The 294-seated West Bengal Assembly Elections were held in 8 phases from March 27 to April 29, 2021. It was a three-cornered fight amongst All India Trinamool Congress seeking a third term, Congress and Left front fighting together (collectively called the Sanjukta Morcha), and BJP hoping to make its mark in the Eastern state. While TMC struggled to retain their[Read More…]
What we are witnessing in Bengal today reminds us of the saying: `It takes two to tango’, implying that in a dispute it is not one alone, but the other is also responsible. During the electoral campaign in the state, the Trinamul Congress (TMC) chief minister Mamata Banerjee coined the slogan: ‘Khela Hobey’ (It will be a game). Her rival[Read More…]
After Mamata Banerjee’s win in the elections in Bengal, a spate of celebratory articles has appeared all over the liberal media saying such things like Bengal rejects communal politics, rejects politics of hate, rejects Hindutva, etc. On the basis of the election, Shoaib Danyal shows his on-ground journalistic skills by discovering that ‘Bengal is, as famously described by political scientist[Read More…]
Written by Sandeep Pandey and Divesh Ranjan In the recently concluded elections in Assam, it turns out that if the votes of Mahajot alliance led by Congress Party and the alliance of Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal are combined then they would have been in a position to prevent Bhartiya Janata Party from forming a government in Assam. If[Read More…]
Four states and a Union territory saw the elections in 2021. Despite the dangerous Corona wave the elections were held in a way which suited the ruling dispensation at centre. While West Bengal (WB) results were most awaited and later welcomed for different reasons, BJP also made some gains particularly in Assam and Pudduchery. Even in WB its voting percentage[Read More…]
Some political commentators have wondered why the BJP made the Bengal elections such a big deal. Former minister Yashwant Sinha puts forth the opinion on the NDTV site that it was done to nip Mamata Banerji’s national ambitions in the bud. Others felt that it was a crucial event for Amit Shah to “cement his position as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s[Read More…]
The results of five assembly elections are out. There was a lot at stake particularly for the ruling dispensation of RSS which made every effort to dislodge the West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. Bengal was Amit Shah’s lab from where he wanted to show why he matters most for the BJP. As we all know, Amit Shah[Read More…]
With COVID cases swelling everyday and the declaration of the results of four poll-bound states and one Union territory, few questions have arisen in the present scenario of Assam’s politics. While speculations ablaze on who would take over the stewardship of the state, another question that needs to be addressed, is the position of the regional parties in the state.[Read More…]
As the counting of the West Bengal Assembly elections progressed in the morning of 2nd May, it didn’t take much time for one to understand that the Sanjukta Morcha (United Front) was heading towards a debacle. At the end of the day, the Morcha managed to win only a single seat in Bhangar constituency that went in favour of Noushad[Read More…]
An irony it may seem, but it is a fact. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee—who successfully steered her party to power in West Bengal for the third time in a row—lost her battle at Nandigram by 1700 votes to her erstwhile lieutenant Shubhendu Adhikari who defected to the saffron party before the elections. The[Read More…]
As I write this article, results of the Assembly elections in the five States are trickling in, diverting the public attention from the tragedy that India is today, with Corona patients waiting in queues and dying helplessly in ambulances, unable to get hospital care, critical patients gasping for oxygen and breathing their last, the kith and the kin of the[Read More…]
Despite various efforts to weaken democracy , the voters of W. Bengal have sent a very confidant and reassuring message that it is still possible in India for people to assert their power and defeat very powerful forces which not only have enormous, almost unlimited money power but are also willing and able to violate election norms and rules. The[Read More…]
In the most anticipated election results in recent times, Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) retained West Bengal, Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) led left front retained Kerala, Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) won Tamil Nadu while BJP won Assam and the union territory of Puduchery. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is leading in 215 of Bengal’s 294 seats and[Read More…]
What an assembly election! Eight Phases! From the first voting date to the last voting date the election is spread over 40 days. And from the first official announcement date to the date of counting – it is a period of two months! This will be some three weeks longer due to the death of candidates of two seats due[Read More…]
The whole thrust of the RSS-BJP election campaign for 2021 state assembly elections in Bengal has been to save Bengal from the rule of Mamata Bannerjee who is not a ‘Hindu’. PM of India, Narendra Bhai Modi, a self-proclaimed Hindu nationalist, as usual set the polarizing agenda. While addressing the first election rally, he called upon the electorate to overthrow[Read More…]
(This is an exclusive long-form essay that aims to provide the most comprehensive and incisive understanding of West Bengal Assembly Election 2021: the ground-shifting and momentous battle in post-Independence Bengal. The first part can be read here; second part here. This is the third and the final part) Bengal 2021 and Thereafter In 2011 (Assembly Election), the BJP’s[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone overboard in turning the political tide in his party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s favor in ongoing assembly elections in West Bengal. During his campaign, he has tried using Bengali language and has for months moved around donning image of the state’s Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Exuding confidence about his party’s success, he recently[Read More…]
“The name of the bait is ‘muslim”, the fishhook is ‘NRC’, and the fish is ‘indigent people’. Do you understand?”- Speaker? Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui. The phenomenal cleric, in a multitude of rallies tried to explain the dangers of citizenship law to the so-called marginalized people of Bengal in a lucid homely tone. However, Abbas’s meteoric rise has increased the discomfort[Read More…]
Art from the Bengal School by Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose (This is an exclusive long-form essay that aims to provide the most comprehensive and incisive understanding of West Bengal Assembly Election 2021: the ground-shifting and momentous battle in post-Independence Bengal. The first part can be read here. This is the second part) Bengaltattva and Hindutva Bengaltattva – with[Read More…]
(This is an exclusive long-form essay that aims to provide the most comprehensive and incisive understanding of West Bengal Assembly Election 2021: the ground-shifting and momentous battle in post-Independent Bengal. This is the first of three parts. ) People and culture are shaped by their particular environment: geography, surroundings and climate, along with the tides of time and[Read More…]
As the electoral drama in W.Bengal rolls on, a question that vexes many in the country is why the Prime Minister is spending so much in the elections of just one state, and on the ousting of just Chief Minister, who happens to be a lady who is actually quite popular among her people. After all there are so many[Read More…]
Visva – Bharati University founded in 1921 just completed a hundred years. Located at the Abode of Peace, Shantiniketan, it has however seen much disturbance and violence between the civil society and the Varsity authorities over the past centenary year. With the West Bengal elections slated four months hence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the University Chancellor had quite a[Read More…]
As the assembly elections near in West Bengal, the media is busy constructing and spreading a new narrative that the TMC Government under Mamta Banerjee has failed to maintain law and order in the state. The recent incident of the alleged hurling of stones at convoy of the BJP National President J P Nadda not only became the big[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
