Month: April 2021

Two days after 22 security personnel lost their lives in the Naxal attack at the Sukma-Bijapur border in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday asserted that the Central government will intensify the fight against Naxals.

Addressing CRPF personnel during his visit to the Basguda CRPF camp in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, Shah said, “Our jawans fought with immense courage. Be assured that the sacrifices of your colleagues will not go in vain, have faith in the Government of India and the Chhattisgarh government.”
“When a friend leaves us and goes we do feel sad. But the poor people of this area is devoid of development due to the issue of Naxalism. We welcome those who want to surrender and come to us but we’ll have no option if you have weapons in hands,” said Shah.

He further affirmed to the soldiers that the Government of India understands all their problems and is firmly standing with them in this fight, adding that the government will address all the loopholes as early as possible.

Shah also had a meal with the soldiers during his visit to the camp.

Earlier today, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CM Bhupesh Baghel met the security personnel injured in the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh.

They also laid wreaths on the coffins of 14 security personnel killed in the attack here and held a review meeting.

“I held a review meeting with Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and officers of security forces. The officers said that this fight should not weaken, which shows that the morale of our jawans is intact,” said Shah while speaking to reporters after the meeting.

An encounter broke out between security forces and Naxals along the Sukma-Bijapur border on Saturday after a party of jawans was ambushed by Maoists near Jonnaguda village around noon.

At least 22 security personnel lost their lives in the attack. Around 31 sustained injuries in the encounter, Chhattisgarh Police said.

Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kuldeep Singh, who is in Chhattisgarh to monitor the situation following the attack, on Sunday said that there was absolutely no intelligence or operational failure in the operation. (ANI)

In the midst of assembly election fever in West Bengal, several members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday.

The ex-BJP members were Priyansu Pandey, Rabi Singh, Surojit Biswas and Akash Mallah, who joined the TMC in the presence of state minister Purnendu Basu and MP Dola Sen at Trinamool Bhavan today.
“Having observed the work Mamata Banerjee has done in the state, these members will hold the TMC flag today. We are happy to welcome them to our party. TMC is like an ocean. You can see that people from different areas have joined the TMC. There is no doubt that the TMC government will be formed again in the state,” said Basu at the press conference.

Pandey was the state committee of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BYJM), while Singh was a member of the BJP District Committee in Barrackpore, according to an All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) bulletin.

Biswas was the vice-president of BJP Barrackpore organisation District Committee SC Morcha and Mallah was the secretary of Barrackpore organisation District Committee of Bharatiya Janata Majdoor Trade Union Council.

Speaking at the press conference, Pandey thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for giving him the opportunity to join the party.

“I, Priyansu Pandey, was the first to start the movement under the Nabanna Abhiyaan of BYJM, but today I feel ashamed that the BJP is not the same party of Bengal. Today, the Bengal BJP has become a party of traitors from TMC. The people who betrayed TMC are running the BJP faction in Bengal,” he said.

The ex-BJP member also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for going back on their promises to fight against dynastic politics and nepotism.

“The people, who engaged in extortion, misgovernance, were the most corrupt and were involved in the Narada, Saradha scams, have now joined the BJP,” he added.

He further remarked that Mamata Banerjee had done the maximum work for the people of the state and that he and other former BJP leaders will rally alongside her on the lines of ‘Bangla nijer meyeke chaaye’ (Bengal wants her daughter).

The polls are witnessing a fierce contest between the ruling TMC, the BJP and the Sanjukta Morcha comprising Left parties, Congress and ISF.

Phase three in the eight-phased elections in West Bengal is set to commence on Tuesday, which will cover 31 Assembly constituencies in three districts: eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas.

There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling, with Diamond Harbour having the maximum number of candidates at 11.

Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal elections were held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The fourth phase of polling will take place on April 10. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Actor Taapsee Pannu on Monday completed eight years in Indian Cinema and to mark the occasion, she shared a collage picture of all her movies on social media.

“8 years since I saw myself speaking in my mother tongue on screen,” she wrote alongside the collage picture posted on her Instagram story.

The ‘Pink’ star shared various posts from her fans who congratulated her.

After doing modelling for a few years, the 33-year-old star made her acting debut with the 2010 Telugu film ‘Jhummandi Naadam’ and later acted in the 2011 Tamil film, ‘Aadukalam’. She made her Hindi film debut with David Dhawan’s 2013 comedy-drama ‘Chashme Baddoor’ which also featured Ali Zafar, Divyenndu, Anupam Kher and late actor Rishi Kapoor in pivotal roles.

Throughout the course of her eight-year-long career in the film industry, she has starred in several blockbusters like ‘Pink,’ ‘Badla’ (both with megastar Amitabh Bachchan), ‘Thappad’ (for which she received several awards including ‘Best Actor (female) accolade), ‘Naam Shabana’, ‘Judwaa 2’, ‘Saand Ki Aankh’, ‘Mission Mangal’, ‘Manmarziyaan’.

Taapsee’s last onscreen appearance was in Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Thappad’ which was both a critical and commercial success.

The actor will be next seen in sports dramas ‘Shabaash Mithu’ and ‘Rashmi Rocket’. She also has an impressive line-up of films that include, ‘Haseen Dillruba’, ‘Looop Lapeta’ and the sci-fi thriller titled ‘Dobaaraa’ directed by Anurag Kashyap. (ANI)

Relations between the European Union and China have taken a “sharp turn for the worse”, due to tit-for-tat sanctions imposed by Beijing and Brussels.

Brussels had announced sanctions last week against officials involved in China’s gross human rights violations against its ethnic Uyghur minority in its northwest Xinjiang region. Beijing retaliated with its own sanctions on 10 EU individuals and four entities, including five members of the European Parliament, or MEPs.
According to Voice of America (VOA), while US-China relations have declined in recent years, the European countries have enjoyed a much softer ride. After years of negotiations, Beijing and Brussels finally struck a deal aimed at liberalizing trade between them in the last days of December.

“The breakthrough was made possible by last-minute concessions from Chinese President Xi Jinping and pushes from German officials. The deal, which remains subject to approval by the European Parliament, would ensure that European investors have better access to the fast-growing Chinese market and can compete on a more level playing field in that country,” VOA reported.

“It is the EU’s first sanctions against China on human rights issues since the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989,” said Grzegorz Stec, an expert at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Germany, one of the four entities sanctioned by China.

Stec told VOA that the EU has imposed sanctions on China for other reasons, including a move against two Chinese people for cyberattacks last year. But this time, he said, “the EU made it clear that it was due to the human rights issue. China clearly regards this issue as China’s internal affair, and China’s countermeasures are unprecedented.”

Among the individuals being sanctioned by China are five MEPs, Raphael Glucksmann, a French MEP and longtime French human rights advocate, said he sees the Chinese action, which includes a ban on visits to the country, as a recognition of his advocacy for Uyghur rights. After his election in 2019, Glucksmann was widely quoted as saying his goal was to become “the voice of the voiceless people.”

“Fortunately, we have worked hard to raise the public’s attention to this issue, which is why they (China) are angry with me,” Glucksmann told VOA.

China’s investment agreement with Europe is in tatters as major parties in the European Parliament are considering withholding support to the trade deal after Beijing imposed sanctions on EU officials.

China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.

Beijing, on the other hand, has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal crackdown on the ethnic community, according to a report. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Yami Gautam on Monday shared a glimpse from the sets of her upcoming thriller movie ‘A Thursday’.

The ‘Bala’ actor took to her Instagram account and shared two images from the sets of her highly-anticipated film.
The highly exposed snaps take the audience to her sets where Yami can be seen delivering a shot for the movie, while the cameras capture her. The caption of the post reads, “DIRECTION OVER SPEED !!”

Earlier this week, the ‘Kaabil’ star also revealed her first look from the upcoming movie, in which she will be portraying the role of a play-school teacher.

Along with the first look, Yami also shared a candid picture of her with the movie’s director Behzad Khambata in the frame.

The snap showed the director-actor duo discussing a scene set in a playschool, where she can be seen sitting at a kids’ table with Lego pieces around her. On the other hand, Behzad could be seen reading to her from a piece of paper, as both of them smiled.

In ‘A Thursday’, Yami will be seen essaying the role of a playschool teacher named Naina Jaiswal, who takes 16 toddlers as hostages.

Along with Yami, this interesting thriller also stars Neha Dhupia, Dimple Kapadia, Atul Kulkarni and Maya Sarao in pivotal roles. Produced by RSVP and Blue Monkey Films, ‘A Thursday’, which commenced its shoot earlier in March, will get a digital release in 2021. (ANI)

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dilip Walse Patil has been given the charge of the Home Department following the resignation of Anil Deshmukh amidst corruption allegations against him.

According to the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray forwarded Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and informed that Dilip Walse Patil will have charge of the Home department now.

Dilip Walse Patil’s Labour department charge is being given to Hasan Mushrif as an additional charge and the state Excise Department will be looked after by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, CMO said.

Deshmukh, who is facing allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, has tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday.

The developments come after Bombay High Court on Monday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to start a preliminary inquiry within 15 days into corruption allegations against Deshmukh by the former Mumbai Police Commissioner.

The court also directed the agency to register an FIR if any cognizable offence is found. The court also stated that Anil Deshmukh is the Home Minister and an impartial probe should be done by the police.

In his plea, Param Bir Singh repeated the graft allegations that he had made against Deshmukh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and also accused the Maharashtra Home Minister of interfering in police investigations and involving in severe “malpractices”.

Singh had earlier written a letter to Thackeray alleging that Deshmukh had indulged in “malpractices” and asked suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crores every month. (ANI)

By Kumar Gaurav

Assam is all set to go into the last phase of polling on Tuesday. This phase will decide the fate of 337 candidates across 40 constituencies of 12 districts in the state, including the senior minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Hemanta Biswa Sarma in the Jalukbari constituency.

There are a total of 12 female candidates and 325 male candidates in the fray, whose fates will be decided by 79,19,641 general electors in the third phase. Of these, 40,11,539 are males, 39,07,963 females and 139 are other genders. There are also 24,460 are service voters.

Apart from Hemanta Biswa Sarma, BJP minister Chandra Mohan Patowary from Dharampur, education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya from Gauhati East, and BJP state chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass from Patacharkuchi are also in the fray in the state.

The fates of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate Phanibhushan Choudhary from Bongaigaon, Bodoland People’s Front’s (BPF) Pramila Rani Brahma from Kokrajhar-East, and Chandan Brahma from Sidli, independent candidate and Lok Sabha MP Naba Hira Kumar Sarania from Barama will also be decided.

From BJP, MLAs Atul Bora from Dispur, and Suman Haripriya from Hajo are also in the fray.

The fate of sitting Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed, former AGP MLA Kamala Kalita from Chaygaon, and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) working president Pabindra Deka from Pathacharkuchi will also be decided in the third phase.

Barama constituency, from where Kokrajhar’s Lok Sabha MP Naba Kumar Sarania is contesting the polls as an Independent candidate will also go into polling in the last phase.

Both NDA and Congress-led Mahajot have done hectic campaigning in the poll-bound constituencies.

From NDA’s camp, top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Jitendra Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan have campaigned in the state. Star campaigners from the Congress party also campaigned for their candidates.

The Congress has stitched a broad alliance called the Mahajot, which includes All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, the Anchalik Gana Marcha (AGM) and the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).

BJP’s alliance includes the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).

Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal has stitched an alliance with Assam Jatiya Parishad.

The main contest is seen to be between the BJP-led NDA and Congress-led Mahajot.

During campaigning, BJP had repeatedly targeted Congress over its alliance with AIUDF and has been raising the issue of infiltration.

BJP leaders claimed that Congress has allied with those who have “favoured infiltration” and allowed AIUDF candidate and its chief Ajmal Badruddin’s son to contest polls who had claimed that this time “lungi, topi and dadhi” people will form the government.

In its poll promises, BJP said if voted to power, it will free the state from the problem of recurrent floods. “We want to make Assam free from floods. Satellite mapping will be done, reservoirs will be created. We want to make every village in the state ‘Aatmanirbhar'”, said BJP’s manifesto for Assam.

Apart from that, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that BJP government in Assam will make Guwahati a ‘Stand-up India’ hub.

Congress, on the other hand, promised five guarantees to the voters of the state that include five lakh government jobs to youth in five years, 200 units of free electricity, taking daily-wage of tea garden workers to Rs 365 and Rs 2,000 per month to homemakers.

Though both parties are claiming victory, the statistics and voting percentage of the last election show the battle is crucial for both NDA and also Mahajot, as in the 2016 assembly Congress and AIUDF fought separately.

In the last election, while Congress got 30.9 per cent of the vote share, AIUDF got 13 per cent of vote share. On the other hand, BJP had 29.5 per cent and its allies AGP and BPF got 8.1 and 3.9 per cent of the votes. As this time Congress and AIUDF are in alliance with other partners, it may create a problem for NDA.

The BJP formed the first party-led government in Assam after securing a thumping win in the 2016 elections. BJP and its allies won 86 out of 126 seats and ousted the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government which ruled the state for 15 years.

This time a total of 337 candidates are in the fray in the last phase of elections in Assam.

To conduct free and fair polls, Election Commission has deputed 17 expenditure observers and 986 micro observers in Assam. Along with that 320 units of Para Military forces, and a party comprising one constable, and one home guard in each police station have been deployed to maintain law and order at polling stations.

Over 79 lakh electors, including 40,11,539 males, 39,07,963 females, and 139 persons of the third gender will cast their votes in this phase. Assam’s Dharmapur constituency with 1,41,592 votes has the lowest number of voters. Dispur LAC constituency with 4,11,636 has the largest number of electors.

Gauhati West constituency with 15 candidates has the highest number of candidates in the fray. The Boko (SC) seat with three candidates has the least number of candidates on the ground.

The first phase took place on March 27 with a voter turnout of nearly 77 per cent, while a voter turnout of nearly 74.76 per cent was recorded in the second phase of polling on April 1.

After the April 6 voting, counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Taking the battle of power beyond West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sitting on a wheelchair on Monday said she will win Bengal on one leg and will emerge victorious in Delhi on two legs.

Addressing a public meeting in Hooghly’s Debanandapur, Banerjee said, “I will not allow capturing Bengal by Gujarat. Those who cannot pronounce Sonar Bangla properly, cannot rule Bengal. My youth will transform Bengal into ‘Biswo Bangla’ (global Bengal).”
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the chief minister said, “BJP, cannot you find a local candidate to contest elections? They do not have locals. All their people are borrowed from either TMC or CPM. They are sprinkling money like water from a hosepipe. I will win Bengal on one leg and in the future, will get victory in Delhi on two legs.”

Notably, Banerjee sustained injuries on her feet last month while campaigning in Nandigram. Following the incident, the chief minister has been campaigning sitting on a wheelchair.

Slamming the Centre, Banerjee said, “What was the need for an eight-phase election? It was done by BJP mandal. Given the present situation (COVID-19), should not they have wrapped up the election within a shorter period of time?”

Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal elections were held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The next phase of polling will take place on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who is facing allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, has tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday.

The developments come after Bombay High Court on Monday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to start a preliminary inquiry within 15 days into corruption allegations against Deshmukh by the former Mumbai Police Commissioner.
The court also directed the agency to register an FIR if any cognizable offence is found.

The court also stated that Anil Deshmukh is the Home Minister and no impartial probe can be done by the police.

In his plea, Param Bir Singh repeated the graft allegations that he had made against Deshmukh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and also accused the Maharashtra Home Minister of interfering in police investigations and involving in severe “malpractices”.

Singh had earlier written a letter to Thackeray alleging that Deshmukh had indulged in “malpractices” and asked suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crores every month. (ANI)

After the high-decibel polling on Thursday in Nandigram, West Bengal is all set to move into the third phase of its Assembly elections on Tuesday.

The voting in this phase of elections will be held in 31 Assembly constituencies in three districts – eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas.
Out of the 205 candidates for the third phase, 192 candidates are men while only 13 are women. It means only 6 per cent of the candidates are female.

Though ruling TMC finds itself strong in these seats, an air of anti-incumbency still can be felt here. While the BJP is targeting the TMC over the issues of corruption in the Amphan relief fund, TMC is banking on its welfare schemes like ‘Duare Sarkar’, ‘Swastho Sathi’ and ‘Kanyashree’ to counter the anti-incumbency wave, which it has highlighted in its power-packed campaigns.

Of the three districts, South 24 Parganas has a significant importance for both the top parties in the fray – Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The district contains 31 Assembly constituencies in total and is known as a TMC stronghold. TMC managed to win 29 of 31 seats in the South 24 Parganas.

While BJP managed to make a dent in the North 24 Parganas in the 2019 elections, it failed to taste victory in South 24 Parganas. Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee won the seat from Diamond Harbour for the second time in 2016 by a margin of over 3 lakh votes.

One of the most important factors in the South 24 Parganas is the Muslim population, which both parties will seek to draw in their favour, who have majorly supported TMC so far. The district is also infamous for intense violence ahead of polls.

Mainly known for the majestic Hooghly river, the Hooghly district houses a significant Scheduled Caste (SC) population, out of which the Bagdi community holds a massive electoral decision. The Arambagh, Goghat and Khanakul areas of the Hooghly district have seen their fair share of violence.

Although considered as a region more favourable for the ruling TMC, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw the BJP winning the Hooghly seat while losing the Arambagh seat to TMC.

During the campaigning ahead of the third phase polls, the Hooghly district became one of the key points of power-packed campaigns from both parties due to its cultural significance. Hooghly houses many heritage and tourist sites such as Antpur Math, Taraknath Temple, Ananta Basudeba temple and more.

Hooghly’s Tarkeshwar constituency will witness a high-stakes battle between BJP’s Swapan Dasgupta, a former Rajya Sabha MP, against TMC’s Ramendu Singha Roy and the Left’s Sujit Ghosh. Dasgupta resigned from the Upper House last month.

For the Arambagh seat in the third phase, TMC is fielding Sujata Mondal Khan, whose husband, Saumitra Khan, is a BJP MP from Bishnupur. Mondal, a former BJP member, had decided to switch to TMC, after which her husband sent her a legal divorce notice.

Popularly known for its iconic Howrah bridge above the Hooghly river, the Howrah district is the hub of engineering and shipbuilding firms, its reputation although got dented in terms of civil infrastructure. Having 16 Assembly constituencies, the district was considered as a bastion of the Left government until its defeat in 2011.

Howrah is also home to a large Muslim population, which has made it a target of polarisation techniques for elections. The district also saw a large number of high-profile campaigns in the run-up to the elections.

The districts of Howrah and Hooghly hold great significance in the upcoming two phases of the West Bengal Assembly polls, where the BJP has increased its presence in the 2019 general elections. Furthermore, several TMC members – including former minister Rajib Banerjee from the Domjur constituency – have defected from the party to join the rival BJP.

Striving to prove that “Bangla nijer meyekei chaye” (Bengal wants her daughter), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee played her hand on the regional cards while calling the BJP as ‘bohiragoto’ (outsider). She tossed the debate of insider versus outsider and spared no stage to launch attacks on the BJP brigade.

The BJP also did not hold back and sent big names to counter Mamata Banerjee’s election rhetoric. The top leadership of the party including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were the star campaigners in Bengal.

TMC government is charged with issues of ‘syndicate raj’, ‘tolabaazi’ (extortion) and corruption in the state. While Prime Minister Modi has been promising BJP’s version of ‘Sonar Bangla’ (prosperous Bengal) in his rallies.

Meanwhile, the Left Front, which had its dominion in these areas once, has kept its campaign relatively in low profile while its candidates held door-to-door canvassing.

Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal polls were held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The fourth phase of polling will take place on April 10. (ANI)