Urban Development, told the media afterwards that 'the decision to withdraw support was a unanimous one', our sources in the party had a different tale to tale.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday arrested Abdul Mazeed Momin, an absconder, in connection with the Burdwan blast, taking the total number of arrested persons to 17.
Incessant rains lashed the metropolis for the second consecutive day today killing two persons and injuring eight others, besides throwing normal life out ofgear. Police said Zahira Khatun, 35, was electrocuted after she came in contact with a galvanised wire near her shelter at Entally in central Kolkata.
A 'box bomb' on Friday exploded in the busy Chandni Chowk area in Central Kolkata creating panic in the locality during peak office hours.
While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet.
There were conflicting reports about some CBI officers being arrested.
We invited readers to send in their interesting monsoon snapshots. Here are some more responses -- and you can share yours too!
The Communsist Party of India-Maoist spokesperson Gour Chakraborty was held by the Kolkata Police, from the office of a regional television channel in Park street, central Kolkata. Chakraborty was there for an interview. According to sources Chakraborty may be arrested if it is proved that he has direct or indirect links to the Maoists' operations across the country.
Police and volunteers wore a helpless look as a sea of people poured in from every possible corner of the city. Their sole aim was to be a part of Basu's last rites. "Hope we get to see him just once," said a middle-aged man to his friend, adding "The queue just isn't moving".
Four columns of the army, comprising 360 personnel, conducted a flag march in Moulali, Mullickbazar, Ripon Street, Park Circus, Topsia, Beniapukur and adjacent areas throughout Thursday night, Police Commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty told PTI.
'The Trinamool Congress cannot afford to vote with the BJP or the CPI-M,' she said. 'Neither can we support the Congress.'
Speaking to rediff.com, police sources hinted that a faulty transformer could have triggered the blast, but no confirmation was available immediately.
Thousands on Wednesday took to the streets in Kolkata to join a silent procession of intellectuals, film personalities, writers, painters and people from other walks of life to condemn the "recapture" of Nandigram by the Communist Party of India (M).
Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, is more popular in Kolkata than the KKR captain Sourav Ganguly, revealed the Reebok showrooms in Kolkata as well as the shops selling spurious KKR merchandise in the New Market area in central Kolkata.
Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen was not driven out of West Bengal as published in a section of the press and was free to return when she liked, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said in Siliguri on Sunday.
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."
An explosion, probably caused by diesel stacked in the generator room on the 13th floor of Nandaram market, occurred on Sunday evening. The police commissioner said no more explosions were reported during the night. All roads in the area remained closed with over 50 fire tenders, including those of the Army and Air Force, trying to douse the fire.
The government is contemplating imposing curfew in some areas of Kolkata at night.
This is the second bandh on the Nandigram issue in less than a fortnight after the state was paralysed by Trinamool Congress' 'halt Bengal' on October 31.
West Bengal has a 2,200 km porous border with Bangladesh over 10 districts.
Nearly 2500 shops and several buildings were gutted in a major fire that broke in Kolkata's biggest wholesale market early Sunday, fire brigade sources said.
Wriddhiman Saha wears his reticence like a badge of honour and, quite like his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni, doesn't believe in sledging opposition batsmen.
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.
Two bomb blasts rocked close to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's residence in Ballygunge area in Kolkata following a clash between two groups of a political party.
The meeting, slated for 1300 hours, could not commence on time and was delayed by over half an hour.
India's largest state bank is looking to expand it customer base by encouraging sex workers in Kolkata to deposit their nightly takings in a savings account, a bank official said.
Raj Kumar Sharma and Manmohan Menani, directors of Barrel Trading and Investment Company in Kolkata, were arrested in connection with the Rs 120 crore scam at the Calcutta Stock Exchange in March, 2001, the police said.
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