Ravik Bhattacharya is assistant editor of Hindustan Times. He has spent over 16 years in journalism covering political, trafficking, crime and human rights issues in various parts of India.
Articles by Ravik Bhattacharya
Cong rebels brave expulsion
There may be a subtext to the West Bengal poll narrative. Even after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee issued the caveat of strong disciplinary action, including expulsion for six years, Congress dissidents remained unrelenting.
Updated on Apr 04, 2011 11:59 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
In Mahatma's footsteps, Mamata hits campaign trail with padayatra
Taking a leaf out of Mahatma Gandhi's book, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee walked all of seven kilometres on Thursday, wandering through five Assembly constituencies, large parts of which have an overwhelming minority presence.
Updated on Apr 01, 2011 05:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata reaches out to Muslims
“We should ask for their blessings and walk slowly. They are waiting for us” is what Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee was heard telling her party colleagues today, while they traversed minority-dominated areas of Kolkata. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Apr 01, 2011 05:53 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Love and squalor
It’s in a sense a twin city. Affluence and poverty co-exist in this industrial and business hub. Unplanned growth, promoter raj and lack of cultural activities are among the chief grievances of local residents here. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Apr 01, 2011 05:56 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Asansol
Left gives in to family politics
The Left has softened its hard-boiled resistance to fielding poll candidates who are relatives or family members of established leaders. And this time, they have bettered the record of the Trinamool or the Congress on this count. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Apr 01, 2011 05:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
EC grip keeps West Bengal peaceful
The Election Commission bosses in New Delhi are maintaining a 'dawn to dawn' vigil on the law and order situation in Bengal with direct and daily liaison with the district administration, driving down the graph of political violence in the districts.
Updated on Mar 28, 2011 06:59 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Small allies deserting Cong as poll pie too little to share
The supposedly small number of seats the Congress has been allotted in West Bengal is causing heartburn not just among party workers. Some of the party’s allies are deserting the coalition on account of this.
Updated on Mar 29, 2011 12:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Didi will fight alone
The scaling down of the Congress demand for seats in West Bengal seems to have little impact on the ally Trinamool’s course of action in Assam.
Updated on Mar 22, 2011 10:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Guwahati
Trinamool goes it alone in Assam
The grand alliance between Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi in Bengal seems to have little effect in Assam where Trinamool Congress is poised to announce candidates for all the 126 Assembly seats.
Updated on Mar 22, 2011 04:51 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata goes ahead with list
The Trinamool Congress and the Congress failed to clinch a pre-poll tie-up today and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee declared her list of 228 candidates for the West Bengal polls, leaving 64 seats for the Congress. HT reports.
Updated on Mar 19, 2011 01:55 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya & Aurangzeb Naqshbandi, Kolkata/new Delhi
2 phone calls buy Congress talk time
Phone calls from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday appeared to calm Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and has won the Congress some more time to finalise seat-sharing talks for the Bengal assembly elections.
Updated on Mar 17, 2011 11:53 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata plays hard to get, sets Thursday deadline
The eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the Congress and Trinamool Congress continued throughout Wednesday.
Updated on Mar 16, 2011 11:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
CBI arrests four for Netai carnage of January
The CBI on Sunday arrested four persons who were allegedly part of the CPM-backed gang that killed nine villagers in Midnapore West district on January 7.
Updated on Mar 14, 2011 12:06 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Trinamool may give Cong 65 seats
The possibility of a grand alliance against the Left in West Bengal increased with the Congress and Trinamool Congress trying to sort out their differences on Sunday. Ravik Bhattacharya & Saroj Nagi reports.
Updated on Mar 14, 2011 01:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya & Saroj Nagi, Kolkata/new Delhi
Mamata ropes in Hotmail Bhatia
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has taken a leap from the grassroots to the cyber path by roping in Hotmail founder and global IT entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia to give a Net-savvy touch to the party’s election campaign. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Mar 13, 2011 11:48 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Cong-Mamata poll meeting off
Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Shakeel Ahmed cancelled their much-awaited seat-sharing meeting with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday, raising eyebrows in political circles. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Mar 29, 2011 12:39 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
People reject Mamata's candidate
The families of the 13 people killed in the 2007 Nandigram firing incident have urged Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to not to nominate Firoza Bibi, the incumbent MLA, for the assembly polls. The families have even threatened to abstain from voting. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Mar 10, 2011 02:14 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Nandigram
Mamata won’t contest Bengal assembly polls
Despite having been described — and even addressed in some quarters — as West Bengal’s chief minister-in-waiting, Trinamool Congress chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee has decided not contest the 2011 assembly polls. Arindam Sarkar and Ravik Bhattacharya report.
Updated on Apr 01, 2011 05:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Arindam Sarkar and Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata Banerjee says fight CPM, skips Lalgarh
For once, Mamata Banerjee did not — or could not — keep her word, since Lalgarh is still a scary thought to the main opposition party in West Bengal. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Jan 09, 2011 12:36 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Netai
Memorabilia of violence
Netai, once a sleepy hamlet near Lalgarh in West Midnapore, looked abandoned when the HT team arrived at the village one day after the massacre of seven people by alleged armed goons of the CPM.
Updated on Jan 08, 2011 11:37 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya and Soudhriti Bhabani, Netai (west Midnapore)
Trinamool fields kids against Central forces
800 kids to visit camps, distribute leaflets urging jawans to withdraw. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Oct 26, 2010 08:37 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
'Stop anti-Naxal ops, or face stir'
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will start an indefinite agitation on Thursday to press for the withdrawal of the Centre-state combined forces fighting the Maoists in West Bengal.
Updated on Oct 07, 2010 10:35 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya & Bappa Datta, Midnapore
Who'll blink first?
They are allies – united in their resolve to oust the CPI(M)-led Left Front from Writers' Building next year. Ravik Bhattacharya reports. The Numbers Game
Updated on Sep 16, 2010 01:19 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
300 puja organizers chase Mamata for inauguration
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee is all set to raise Bengal’s devotional quotient in the last lap to the crucial state Assembly elections.
Updated on Sep 10, 2010 01:56 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Teachers soft targets in Midnapore
The killing of 52-year old Dibakar Mahato, the headmaster of a Salboni primary school who was shot by Maoists on Saturday, was the latest in the targeted killings of teachers in West Midnapore district of West Bengal. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Sep 05, 2010 11:27 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Agnivesh flays Naxal offer
A day after Maoist leader Kishenji's conditional offer of peace talks with the central government, social activist Swami Agnivesh expressed disagreement with the 90-day ceasefire demanded by the rebels.
Updated on Aug 19, 2010 12:23 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Maoists might filter into Mamata’s rally: Police
Armed Maoist squads from Chhattisgarh are planning to sneak into Lalgarh to join the “apolitical” rally being organised by the Trinamool Congress on August 9, West Bengal’s top policemen said on Thursday.
Updated on Aug 06, 2010 12:19 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata