Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Bengal BJP to launch toll-free number for public grievances, TMC calls it copycat

The BJP said the number which will be launched before municipal polls in more than a hundred civic bodies in April-May, being seen as ‘semi-final’ before the 2021 Assembly elections

Sangh Parivar’s mass marriage of tribal people hits speed breaker in Bengal

The Mamata Banerjee administration has started treating mass marriages as “conversion drive”.

Mamata’s former confidante Mukul Roy emerges as Bengal BJP’s key poll manager

The municipal elections in the state, likely to be held in April, are widely being seen as the ‘semi-final’ before the 2021 assembly elections.

CPI(M) reopens 80% of party offices in Bengal since BJP jolted TMC in Lok Sabha polls

The BJP had won 18 of West Bengal’s 42 seats in Lok Sabha polls. The TMC’s tally came down from 34 in 2014 to 22 in 2019 even though its vote share increased by 3.5 percentage points.

Row over NPR, NRC hits Bengal Census exercise

The process has been halted altogether after a series of mob attacks on government employees and workers of non-government organisations (NGOs) who travelled to villages to collect various data in January.

Visva-Bharati expels from hostel student who shot VC’s Republic Day speech

‘Sting video’, hostel eviction notice, rallies seeking VC’s resignation keep Tagore-founded varsity on the boil .

‘People who treat Preamble as Veda’: Visva-Bharati VC wades into fresh row

In a new video clip, purpotedly showing Visva-Bharati (VB) University vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty questioning protesters against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has triggered another round of protests by students.

Bengal Christians joining anti-CAA protests invites wrath of the BJP and VHP

As the nation celebrated Republic Day on Sunday, the Preamble to the Constitution was read out after the ‘service’ at 65 Roman Catholic churches in Kolkata and its adjoining districts of Hooghly, Howrah, North and South 24-Parganas.

To stop erosion in Dalit vote bank, TMC floats refugee cell to counter BJP’s CAA campaign

The Trinamool Congress’ refugee cell will have units in all districts to counter the BJP which is carrying out its pro-CAA movement through rallies as well as door-to-door campaigns.

E-literacy programme halted in West Bengal due to panic over NRC

Another NGO that ran the programme in four other districts faced similar problems. “Our programme in four districts was completed in December.

Chidambaram to coach Congress leaders in Bengal on anti-CAA strategy

Congress booklet to quote from various BJP documents to “expose sinister game for Bengal”.

As Shaheen Bagh protest gains ground, UP, Bengal follow suit

The protest manily by women at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens has inspired similar demonstrations in Kolkata and Prayagraj.

As Shaheen Bagh protest gains ground, UP and Bengal follow suit

On eighth day, Kolkata’s ‘Shaheen Bagh’ agitation is growing

The protest against the CAA and NRC in Park Circus started as an expression of solidarity with the Shaheen Bagh agitation in New Delhi.

Mamata Banerjee distancing from Left, Congress to split anti-TMC votes in Bengal, says BJP

TMC started distancing itself from the Left and the Congress from January 7, when state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee dismissed the Left and the Congress’ proposal for passing a motion in the Assembly opposing CAA.

BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta, invited to speak on Citizenship Act, locked inside room at Bengal’s Visva Bharati

Swapan Dasgupta, Visva Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, some faculty members, staff and local BJP leaders accompanying the BJP MP had to stay inside a room for four hours after the seminar ended with students staging an agitation outside. The doors of the hall were locked from inside.

Kolkata braces for protests by Left, anti-NRC group during PM Modi’s visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Kolkata on Saturday and Sunday.

BJP leader, Meghalaya governor spar on Twitter

West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose said that the party’s ideological founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee seeking partition of Bengal in 1947 was a “historic blunder”.

3 held for attack on Bengal church

According to Anup Gosh, the pastor of the church, the accused chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and carried the flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Church vandalized in Bengal; Mamata Banerjee promises to repair it

Three people have been arrested till Monday afternoon and police are looking for five more accused. Officials of the Bhagwanpur police station, who are investigating the case, have not commented on the political identify of the arrested men. The BJP has denied its involvement.

Mamata Banerjee retreats on NPR, stays all work related to it

The Bengal government Monday evening announced suspending work on the National Population Register (NPR).

Tale of two national registers that have Mamata in a fix

Mamata Banerjee has spoken against CAA and NRC but sought people’s cooperation for the NPR exercise linked to the 2020 general census.

Anti-NRC agitators now target NPR in Bengal

Two prominent anti-NRC forums now want the Bengal government to stop work on the National Population Register (NPR) in the state.

Illegal migrants give tough time to security personnel on both sides of Indo-Bangladesh border

In the past three weeks, around 300 illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who had allegedly crossed over from India, have been detained in Bangladesh and around 59 more are housed in a school in Howrah district of bordering West Bengal, they added.

180 Bangladeshis arrested while fleeing India, NRC listed among reasons

A senior West Bengal Police officer, who follows illegal immigration, said, along with the Bengaluru crackdown, Indian government’s decision to identify illegal residents through the NRC (National Register of Citizens) exercise, may have also influenced the retreat.

Mamata Banerjee has reasons to be wary of Asaduddin Owaisi’s Bengal mission

The AIMIM’s footprints in Bihar are beginning to worry the Trinamool Congress in Bengal.

3 brothel visitors convicted in Bengal, activists say first such order in India

The section 5 (1) (d) of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956, under which they were convicted, pertains to the punishment of anyone who “causes or induces a person to carry on prostitution.”

Under fire and bleeding, Maoists want snipers in their ranks

Maoists have so far mostly depended on ambushes using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and then engaging security forces in close quarter combat with an assortment of automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

In Bengal, TMC scripts constituency-specific manifestos for assembly bypolls

TMC’s opponents and political analysts, however, see the workings of Kishor who was appointed by the TMC after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dealt it a rude blow during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, increasing its tally from two to 18. TMC’s tally came down from 34 to 22 seats.

Bengal governor Dhankhar pays surprise visit to Singur, promises to return; TMC irked

Dhankhar and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been engaged in a war of words over issues of governance and the visit is likely to trigger another such round.