Latest news with #WestBengalAssembly
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Prepare to be unseated in 2026, Suvendhu tells Mamata; parties ramp up rhetoric
Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said on Monday (July 21, 2025) that he would 'make Mamata Banerjee the former Chief Minister of the State' in the Assembly elections of 2026. 'Trinamool has challenged us by declaring that they will win more seats in 2026. I am also challenging them — I defeated you in Nandigram in 2021; I will make you the former Chief Minister in 2026,' Mr. Adhikari said, directing his remark at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The BJP MLA staged a protest march to Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the West Bengal Government in Siliguri, on Monday, the same day that Trinamool supremo Ms. Banerjee spelled out the party's political line at the party's 33rd Martyrs' Day event in Dharmatala, Central Kolkata. Demands revision of poll rolls 'We want Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list here, like in Bihar. Everyone can rest assured that the tortured Hindus who have come from Bangladesh are refugees, not infiltrators… But we will not allow even one Rohingya Muslim or Bangladeshi Muslim to remain on the voters' lists,' Mr. Adhikari said during the programme. The Chief Minister, in her address on Monday, stated that 40 lakh voters have been disenfranchised in Bihar due to SIR, and that if the same is done in West Bengal, massive agitations and gherao programmes will be conducted. Mr. Adhikari also took a jab at Trinamool, claiming that the ruling dispensation had questioned the religious identity of the Rajbanshi and Matua communities of West Bengal, which constitute a large portion of the State's scheduled caste population. The two communities have been a source of political contention between the two parties and are expected to exert significant electoral influence in the upcoming Assembly polls. At the Trinamool rally at Dharmatala, Ms. Banerjee brought on stage Uttam Kumar Brajabashi, the 55-year-old Rajbanshi farmer from Coochbehar, who had received an NRC notice from the Assam Foreigners Tribunal. 'The Chief Minister claims she has given everyone employment in this State. Then why are there 60 lakh migrant workers from West Bengal? Why are 2 crore 15 lakh people unemployed? Why is there no industry? She has no answers,' Mr. Adhikari said at the rally. He also announced that he will visit Cooch Behar on August 4. BJP here to stay Meanwhile, the recently appointed State president of the BJP, Samik Bhattacharya, said on Monday that the Chief Minister will 'not see India or the Central government be free of the BJP in her lifetime.' 'The Trinamool is attacking the Bengali language. They are attacking Rabindranath Tagore, Vande Mataram, and the works of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. They are trying to erase the history of West Bengal,' Mr. Bhattacharya claimed. At Kharagpur in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur, former BJP MLA Dilip Ghosh organised a separate party programme 'to pay tribute to our martyred party workers who lost their lives to political violence.' The Trinamool Congress has been observing Martyrs' Day in Central Kolkata on July 21 with a massive rally for over two decades to pay tribute to 13 people killed in police firing during an agitation by the West Bengal Youth Congress on 21 July 1993. 'I believe this is Trinamool's final Martyrs' Day programme. Next year, Trinamool itself will get martyred. They will not be able to observe this day next year,' Mr. Ghosh said.
Hans India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Will compel BJP to chant our ‘Jai Bangla' slogan after 2026 Assembly polls: Abhishek Banerjee
Kolkata: The BJP will be compelled to chant the 'Jai Bangla' slogan after the West Bengal Assembly election scheduled next year, Trinamool Congress' general secretary and the party's Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee said on Monday. 'Already, the BJP has started realising the importance of admiring the Bengali culture. So they have started chanting 'Jai Ma Durga' and 'Jai Ma Kali'. Take my word, we will make them chant our slogan of 'Jai Bangla' after the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. They will lose whatever little presence they have in the West Bengal Assembly next year,' Abhishek Banerjee said, while addressing Trinamool Congress' annual Martyrs' Day rally in central Kolkata. However, there are controversies over whether the slogan of 'Jai Bangla' was an original coinage of the Trinamool Congress. Critics claim that this particular slogan had been traditionally chanted by the leaders and supporters of Bangladesh's former ruling party, Awami League, since the slogan was first chanted by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect behind the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation after erstwhile East Pakistan was liberated from Pakistan. Speaking at the rally, Abhishek Banerjee said that the BJP is attempting nationwide to send Bengali-speaking people to detention camps. 'They want to send the entire population of West Bengal to detention camps. But after the 2026 Assembly elections, the people of West Bengal will send the BJP to those detention camps,' he said. According to him, two 'E' are the tools of the BJP and the Union Government. 'One 'E' is the Enforcement Directorate (ED), through which they are harassing the opposition party leaders. The second 'E' is the Election Commission of India (ECI), through which they are trying to manipulate voters' lists in different states. But we are not scared. I am also asking the people of West Bengal not to be scared,' the Trinamool Congress general secretary said. He concluded his speech by saying that after the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, Trinamool Congress' next target would be to oust the BJP from New Delhi in the next Lok Sabha elections. 'Raise the slogan of 'Jai Bangla' in such a manner that its impact shakes New Delhi,' he said.
The Hindu
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Suvendu demands ‘thorough revision' of voter list in Bengal
Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday demanded a 'thorough revision' of the State's voter list on the lines of the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar. 'The Election Commission is making full-fledged preparations here. They cannot say anything directly because there hasn't been a notification yet. Booth-level officers are being appointed and trained in Delhi,' Mr. Adhikari told mediapersons outside the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). The BJP leader, along with about 50 MLAs of the party, marched to the office of the State CEO, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, and urged him to conduct door-to-door surveys. He said the final notification to begin SIR in the State is pending and that 'there is time in West Bengal while in Bihar, the elections are knocking on the door'. West Bengal goes to the polls next year, while the Assembly election is due in Bihar later this year. 'If Bihar has around 30 lakh fake voters, West Bengal will have 90 lakh. If Rohingya Muslims and illegal immigrants are being dropped from the list in Bihar, we will not let them stay on the voter list of West Bengal; no matter how many rallies [the CM] takes out,' he said. Mr. Adhikari also accused the Trinamool Congress government of causing 'gross changes' in the State's population. He said the average increase in the number of voters in the nine districts in West Bengal bordering Bangladesh is between 20% to 30%.
Hans India
7 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Suvendu Adhikari stresses on need for door-to-door review to identify Rohingya voters in Bengal
Kolkata: The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Wednesday stressed the need for a door-to-door review to identify the illegal Rohingya infiltrators who have managed to get their names enrolled in the voters' list of the state. 'In the Special Intensive Review conducted by the Election Commission of India in Bihar, which is going for polls this year, a few lakh illegal Rohingya infiltrators have been identified. Similarly, several illegal Rohingya infiltrators have entered West Bengal after illegally crossing the state's borders with Nepal and Bangladesh. There is a need for an urgent door-to-door review to identify these Rohingya voters,' LoP Adhikari told media persons on Wednesday. He led a BJP delegation to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (West Bengal), Manoj Kumar Agarwal and raised the same demand there. While he was accusing the state administration and Trinamool Congress of facilitating illegal Rohingya infiltrators in getting their names enlisted in the voters' list of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was addressing a gathering in another part of Kolkata. At the end of the rally, she protested against the alleged and selective harassment of Bengali-speaking people in some other states after branding them as illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators. Ridiculing the protest rally by Trinamool Congress, the LoP said that the main intention behind the protest led by the Chief Minister was to protect these illegal Rohingya voters in West Bengal. 'Mamata Banerjee had sent her party's Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar constituency to the Supreme Court with the same intention. The CM is claiming that preventing illegal infiltration is the duty of the BSF. My question is why is the West Bengal government reluctant to provide land to the force,' he questioned. He also said that the maximum increase in the number of voters in West Bengal, as per the last revision, had been in the nine districts that share International Borders with Bangladesh. 'If the names of 30 lakh false voters have been deleted from the voters' list of Bihar, in case of West Bengal, the number will be nothing less than 90 lakh,' he claimed. He also claimed that the demography of certain regions in West Bengal changed following this massive illegal immigration.
NDTV
11-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Bengal Question Paper Calls Revolutionaries "Militants", BJP Slams Trinamool
Kolkata: Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, has slammed the Trinamool Congress over the misrepresentation of freedom fighters as "militants" in a government university's question paper in Paschim Medinipur district. Taking to social media, Mr Adhikari wrote, "The Administrative Authorities of Vidyasagar University have once again insulted our revered freedom fighters by labeling the brave revolutionaries of Medinipur "militants" and "terrorists" in the 2025 History Honours Sixth Semester question paper." Absolutely Outrageous The Administrative Authorities of Vidyasagar University have once again insulted our revered freedom fighters by labeling the brave revolutionaries of Medinipur as "militants" and "terrorists" in the 2025 History Honours Sixth Semester question paper. This… — Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) July 11, 2025 Images of the question paper shared by the BJP MLA showed a question in Bengali, asking students to name three district magistrates of Medinipore who were killed by "militants". "Burge (1933), Peddie (1931), and Douglas (1932) were targeted by Indian Freedom Fighters. Peddie was killed by Bimal Dasgupta and Jyotijiban Ghosh. Douglas was assassinated by Prabhanshusekhar Pal, accompanied by Pradyotkumar Bhattacharya. Burge was killed by Anathbandhu Panja, Mrigendranath Datta, Ramkrishna Roy, Nirmaljiban Ghosh, Brajakishore Chakraborty, and others," explained Mr Adhikari. This isn't the first time this controversial question has been asked in examinations, alleged Mr Adhikari, claiming that a similar question was asked in 2023. Professor Dipak Kumar Kaur, Vice Chancellor of the university, called it a typographical error and said the matter wasn't being taken lightly, as it is about freedom fighters who hailed from the same district. The exam for the 'Modern nationalism and India' paper was held at the university on July 9. The Vice Chancellor has sought a report from the Controller of Examinations and the Chairperson of the undergraduate Board of Studies of History.
