Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, principal correspondent, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, has been covering politics, socio-economic and cultural affairs for over 10 years. He takes special interest in monitoring developments related to Maoist insurgency and religious extremism.
Articles by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
250 members added from Vidyasagar College in Bengal, says BJP youth wing
In mid May, the demolition of Vidyasagar’s statue triggered a major controversy. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the spot that very night, blamed BJP supporters participating in party chief Amit Shah’s road show for the incident. She also promised to install a statue at the college compound.
Updated on Jul 24, 2019 08:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
TMC revamps farm unit to win over rural areas
TMC leaders had been confident that the farmers were solidly with the party till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections stunned them.
Published on Jul 22, 2019 01:01 AM IST
Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Amartya Sen’s remark fans ‘battle of cultures’ in Bengal
In mid-May, when a bust of Bengal renaissance icon Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was desecrated during a clash between supporters of the TMC’s student wing and BJP in Vidyasagar College, similar hoardings were put up across the city.
Published on Jul 14, 2019 06:40 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Left, Congress join hands to fight saffron party’s rise in Bengal
The parties have yet to strike any formal deal – such an attempt failed ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – but their leaders have been making it a point over the past couple of weeks to be seen together and to speak in one voice across multiple platforms.
Updated on Jul 08, 2019 08:31 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Left, Congress take up joint movements in Bengal
Leaders of both the parties say they want to be seen as a single non-communal, democratic force.
Published on Jul 03, 2019 10:55 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
BJP launches 2 bodies to take on TMC’s control over Bengal film, TV industries
BCP and EIMPCC have been set up for artists, technicians and producers. Both vow to free the industry in Tollygunge – popularly called Tollywood – from ‘TMC-enforced malpractices’.
Published on Jul 01, 2019 01:42 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
RSS mouthpiece flags concern over TMC turncoats
General secretary of the RSS’s south Bengal chapter has strongly advocated that the BJP needs to depend on devoted and time-tested workers and swayamsevaks.
Published on Jun 22, 2019 12:06 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
A lesser role for Mamata’s nephew after Trinamool’s poor show in elections
The 31-year-old MP will now oversee the correction in the electoral rolls on behalf of the party. This is a job that requires coordination with the Election Commission on the revision of the rolls.
Updated on Jun 20, 2019 04:09 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
From beef to beep: Organisers change name of festival in Kolkata after ‘threats’
The daylong event is scheduled on June 23 by The Accidental Note. The organisers named it as ‘Kolkata BeefFestival and now they are calling it the ‘Kolkata Beep* Festival’.
Published on Jun 05, 2019 12:12 PM IST
Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
‘In 7 Phases’: BJP sneers at Mamata after exit of 2 Trinamool lawmakers
The joining of 56 councillors – 17 each of Halishahar and Kanchrapara municipalities, including chairman and vice-chairman, and 22 of Naihati municipality – effectively brings the civic bodies under BJP’s control.
Updated on May 17, 2020 07:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Bengal Lok Sabha results show Mamata, 17 ministers trail BJP on home turfs
The Trinamool Congress is facing a serious challenge from the BJP in Bengal after the saffron party’s stunning performance in the general elections,
Updated on May 26, 2019 03:51 PM IST
hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Trinamool braces for huge challenge from BJP in next Assembly polls
It takes 147 legislators to form a government in Bengal and by current statistics the BJP is within striking distance if Assembly elections were held now.
Updated on May 25, 2019 01:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Northern, western parts propel BJP show
Incidentally, these parts have been the focus areas of chief minister Mamata Banerjee ever since she took charge in 2011, and launched several projects aimed at developing infrastructure in these areas.
Updated on May 24, 2019 08:18 AM IST
Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya and Tanmay Chatterjee
‘All losers are not losers’, says Mamata as BJP makes deep cuts in Bengal
A significant development in Bengal was the reduction of the Left and the Congress into fringe forces.
Updated on May 16, 2020 11:38 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
On Mamata’s instructions, TMC workers guard counting centres 24x7
On May 16, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had urged her party workers to stay awake throughout the night and maintain vigil outside the counting centres where the EVMs would be kept.
Updated on May 20, 2019 06:59 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
In TMC’s heartland, party battles anti-incumbency in 7th phase polls
Eight of the nine seats voting on May 19 have been with the Trinamool Congress since 2009.
Updated on May 18, 2019 07:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Academics, professionals return to Bengal to campaign for BJP
All those who came to Bengal told locals that BJP-ruled states have progressed a lot, thanks to appropriate policies and vision.
Published on May 18, 2019 03:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
BJP hopes to increase Bengal assembly tally through by-elections on Sunday
The current strength of three MLAs in the legislature is the highest that the BJP has ever had in Bengal. Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 211 of 294 seats in the 2016 Assembly polls.
Updated on May 18, 2019 10:42 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Army man among two more Indian climbers dead in Nepal
According to Mingma Sherpa, chairman of the Seven Summit Treks, which organised the Everest and Makalu expeditions, Ravi Thakur, 28, died at Camp IV after returning from the Everest summit at around 10: 00 pm .
Updated on May 18, 2019 08:50 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kathmandu/Kolkata | Anil Giri and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Two Indian climbers die on Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal
Two Indian mountaineers have died of altitude-related sickness on the Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak, and rescue workers were preparing on Thursday to mount an effort to rescue two others.
Updated on May 16, 2019 11:53 PM IST
Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
No CCTV proof; Kolkata college blames ‘outsiders’ for desecration of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s bust
Two CCTV cameras are installed outside the building on College Street (now Bidhan Sarani) and one is in the room where the Vidyasagar bust, made of Plaster of Paris, was kept inside a glass box.
Updated on May 16, 2019 07:24 AM IST
Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
‘Only a Bengali will be CM if BJP wins Bengal’, says Amit Shah in Kolkata
Amit Shah accused Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of raising a bogey of the BJP deploying outsiders in the state.
Updated on May 15, 2019 12:19 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Lok Sabha election 2019: Eye on big fights as West Bengal’s western part goes to polls in sixth phase
The constituencies where polling will be held in this phase are Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Medinipur, Bankura, Bishnupur, Purulia and Jhargram.
Updated on May 12, 2019 06:46 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Babul Supriyo invites former TMC MP Kabir Suman for a debate; gets counter invite for musical duel
After receiving, and declining, a debate invitation from Babul Supriyo, the former TMC MP Kabir Suman finds conversation on Facebook, blocks Supriyo of various social media.
Updated on May 09, 2019 02:19 PM IST
Kolkata | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Odisha begins rebuilding amid Fani relief challenge
Disaster relief agencies faced challenges in providing food, medicine and drinking water to affected households, while many others were still inaccessible due to disruptions in telecommunications and road connectivity, officials said
Updated on May 05, 2019 11:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Puri/Bhubaneswar | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya and Debabrata Mohanty
Lok Sabha elections 2019: In fifth phase, poll enters Bengal’s British-era industrial belts
In phase 5 of Lok Sabha elections 2019, all eyes will be on Bongaon and Barrackpore seats that the BJP hopes to wrest from the Trinamool Congress.
Updated on May 05, 2019 06:25 PM IST
Fani leaves trail of devastation; India, Bangladesh count losses
Eight people were killed in the storm on Friday and the death toll increased to 16 on Saturday, and the authorities said the number could go up.
Updated on May 09, 2020 05:12 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Puri/Bhubaneswar/New Delhi | Debabrata Mohanty and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
As cyclone Fani hits, Bhubaneswar goes without power, streets deserted
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of a storm surge of about 1.5 metres which may inundate low-lying coastal areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, and Jagatsinghpur districts at the time of landfall.
Updated on May 03, 2019 10:54 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Bhubaneswar | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
TMC desperate to stop Cong’s Baharampur heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
Baharampur’s sitting MP and Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has won the seat four consecutive times.
Updated on Apr 28, 2019 11:44 AM IST
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Widow of slain TMC MLA hits campaign trail in West Bengal
Satyajit, a two-time TMC legislator from Nadia’s Krishnaganj assembly constituency, which falls under the Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat, was shot dead on February 10 at a Saraswati Puja event. Ranaghat goes to the polls on April 29 in the fourth phase of the general elections.
Updated on Apr 27, 2019 09:54 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Ranaghat | Snigdhendu Bhattacharya