Several opposition leaders hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party following the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as an MP on Friday, alleging the ruling party was involved in vindictive politics, and said it was a new low for democracy.
Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, on Wednesday expressed hope that the recently completed Indo-China border disengagement in Eastern Ladakh would smoothen relations and pave the way for a better understanding between the two neighbours in the days ahead.
Mohun Bagan had taken the decision to not travel to the country after Iran launched missiles on Israel, escalating political tensions between the two countries.
An initial probe has revealed that the 53-year-old singer, who was on a two-day tour to Kolkata to perform at two college programmes, was 'almost mobbed' by fan followers at the hotel where he had returned to after performing at Nazrul Mancha auditorium in the southern part of Kolkata.
A two-day special session of the West Bengal assembly was convened by the government on September 2 to table and pass a Bill which would provide for capital punishment to convicted rapists, Parliamentary Affairs minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said. The Bill would be tabled for discussion and passage on Tuesday, the second day of the special session, Speaker Biman Banerjee said.
He indicated his conviction will remain firm even if that "uprising" ultimately puts the party he faithfully served for 13 years in the dock.
'He will be remembered more for what he did as finance minister -- as someone who functioned well when the political fallout was taken care of.'
'I have been a spokesperson of the party for the last 41 years and now I think some other party member should take up my post,' JD-U's K C Tyagi tells Rediff.com about his resignation from the post of party spokesperson.
This comes amid the row over the arrest of former priest of ISKCON Bangladesh, Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, over sedition charges, which led to protests and unrest in Bangladesh.
"I do not think the idea of turning India into a 'Hindu Rashtra' is appropriate," Sen, 90, said.
According to the report, there are 16 sitting MPs and MLAs who have declared cases related to rape under Indian Penal Code Section 376, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and can be extend to life imprisonment.
'The government is saying 88 Hindus have been killed, but it could be much more.' 'Their properties are being looted, their businesses have been ransacked. I am getting distress calls from there.' 'Muslims who believe in the philosophy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are also under attack. Most of those who have fled Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's fall are Muslims.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin in Chennai on Wednesday and the two leaders said politics did not come up during their discussion.
In the 145-year history of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, nationalist leaders like Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bidhan Chandra Roy, also a former chief minister, graced the mayor's chair in pre-Independent India.
A noted Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata this year will depict the agitation over the farm laws in the country, besides the killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
Hasty, ill-conceived steps show how isolated Mamata Banerjee had been from the national political trend. A fascinating excerpt from Sugato Hazra's Losing The Plot: Political Isolation Of West Bengal.
The wife of the chief minister's brother Kartik, Kajari is contesting from ward number 73 of the KMC.
Harbhajan Singh said he is not averse to joining politics but would like to put in a lot of thought
Sources describe the visit as "courtesy call" and there is nothing political about it.
The Supreme Court granted regular bail to former TMC youth leader Kuntal Ghosh in a corruption case linked to the West Bengal primary school recruitment scam. Ghosh, who has been in custody for 19 months, will be released from jail after being granted bail in the money laundering case linked to the scam on November 20. The court said it was not likely that the trial would be completed in the foreseeable near future.
The minister urged the doctors to rejoin work by respecting the Supreme Court's direction to them, but refrained from giving a direct reply on whether the state government would take any punitive action for violating the apex court's order.
The Bombay high court on Friday restrained political parties and individuals from proceeding with the Maharashtra bandh scheduled for August 24 or on any future date.
According to Bhagwat, a narrative is being spread in neighbouring Bangladesh, which recently witnessed a massive political upheaval, that India is a threat and they should join Pakistan as a defence against Bharat. Who is spreading such a narrative, he asked.
Truck movements across the India-Bangladesh border are on the rise, with increasing rentals signalling a trade recovery between the two South Asian nations. Yet, geopolitical tension looms large, with Bangladesh now under an interim government for nearly two months.
The TMC had swept all the 16 assembly segments in Kolkata in the last election.
Moitra's electoral triumph not only secures her seat in Parliament, but also serves as a defiant retort to attempts to sideline her from the political arena.
Amid a controversy over the rejection of West Bengal's tableau for the Republic Day parade themed on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army, his daughter Anita Bose Pfaff said on Monday the legendary freedom fighter's legacy has often been 'partly exploited' for political reasons.
Adhikari asserted that 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' was unnecessary and questioned the need for the Minority Morcha within the party.
'I've come here as a commoner. Justice is needed to ensure that this incident is never repeated.'
Left parties and Kolkata police were on Tuesday involved in a tussle over the cremation of the body of a 16-year-old gangrape victim, who died in a city hospital after attempting suicide.
Two incidents of hurling of crude bombs were reported in Sealdah and Khanna areas of Kolkata, and police contingents were rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control, a State Election Commission official said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the junior doctors protesting the rape and murder of their colleague at R G Kar Hospital to end their fast-unto-death stir, stating that most of their demands have been addressed while rejecting their insistence on removing the state health secretary.
He said a petition has been filed before the Supreme Court, seeking an independent probe by a special investigation team into the alleged nexus between political parties and companies for corruption through electoral bonds.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday, two days after he resigned from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha citing dissatisfaction with the party's current style of functioning and 'bitter humiliation'.
The Kolkata-based actors, several of whom have worked with Shanto Khan in Bangladeshi film projects, however, did not want to comment on the reasons for the killing, saying those were internal matters of another country.
All We Imagine as Light has been on several critics' best of the year lists, including Sight and Sound (Payal Kapadia appeared on the magazine's cover, perhaps a first for an Indian filmmaker), to The New York Times, Time and it is the number one film recommended by Barack Obama. The future certainly belongs to Payal Kapadia, asserts Aseem Chhabra.
The direction comes after Kolkata Police constituted an inquiry team to probe into the woman's allegation against the governor.
'My one recommendation would be to first quell the violence and then encourage dialogue and build the trust among the different communities.' 'This is not easy but necessary, for violence cannot be the way forward.'
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
Agitating junior doctors, whose nine representatives are on a fast-unto-death demonstration, termed talks with senior officials of the West Bengal government as 'the most disappointing meeting so far'.
