CM rises above politics to keep Bengal in business
KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee the Trinamool Congress chief took a back seat on Monday to let Mamata Banerjee the chief minister take centrestage and, while her lieutenants hit the streets against Congress, she herself brushed off petty politics to focus on her top priority – bring development and big business to Bengal.
So, as her Cabinet juniors notched up the attack on the coalition partner at a rally on Mayo Road, Mamata launched a charm offensive on business leaders a few kilometres away at the Milon Mela Grounds, where she inaugurated her government’s first major industry event. The chief minister drew the line between political leader and administrator even as the Congress high command in New Delhi hinted that it was keen on keeping the alliance with Trinamool Congress, both at the Centre and the state.
Promising industrialists, some of whom had flown in from other cities and abroad to hear the chief minister’s business pitch, Mamata assured an initially non-reactive audience that her government was not against industry. “If anyone wants to set up industry in Bengal, all you need to do is send us a proposal. Land ceiling won’t be a problem. I have already constituted a committee on industry and infrastructure that will examine a proposal and give clearance in seven days. The government has already cleared seven such proposals,” she said.
Sensing the sentiments of Marwari businessmen, some of whom feel let down by the way non-executive directors of the AMRI Hospitals have been put in custody after the fire on December 9, the chief minister tried to cheer them up. “Let us not talk about individuals. A murder is a murder. The government is all for industry,” she said.
Rally for release of kids taken away in Norway
KOLKATA: The city of processions is going to witness a rally with a difference on Monday. The procession – a non-political one – will be taken out to demand the release of two Indian children from a Norwegian agency.
The procession that will start from Rabindra Sadan will go to the office of Norway’s honorary consul near Rabindra Sarobar.
The two children – Avigyan, 3, and Aiswarya, 1, had been taken away from their parents by the childcare agency in last May. The Indian embassy in Norway has stepped in to reunite the kids with their parents following a request from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Relatives, neighbours and well-wishers of the children will be participating in the rally, said Monotosh Chakraborty, grandfather of the children. “We have got a very good response from various social networking sites as well and many people are willing to participate in the rally.”
Sagarika Bhattacharya, the mother of the kids, hopes that the rally will help put pressure on the agency to return her children. “I am still hopeful that the Norway government will take initiative to give me back my children.”
Bratya invites student unions to talks table
KOLKATA: State education minister Bratya Basu on Sunday invited all student unions to come to the discussion table to bring an end to the campus violence erupting in various colleges across the state.
On the sidelines of a programme at Taki Government Boys’ School, Basu said, “I have instructed the Higher Education Council to frame a comprehensive guideline on college union elections and its procedures. I am also seeking suggestions from the expert committee on higher education.
“Students support ideologies of various political parties and are members of different organizations like Chhatra Parishad, Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Organization (DSO) and others. But this state is ours and we cannot allow disruption inside education institutions. I believe that more than politics, it is important that students realize the political ideologies they believe in. Their identity as students is far more important.”
SFI welcomed the approach to call all student unions for a discussion. However, they took a strong stand against the arrest of three SFI students who had allegedly beaten up the principal of Majdia College in Nadia.
“We knew that Trinamool was preparing to organize another incident to frame SFI members. Minister Bobby Hakim and the chief minister herself came out in support of the accused and claimed that it was a momentary lapse by young people,” said SFI state President Kaustav Chatterjee. He added that it was unjustifiable that the likes of Tilak Chaudhury were released on bail while SFI members have been charged with non-bailable section and were remanded in 14-day judicial custody.
According to the SFI leader, “Sarajendranath Kar of Sudhir Ranjan Lahiri College of Majdia had given interviews after the incident while he was sitting by a local Trinamool leader whom he had called up immediately after the incident. Moreover, he himself has acknowledged that he was constantly in touch with Manik Bhattacharyya, the president of principal’s council. We all are aware that Bhattacharyya was a candidate of Trinamool in the elections. Thus, his activities and suggestions are not above question. The principle had also called up Bratya Basu. The education minister needs to rise above petty party politics. But he is not doing that at the moment.”
SFI will hold a students’ demonstration at Krishnagar Collector’s Crossing. “We will wear black batches and observe “black day” inside colleges in Kolkata. SFI students of Asutosh College will take out a procession from Lake Market and block Hazra crossing. We will also burn the effigy of the CM,” Chatterjee said.
Basu strongly refused of talking to Sarajendranath Kar after the incident. “I have not at all spoken to him in any way and law will take its own course,” the minister said.
Baishwanar Chattopadhyay, chairman of TMCP said, “We welcome the decision of the education minister to call us to the talks table. This is a nice gesture. College elections should be a healthy competition.”
President of West Bengal Chhatra Parishad Rahul Roy said, “The incidents that are taking place on different campuses are undesirable. If the government plans to take any positive step, we will definitely participate. We shall express our concerns in the meeting.”
Students support ideologies of different political parties. But this state is ours and we cannot allow disruption inside institutions. I believe that more than politics, it is important that students realize the political ideologies they believe in. Their identity as students is far more important
Bratya Basu | Education minister
Service to mankind to mark RKM’s celebrations
KOLKATA: While the rest of the state is gearing up to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on January 12, the Ramakrishna Math and Mission has decided to celebrate Swamiji’s birth anniversary from 2013 to 2014. The Mission will spent Rs 250 crore for special projects keeping in mind Swamiji’s mantra of service to humanity. Of the total fund required, the Centre has sanctioned Rs 100 crore which is being disbursed in phases.
The projects have been divided into two categories: Those which are being sponsored by the Centre and those funded by RKM. However, focus of each of these projects remains propagation of Swamiji’s teachings, value education and service to marginalized people and most importantly, empowerment of women, said senior monks of RKM.
To ensure implementation and execution of each of these projects, a national committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been constituted for the Centre-sponsored projects. An implementation committee, led by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, has also been formed.The working of the committees will be guided by the general secretary of RKM, Swami Prabhananda.
Celebration for Swamiji’s birth anniversary will not be restricted to India alone. Keeping in mind the universality of the legendary spiritual leader’s teachings, RKM plans to take the celebration to an international level. A whole range of programmes is, hence, being drawn up, along with Unesco headquarter in Paris, to draw the attention of the global audience. A series of publications on the life, works and teachings of Swamiji have been lined up. These will be published in all major Indian languages, several dialects and tribal languages. Plans are afoot to publish these in select foreign languages as well.
Two feature films in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation have also been lined up apart from an animation film to be produced by the RKM Institute of Culture, Golpark. Filmmaker Gautam Ghosh has been roped to prepare the script for the films and oversee their making. The Mission will set up counselling cells for youths, parents and professionals, on how to live life and serve mankind and the country. A series of seminars involving national and international scholars are also being drawn up.
To make Swamiji’s teachings familiar among schoolchildren, RKM has decided to design an animated e-book that will not only talk about Swamiji’s life and inspiration, but will also talk about leading personalities of the country who have been influenced by Swamiji.
Among the programmes that will not be sponsored by the Centre is re-enactment of the famous speeches delivered by Swamiji at places where they were originally delivered like Colombo, Jaffna, Khetri, Shillong and Dhaka. “Our aim is to bring about the creation of a healthy and knowledgeful society through all the celebratory programmes that we have lined up,” said Swami Shubhakarananda, spokesperson for RKM, looking after the 150th birth anniversary celebrations.
Subhojyoti Kanjilal
TMC man to head Raiganj college
RAIGANJ: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier described the attack on Raiganj College principal Dilip De Sarkar as unfortunate and termed it a “joint CPM-Congress conspiracy”. She had alleged that Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) activists had been caught in a trap. “Congress had laid a trap for the last four days,” she had said.
Mamata hadn’t spared the college administration either. “The college authorities didn’t act impartially. Trinamool leaders had gone to rescue the TMCP supporters. The officer in charge (OC) also didn’t act. We have removed the OC,” she had said.
But despite the public posturing, she had sent Madan Mitra to Raiganj to resolve the crisis. De Sarkar’s resignation was accepted at an advisory committee meeting of the North Bengal University VC on Sunday.
Satrughna Sinha, a senior teacher who had recently joined Trinamool Congress, was named the new teacher in charge replacing De Sarkar.
Campus heat forces rejig of TMC’s N Dinajpur unit
RAIGANJ: Under intense pressure from all quarters following the humiliating attack on the principal of Raiganj College by members of its students’ wing, Trinamool Congress on Sunday indulged in some firefight by purging its North Dinajpur unit.
Tilak Chowdhury, who allegedly led Thursday’s assault on principal Dilip De Sarkar, was removed as working president of the party’s North Dinajpur unit. Asim Ghosh, president of the unit, too, was removed. It wasn’t immediately known whether Chowdhury would continue to be a member of the party’s allcrucial North Bengal core committee. In spite of his “working president” designation , Chowdhury was the party’s main face in the district with the president playing a largely ineffective role.
Initially defiant, Chowdhury didn’t find any popular support in the district leadership on which he had a vice-like grip till the other day, after state sports minister Madan Mitra rushed to Raiganj to defuse the fallout over the college fiasco. Mitra was on Sunday appointed observer of the party in North Dinajpur.
The move against Chowdhury was expected after he was “asked” to surrender in court on Saturday. He was among the leaders named in the FIR for assaulting De Sarkar and vandalizing the college.
“From today, MLA Amol Acharya will be the president of Uttar Dinajpur district president in place of Asim Ghosh,” Mitra said after a meeting of the district party unit. Denying that the reshuffle was related to the college fiasco, Mitra said: “It is a routine change. It will be advantageous for a local MLA to run the district organization.”
Acharya, the MLA from Itahar, had left Congress prior to the assembly election to join Trinamool. In reply to a specific question on Chowdhury’s designation , Mitra said, “Tilakbabu did not express his wish to hold any post.”
Bratya invites student unions to talks table
In an attempt to end campus violence, state education minister Bratya Basu on Sunday invited all student unions to the talks table. He has instructed the Higher Education Council to frame a comprehensive guideline on college union elections and its procedures and will also seek suggestions from the expert committee on higher education on the matter. The SFI welcomed the move by the minister, but said Basu should rise above petty party politics.
Cong has tough time managing allies
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: A day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee told Congress it was free to leave the coalition in the state, the central Congress leadership asked its state unit leaders to resolve their differences with the Trinamool leadership and refrain from making “personal attacks” .
“Any issue can definitely be brought to the notice of the government. But I have requested both Congress and Trinamool leaders to refrain from (personal) attacks on each other. These aren’t desirable among alliance partners ,” Shakeel Ahmed, Congress general secretary in charge of West Bengal, told TOI on Sunday.
Stressing that local issues should be sorted out at the local level, Ahmed said, “It doesn’t look well that alliance partners are fighting each other just after six months of coming to power.”
Dismissing the possibility of Mamata parting ways with Congress , senior party leader Salman Khurshid said there was need for “better communication” between the two allies to rebuild trust by ironing out “disagreements” behind closed doors.
“I don’t think we should read too much into these things. I would certainly imagine if we can avoid them, good. Even in our disagreement we can put them across in closed doors…. I hope something like this will be worked out,” he said in New Delhi.
However, despite instructions from the central leadership, the state unit of Congress showed no sign of toning down its aggressive pitch on Sunday. State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya indicated in New Delhi that there wouldn’t be any rollback in their statewide agitation. “Has anything been declared for the farmers? Have the suicides stopped?” he told reporters. Bhattacharya also met Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee late at night.
Seth & co give CPM conference a miss
TAMLUK: Has CPM in East Midnapore come out of the Lakshman Seth era? The question did the rounds during an open session of the party’s district conference at the Tamluk College ground on Friday. If Seth was prominent in his absence, so were the men who ran the show at his instructions.
Mired in a controversy over land acquisition in Nandigram and the private medical college, the Haldia strongman withdrew himself from the show along with his trusted lieutenants. Seth’s absence was so striking that CPM state secretary Biman Bose came forward to offer an explanation. “The manner in which the new government is targeting CPM leaders and workers by slapping false cases on them is indicative of a political vendetta. This is why many couldn’t turn up at the conference,” he said.
Bose kept up his attack on the plight of farmers as well. “Instead of this infighting, they (Congress and Trinamool) should focus more on how to resolve farmers’ plight,” Bose said.
Top leaders who didn’t attend the meet were Nandigram’s Asoke Guria and Asoke Bera and Khejuri’s Himangshu Das and Bijon Ray – all CPM’s East Midnapore district secretariat members. Bose announced that the party would distribute the responsibilities of those who went underground.
The venue this time also shifted from the heart of Tamluk town to its fringes along the NH-41, perhaps to ensure a smooth passage for CPM politburo members Biman Bose, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and leader of the Opposition Surjyakanta Mishra. The leaders went to the gathering to boost the sagging morale of the party activists.
Bhattacharjee also harped on the vindictive decisions of the government. “The new government is pursuing a single agenda – attack and slap false cases against CPM men and supporters. This may create problem to bring back people into our fold,” he said.
Mishra, too, said much the same, “Attacks and false cases against our supporters are increasing. This is why many didn’t turn up in fear. In 1968-72, we’d to spend some time in wilderness. We returned to create history. “
The reverberations of Seth’s absence from the party conference were also felt in the Trinamool ranks. Trinamool’s state secretary Mamud Hussain said, “Neither Seth nor any of these leaders are mentioned in any FIR nor has any court issued summons against them. Where is the question of arrest then? Actually, they are scared of their misdeeds.” However, it is not known whether Seth will make it to the closed door session of the party conference.
Protesters hold traffic to ransom
KOLKATA: The chaos and indiscipline at Raiganj College cast its ugly shadow on Kolkata on Friday. Protesting against the assault on the Raiganj College principal, allegedly by Trinamool Congress leaders and supporters, Chhatra Parishad supporters blocked two vital stretches of the city and triggered prolonged traffic snarls that even left ambulances stranded for a long time.
Chhatra Parishad, the Congress’ students’ wing, first staged an agitation from 12.35 pm to 12.55 pm at the Mahatma Gandhi Road-College Street crossing, choking both the vital roads. Hundreds of vehicles, including ambulances, were caught in the snarl. Since it was also time for schools to shut, students were caught in the snarl on their way back home.
When the patients’ families requested the agitators to make room for ambulances, they were curtly told that it was not possible.
Since Calcutta Medical College Hospital, the biggest hospital in Kolkata, lies on College Street, these two roads are mostly used for accessing the hospital. Naturally, many ambulances got stuck on their way. “A five-minute blockade invariably leads to an hourlong snarl at this crossing. Just imagine how complex the problem became when the blockade was half-an-hour-long,” said a traffic police officer.
Around 13.05 pm, the agitation shifted to Hazra crossing in front of Asutosh College. Traffic was instantly thrown out of gear along Hazra Road and SP Mukherjee Road. Since Hazra crossing has hospitals like Chittaranjan Cancer Institute and Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, ambulances again got stuck.
A large number of homebound students were found waiting in cars and buses. They did not know when they could return home. The cascading impact was felt on even parallel roads like Sarat Bose Road and Harish Mukherjee Road.
As if this was not enough, Chhatra Parishad also took out a rally with 60 to 70 people at the Phears Lane-BB Ganguly Street crossing to protest the same issue. Police arrested 14 men and two women from the spot. Around 2.30 pm, Chhatra Parishad also staged a snap demonstration in front of Writers’ Buildings from where 26 people were arrested.
Earlier, the CPM’s students’ wing SFI formed a human chain in front of Calcutta University’s College Street campus. They also burnt an effigy of education minister Bratya Basu.
The chaos and resultant snarl that did not even spare ambulances carrying ailing persons, was strongly condemned by the intelligentsia. Educationist Sunanda Sanyal described such attempts of paralyzing the city as an extension of criminalization of politics. “Such agitations will not take us anywhere. Only chaos and anarchy will prevail.”
Writer Sunil Gangopadhyay said: “I felt restless and agitated when I found how common people were being taken for a ride. I really doubt whether these political parties gain any mileage out of such agitations. They only invite scorn.”
Cong acting like Kalidas, says Hakim
KOLKATA: Urban development minister Firhad Hakim on Friday reminded Congress leaders that the party was an ally of the Trinamool Congress in Bengal and that Congress cannot run the show at the Centre without Trinamool.
Urging the Congress leaders not to play the role of Kalidas, who had cut off the very branch he was sitting on, Hakim conveyed his party’s displeasure as Chhatra Parishad organized blockades in various parts of the city on Friday. They even burnt an effigy of Mamata Banerjee on the issue of assault on the Raigunj College principal. Hakim termed it a “small incident”.
“There are bigger issues to be resolved,” he said. “Congress needs the support of Trinamool for running the government at the Centre. But here, we are confident that we can run the government on our own. If Congress does not rule at the Centre, these state Congress leaders will have little value,” he added. Hakim hoped that the AICC would stop these leaders. “Mamata Banerjee wants to respect everyone and so, is still quiet,” said Hakim.
