oppn parties West Bengal: The Political War Hots Up

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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
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  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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West Bengal: The Political War Hots Up

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-19 01:35:07

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Despite the brave front being put up by the Trinamool Congress, it is obvious that the party is rattled by the spate of resignations from MLAs. Within 24 hours, 4 of them have resigned from their seats. All of them are likely to join the BJP. It started with the Midnapore district strongman Suvendhu Adhikari. Since he was showing signs of rebellion for a long time and since he was a frontline leader, the others were waiting for a cue from him. They are now following his trail.

This seems to be the tip of the iceberg. It seems that the suppressed anger - mainly against the promotion of Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee at the cost of those leaders who have been with the party since its inception and the way political strategist Prashant Kishore has taken over the party apparatus in the run up to the state polls next year - will now manifest itself in many resignations from leaders in various districts.

But this has become the feature of almost all political parties in India. The Congress has always been a family firm. The Samajvadi Party in UP, Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar, DMK in Tamil Nadu, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha have all followed the same policy of promoting the family. Mamata Banerjee has just followed the trend. It seems in politics in India, blood runs thicker than comradeship.

But the difference lies in the struggle faced by the indomitable lady and the comrades who stood by her in those times. They will obviously feel let down when someone who was not even in the picture when they were plotting the downfall of the Left Front and who was not even heard of when they were standing beside Mamata Banerjee during her many dharnas against the tyranny of the Communists. They think that Abhishek Banerjee has had everything handed to him on a platter and is now telling them how to run the show in tandem with Prashant Kishore. Some of them are accepting it as Mamata has asked them to. But others who feel they are being sidelined will leave the party, as they have already started doing.

But does the TMC have an option? Bombarded from all sides by the BJP and seeing the saffron party make inroads in the state, the party has realized that old responses will not work. Hence, it has appointed Kishore as advisor. Since Kishore has an admirable track record (Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, Jagan Reddy in Telangana), and since his style of working is different, once the party decided to hire him they have decided to go the whole hog. Kishore's efforts are paying off. There has been a perceptible change in Mamata Banerjee's image. The government has seen to have become more responsive to the people. There have been many people-centric schemes that have been launched, like the Duare Sarkar (or the government at your door) whereby the benefits of government schemes are being delivered to the people almost at their doorstep.

It remains to be seen how the TMC is able to counter the BJP's blatantly divisive campaign with its governance record. The BJP has also unleashed all weapons, including browbeating the bureaucracy and creating divisions in the TMC, to win in West Bengal. One only hopes that all this does not translate into increasing violence (political violence has always been a fact of life in the state) in the 5 months or so that remain before elections are held in the state. 

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