'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
Basanta Singha Roy and Debabrata Biswas, two members of the first civilian expedition from West Bengal by 'Mountaineers Association of Krishnanagar', reached the top of Mount Everest on Monday morning.
'This silence is an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage'
Top Left leaders Prakash Karat (Communist Party of India-Marxist), A B Bardhan (Communist Party of India), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (Revolutionary Socialist Party), led the demonstration near Parliament House.
The Left parties will submit by July 10 to President Pratibha Patil their letter withdrawing support to the UPA government, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said on Monday.
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be conferred the first Netaji Subhas Award for her outstanding contribution to the struggle for restoring democracy in her country.
"I did not get any such letter (announcing withdrawl of support). I learnt about it only through the media. I will speak to Debabrata Biswas (AIFB general secretary) on his party's grievances," Koda said when asked for his reaction.
'The Bloc was supporting the Congress party-led government to keep the 'communal Bharatiya Janata Party' away from power and if it felt the UPA was not implementing the CMP the party would review its support'
But they still have their reservations about economic issues and the proposal to carve out of new states
In a joint statement, leaders of eight opposition parties extended their support to the farmers who are protesting the three farm laws.
The representatives of thousands of agitating farmers, who are sitting on various borders of the national capital since November 26 demanding repeal of the three agri laws, have said that the countrywide strike on Tuesday would be observed with full force.
In his letter, Singh hinted since the Central Public Works Department's tableau already featured Bose, West Bengal's float was not included for the parade, without saying it in so many words.
The organisation established its electoral presence post-Independence in states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Assam, with West Bengal being its main stronghold, but eight decades down the line, the party, now limited to just some pockets of the country, has no MP or MLA in its kitty.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, 11 parties on Tuesday got together with a vow to defeat Congress-led United Progressive Alliances and prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power by presenting themselves as an alternative to them.
Pushing efforts to firm up a Third Front, top leaders of the Janata Dal-United, Left and the Janta Dal-Secular met in New Delhi on Monday and decided to convene a meeting of 11 parties after the end of the current Parliament session to give concrete shape to a non-Congress and non-BJP alternative.
Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's call for a Federal Front as a "ploy" to increase her bargaining power with Congress and BJP before the 2014 polls, the Left parties feel it cannot be successful without a common minimum programme.
The two senior most leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist are at the loggerhead over alliance or adjustment with the Congress.