Some of the issues Vivek Agnihotri raises in The Bengal Files are valid, but today, the need of the hour is to find ways of negotiating peace not pouring oil over troubled waters, asserts Deepa Gahlot.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticized the BJP following an assault on food vendors at a Bhagavad Gita recital event in Kolkata, asserting that the state would not tolerate intimidation, communal division, or attempts to dictate dietary choices. She vowed stringent action against those responsible and accused the BJP of trying to import a culture of communal division and weaponize religious texts for political mobilization.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticizes Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of acting like an 'acting Prime Minister' and manipulating the Election Commission. She warns Prime Minister Modi against trusting Shah, suggesting he could become a 'Mir Zafar'.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray demands cancellation of civic elections where candidates won unopposed, alleging corruption and manipulation by ruling parties. He also criticizes the Maharashtra legislative assembly speaker and the misuse of BMC funds.
The Calcutta High Court has cancelled the membership of senior leader Mukul Roy in the West Bengal assembly under the anti-defection law, marking a significant moment in Indian jurisprudence.
The Centre has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the circumstances leading to the violence.
Sukumaran Nair said he had noted Natesan's remarks and that a decision would be taken after a meeting scheduled for January 21.
Will Mamata's bhasha andolan campaign sway Bengal's bhadralok before the 2026 election in the TMC's favour?
'Even if it is defeated and the Speaker remains, the Opposition parties that have lost faith in his impartiality will continue to have that feeling.' 'If the Speaker reflects on this and tries to be more neutral, more impartial, more objective in his conduct -- then one can say the resolution had a salutary effect. That would be the best outcome.'
Uproarious scenes on the concluding day of the special session on Thursday turned the West Bengal Assembly into a cauldron of chaos, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's speech was repeatedly drowned out by slogan-shouting, leading to the suspension of five Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs and the collapse of two legislators during forcible eviction by marshalls.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing the alleged 'vote chori' (theft)' in the Aland Assembly segment in 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka, has filed a charge sheet naming seven persons, including a former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, his son and his close aide.
Protests continue in Kolkata against attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh. BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari threatens a large-scale protest if the attacks are not stopped.
In the wake of two members of the coalition demanding advancing of the 2011 Assembly elections following its repeated electoral debacles in West Bengal, the ruling Left Front has issued a gag order on public airing of views by leaders that contradicts its policy decisions.
The decision came amid rising concerns in the city's red-light districts over difficulties in completing SIR enumeration forms.
Union Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she would not contest the assembly elections in West Bengal and campaign for her party.
After its drubbing in West Bengal in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the state unit of CPI-M today began a two-day meeting to analyse reasons behind its poor performance in the Left Front-ruled state.
A family feud within the politically influential Matua community has erupted between Union minister Shantanu Thakur and his brother, BJP MLA Subrata Thakur, creating ripples in West Bengal's political landscape and posing a challenge for the BJP ahead of upcoming elections.
Aam Aadmi Party's Gopal Italia on Monday won from Gujarat's Visavadar assembly constituency and his party also retained Punjab's Ludhiana West seat while the Congress-led United Democratic Front wrested Nilambur from the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala, according to results of assembly bypolls in four states.
Around 67 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise right on Tuesday in the by-elections at Bankura in West Bengal while the figure was 73 per cent at Daspur, officials said.
Nitin Nabin has been formally declared as the BJP national president, succeeding J P Nadda. The leadership transition was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior ministers.
West Bengal: Congress to field candidates in all 294 constituencies
The Supreme Court has directed states to consider deploying additional staff to ease the workload on booth level officers (BLOs) engaged in the special revision of electoral rolls, following concerns about extreme work pressure and related issues.
The BJP's constitution mandates that the party should complete the process of electing block, district and state chiefs before it elects its national president.
Without opposing the EC's decision to hold a five-phased general election, Left parties on Monday said some parties would find it difficult to sustain their campaigns in certain states and expressed the view that a two-phase election in West Bengal would have been better.
Madhya Pradesh Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Inder Singh Parmar has sparked controversy by saying that social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a 'British agent' who started a 'vicious cycle of religious conversion', prompting the Trinamool Congress to call the remarks an insult to Bengal.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's biggest challenge will be to find a new growth driver, particularly against the backdrop of a global economy ravaged by heightened uncertainty and fragmentation, financial markets on a precipice, and global commodity prices on a continued uptrend.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission's voters' list cleanup exercise, will commence in nine states and three Union territories from Tuesday.
The ruling NDA is expected to win the upcoming election for the post of Vice President of India, following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Polling began on Tuesday morning for the fourth of the six phase West Bengal assembly election across 63 constituencies spread over Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapur and parts of Burdwan district.
Senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee resigned as chief of party's West Bengal unit on Sunday citing "heavy government responsibilities", and Congress Legislature Party leader Manas Ranjan Bhunia was appointed to the post by Sonia Gandhi.
The elections are not only a means for TMC to prove its wide, unopposed mass allegiance but also a way to bargain for national leadership among regional political parties in the road to New Delhi.
A delegation of the National Commission for Women (NCW), led by its chairman Vijaya Rahatkar, met with riot-affected women in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, assuring them of safety and demanding an NIA probe into the recent communal clashes. The women narrated their harrowing experiences and demanded permanent BSF camps in select areas of the district. The NCW team also visited relief camps in Malda district and assessed the condition of women affected by the violence.
'Whether we like it or not, we have been separated by the Meiteis and therefore we have put up our demand for a separate administration in the form of a Union territory with legislature.' 'For us lasting peace is the achievement of our demand.'
'Women are likely to have voted because of the numerous welfare schemes. The CAA consolidated minority votes and the BJP's booth-level organisation in Bengal is weak.'
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Karat dismissed a suggestion that the CPI (M) considered the EC as its 'enemy.'
The incident comes two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that its worker Trilochon Mahato, 20, who was found hanging from a tree at Balarampur in the district on May 30, was killed by the Trinamool Congress. However, the Trinamool Congress has denied the allegations and termed it as baseless.
Chatterjee had quit the TMC in November 2018, resigning as minister, mayor and district president, citing personal reasons.
Chief Justice of India considers shifting Supreme Court hearings to virtual mode due to severe air pollution in Delhi after experiencing its effects firsthand.
Three persons, including husband of a Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate, were killed on Monday and several others injured in violence during the second phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal where 75 per cent polling was recorded.
The West Bengal government on Friday ordered the shutdown of all shopping malls, salons, restaurants, bars, sports complexes, gyms, spas and swimming pools in the state with immediate effect until further orders, amid the surge in Covid-19 cases.
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