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...]
As close to 8.5 lakh voters spread over 35 Assembly constituencies go to vote today in the last phase of Bengal’s elections, the line from the famous jatra Nabab Siraj-Ud-Doula from which the title of this post is extracted, haunts. The original ‘jatra pala’, written by Sachin Sengupta was staged in 1938 had a dialogue … Continue reading Ominous Dark Clouds Over Bengal’s Skies… →
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...]
Mamata Banerjee recently stirred up a fresh new controversy by accusing her former party colleague Suvendu Adhikari, now adversary in the Nandigram Assembly seat as BJP candidate, of being complicit in the 14 March 2007 violence. Had it not been for the complicity of the ‘father-son duo’ (Suvendu and his father Sisir Adhikari, both in … Continue reading Nandigram – An Introduction to Political Analysis →
