#west bengal elections

[india-times]

Left-Congress Combine Dents BJP's Prospects in Bengal: Analyzing the Impact

In the latest election cycle, the Left-Congress alliance emerged as a formidable force, significantly affecting the BJP’s performance in West Bengal. Despite the BJP banking on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to win over voters, the combined opposition of the Left and Congress, along with other factors, played a crucial role in the BJP’s setbacks. The Left-Congress alliance secured 12% of…

[enigma-the-mysterious]

Yeah, TMC and BJP are equally bad but the leftist parties in Bengal aren't shit either. The 34 years of CPM rule is a bloodstained history.

Yeah, all this is to say that my state is truly fucked from all sides

[kailash-se-birha]

Why doesn't BJP do more or anything to protect its cadre in West Bengal? Mamta Banerjee is what a dictator would actually look like. Her and her TMC goons go around fear mongering ordinary voters and killing opposition (BJP and CPIM) karyakartas. The Bengal police are basically Mamta Banerjee's lapdog at this point, no fucking accountability. All of this after 400 companies of CAPF have been deployed.

I wouldn't be opposed to this being implemented in Bengal (by the Bengal High Court).

All of this is happening as the left rejoices about Kangana Ranaut getting slapped. For anybody that wonders 'Democracy will be restored' if Indi Alliance had won, just show them the leftist apathy towards post poll violence in West Bengal because of the INC TMC kinship. They have no morals, standards, or principles. Now UP is no longer a cow belt and Bengal is the bastion of progressivism.

[buttercuparry]

See I don't know if I should support the ban of The Kerala Story or not. On one hand it acts like a catalyst that further tries to incite hate and divide on communal and religious lines. It absolutely is a propaganda in a atmosphere where islamophobia is rampant and where the nationalist hindutva freaks are constantly looking for anything and everything to justify their hate. But my question is won't this ban be politicized and used as "see! They want to hide something! That's why they are suppressing our voice and banning the film under the guise of secularism!" Etc etc. Besides what about a free media? But then again after what people have done with The Kashmir Files, where the violence that happened was exaggerated and the exaggeration then got used to instill a feeling of being at war with a religious community, it doesn't take much to conclude that the Kerala story too is a work of the same political genre. So I personally don't know what to say. Like in the US you have copaganda. Is it better to ban those shows? Or to let it run but form your own educated decisions.

Can it even be compared because in India it is a propaganda against a community and the resulting boiled over pots would be riots and targeted assaults on the people of the community

[itwillallbeokay]

Election season in my state is fucking nightmare times for us. Truly. The feeling of hearing the names of those dead. The fear that comes when you realise that there is no law and order here.

[voicebrodcasting]

Bulk Voice Calls for Elections in Dadra

Fuel your political campaign with the power of your voice to connect with voters like never before. Maximize the reach of your political campaign with go2market's voice broadcasting service.

[rightnewshindi]

चुनाव आयोग का बड़ा एक्शन; पश्चिम बंगाल के डीजीपी को बदला, विवेक सहाय संभालेंगे कमान

चुनाव आयोग का बड़ा एक्शन; पश्चिम बंगाल के डीजीपी को बदला, विवेक सहाय संभालेंगे कमान

Kolkata News: 17 मार्च निर्वाचन आयोग के निर्देश के बाद पश्चिम बंगाल सरकार ने सोमवार को विवेक सहाय को राज्य का नया पुलिस महानिदेशक DGP नियुक्त किया। सूत्रों ने यह जानकारी दी। यह नियुक्ति आयोग द्वारा राजीव कुमार को डीजीपी पद से हटाने के कुछ घंटों के भीतर की गई। वर्ष 1988 बैच के आईपीएस अधिकारी सहाय महानिदेशक एवं कमांडेंट जनरल (होमगार्ड) के पद पर तैनात थे। कुमार को पिछले साल दिसंबर में राज्य का…

[sujaynews123]

Panchayat Election 2023 TMC Candidate List, Result Date

Reed more

[india-times]

Left-Congress Combine Dents BJP's Prospects in Bengal: Analyzing the Impact

In the latest election cycle, the Left-Congress alliance emerged as a formidable force, significantly affecting the BJP’s performance in West Bengal. Despite the BJP banking on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to win over voters, the combined opposition of the Left and Congress, along with other factors, played a crucial role in the BJP’s setbacks.

The Left-Congress alliance secured 12% of the vote across West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats, influencing the outcomes in at least 12 seats. Their presence also impacted the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in three to four seats in North Bengal. The coalition, comprising popular and senior leaders, aimed to maximize their seat count. While they did not increase their tally significantly, their vote share saw a notable rise.

Election Data Insights

According to Election Commission data, the Congress-Left combine’s performance notably affected TMC’s chances in seats like Balurghat, Raigunj, and Maldaha Uttar. For instance, in Maldaha Uttar and Raigunj, Congress candidates secured over 2 and 3 lakh votes respectively, contributing to TMC’s losses in these constituencies by margins of 77,708 and 68,197 votes.

In terms of specific outcomes, the Congress contested 12 seats, winning one — Maldaha Dakshin — and securing second place in Baharampur and Jangipur with a 19% vote share. A senior Congress leader noted an increase in their vote share compared to the 2021 Assembly election, particularly in North Bengal and Murshidabad.

The Left’s Impact in South Bengal

In South Bengal, the CPI(M) managed to regain a minor share of the Hindu vote, previously consolidated in favor of the BJP. This shift was crucial in affecting the BJP’s prospects in around a dozen seats. For example, in Asansol, BJP’s S S Ahluwalia lost by 59,564 votes, while the CPI(M) candidate secured over 1 lakh votes, contributing to TMC’s Shatrughan Sinha’s victory. Similarly, in Arambagh, the CPI(M) secured over 92,000 votes, narrowing the TMC’s winning margin to 6,399 votes.

The CAA’s Limited Impact

The BJP’s reliance on the CAA to win over the Matua community, which has around 1.5 crore Dalit members who migrated from Bangladesh, did not yield the expected results. Despite the BJP notifying the CAA rules ahead of the polls, their performance in the six Matua-dominated seats was underwhelming. The BJP retained Bangaon and Ranaghat with a slight dip in vote share but lost Cooch Behar. TMC retained the other three Matua-dominated seats — Krishnanagar, Barasat, and Bardhaman Purba.

TMC’s Counter Campaign

BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya accused TMC of misleading the Matua community regarding the CAA, creating fear and confusion about potential detention camps. TMC’s campaign effectively countered the BJP’s narrative, maintaining their hold on significant Matua-dominated constituencies.

Conclusion

The Left-Congress combine played a crucial role in shaping the electoral landscape in West Bengal, affecting both BJP and TMC’s performances in various constituencies. The combined opposition’s strategic influence, along with local factors and effective counter-campaigns, underscores the complex dynamics at play in Bengal’s political arena. As the dust settles, these results highlight the importance of coalition politics and voter perception in determining electoral outcomes.

[rebel-bulletin]

पक्षातील नेते आक्रमक : ‘या’ पक्षाचं थेट निवडणूक आयोगालाच आव्हान

कोलकाता : केंद्रीय निवडणूक आयोगाने सोमवारी तृणमूल काँग्रेसचा राष्ट्रीय पक्षाचा दर्जा काढून घेतला आहे. त्यामुळे आता राष्ट्रीय पक्षाच्या यादीत टीएमसीचा समावेश नसणार. त्यामुळे निवडणूक आयोगाच्या या निर्णयाचा टीएमसीने निषेध व्यक्त केला आहे. एएनआय या वृत्तसंस्थेने सांगितले की, टीएमसी आता या निर्णयाला आव्हान देण्यासाठी कायदेशीर पर्याय शोधत आहे. त्यामुळे टीएमसी आणि सत्ताधारी हा वाद विकोपाला जाण्याची…

[shehzadi]

increasing anti-muslim violence in india. 3 lynchings in the last week in west bengal alone. more murders, more abuse, more torture is expected at this point against indian muslims and kashmiris (x), given upcoming elections and hindutva’s growing obsession with emulating israel. who better to take inspiration from if you intend to eradicate an entire group of people and steal land?

[boc-news]

মেঘালয়ে ভোটে জিতলে চালু হবে লক্ষ্মীর ভাণ্ডার, ঘোষণা করলেন মুখ্যমন্ত্রী

মেঘালয়ে (Meghalaya) পরিবর্তনের ডাক দিলেন পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় (Mamata Banerjee)। ২০২৩ সালের ফেব্রুয়ারি মাসে মেঘালয় বিধানসভা নির্বাচন (Meghalaya Assembly Election)। ওই নির্বাচনে তৃণমূল কংগ্রেসকে (TMC) নির্বাচিত করার অনুরোধ করলেন তৃণমূল সুপ্রিমো। এদিন তিনি বলেন, “গুয়াহাটি থেকে মেঘালয় শাসন করা যাবে না। কেন উত্তর পূর্বকে এত অবহেলা করা হচ্ছে? মেঘালয়ের মানুষই মেঘালয়…

[reasonsforhope]

"It was widely described as the week that India’s beleaguered democracy was pulled back from the brink. As the election results rolled in on Tuesday [June 4, 2024], all predictions and polls were defied as Narendra Modi lost his outright majority for the first time in a decade while the opposition re-emerged as a legitimate political force. On Sunday evening, Modi will be sworn in as prime minister yet many believe his power and mandate stands diminished.

For one opposition politician in particular, the humbling of the strongman prime minister was a moment to savour. Late last year, Mahua Moitra, one of the most outspoken critics of Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), found herself unceremoniously expelled from parliament and kicked out of her bungalow, after what she described as a “political witch-hunt” for daring to stand up to Modi.

The murky and allegedly undemocratic circumstances of Moitra’s expulsion from parliament was seen by many to symbolise Modi’s approach to dissenting voices and the steady erosion of India’s democracy. She was among several vocal opposition politicians who were subjected to investigations by government crime agencies.

But having won a landslide re-election in her home state of West Bengal, Moitra will return once again to parliament, part of the newly empowered opposition coalition. “I can’t wait,” said Moitra. “They went to egregious lengths to discredit and destroy me and abused every process to do it. If I had gone down, it would have meant that brute force had triumphed over democracy.”

While he may be returning for a historic third term, many have portrayed the results as something of a defeat for Modi, who has had to rely on coalition partners to form a government. The BJP’s campaign had been solely centred around him – even the manifesto was titled “Modi’s guarantee” – and in many constituencies, local BJP candidates often played second fiddle to the prime minister, who loomed large over almost every seat. He told one interviewer he believed his mandate to rule was given directly by God.

“Modi’s aura was invincibility, that the BJP could not win elections without him,” said Moitra. “But the people of India didn’t give him a simple majority. They were voting against authoritarianism and they were voting against fascism. This was an overwhelming, resounding anti-Modi vote.”

During his past decade in power, Modi and the BJP enjoyed a powerful outright majority and oversaw an unprecedented concentration of power under the prime minister’s office, where key decisions were widely known to be made by a select few.

The Modi government was accused of imposing various authoritarian measures, including the harassment and arrest of critics under terrorism laws, while the country tumbled in global democracy and press freedom rankings. Modi never faced a press conference or any committee of accountability for the often divisive actions of his government. Politicians regularly complained that parliament was simply reduced to a rubber-stamping role for the BJP’s Hindu-first agenda.

Yet on Tuesday [June 40, it became clear that the more than 25 opposition parties, united as a coalition under the acronym INDIA, had inflicted substantial losses on the BJP to take away its simple majority. Analysts said the opposition’s performance was all the more remarkable given that the BJP stands accused of subverting and manipulating the election commission, as well as putting key opposition leaders behind bars and far outspending all other parties on its campaign. The BJP has denied any attempts to skew the election in its favour.

“This election proved that the voter is still the ultimate king,” said Moitra. “Modi was so shameless, yet despite them using every tool they had to engineer this election to their advantage, our democracy fought back.”

Moitra said she was confident it was “the end of Mr Modi’s autocratic way of ruling”. Several of the parties in the BJP’s alliance who he is relying on for a parliamentary majority and who will sit in Modi’s cabinet do not share his Hindu nationalist ideology...

Moitra was not alone in describing this week’s election as a reprieve for the troubling trajectory of India’s democracy. Columns heralding that the “mirror has cracked” and the “idea of India is reborn” were plastered across the country’s biggest newspapers, and editorials spoke of the end of “supremo syndrome”. “The bulldozer now has brakes,” wrote the Deccan Chronicle newspaper. “And once a bulldozer has brakes, it becomes just a lawnmower.” ...

“This was not a normal election, it was clearly an unfair and unlevel playing field,” said Yadav. “But still, there is now a hope and a possibility that the authoritarian element could be reversed.”

Harsh Mander, one of India’s most prominent human rights and peace activists who is facing numerous criminal investigations for his work, called the election the “most important in India’s post independence history”, adding: “The resilience of Indian democracy has proved to be spectacular.”

He said it was encouraging that an “intoxication of majoritarian hate politics” had not ultimately shaped the outcome, referring to Modi’s apparent attempts to stir up religious animosity on the campaign trail as he referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

“The past decade has seen the freedom of religion and the freedom of conscience and dissent taken away,” said Mander. “If this election had gone fully the BJP way, then India would not remain a constitutional secular democracy.”"

-via The Guardian, June 9, 2024

[enigma-the-mysterious]

Day 2 of Doctor's Strike in West Bengal

Context: A second year female PGT doctor was raped and murdered at night while she was on duty in R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata. This is our protest against such a heinous crime

Statements from various institutions and associations in solidarity with the movement, calling for action and strikes

Federation of Resident Doctors' Association India.

They have announced a nationwide halting of elective services in hospitals starting from Monday.

Jadavpur University.

They have pledged their solidarity with the movement in our quest for justice

Medical College, Kolkata, Resident Doctors' Association

The junior doctors have ceased work and withdrawn all their services from the hospital.

Indian Medical Association

They have issued a 48 hour ultimatum

[sapphirerogers]

মনের মানুষ - Soulmate

[Steve Rogers x Indian!bengali!GN!reader

Summary: your heart is aching for a home that no longer exists. Steve finds you in the middle of emotional turmoil.

Warning: homesickness, childhood trauma if you squint, mention of political disturbance, fluff, cursing, Steve being an absolute sweetheart, Steve also getting the feels]

After the third round of knocking incessantly at your bedroom door, Steve huffed. He didn't want to intrude, in case you weren't decent or something.

"Sorry y/n," he muttered before twisting the handle, fully expecting to find it closed, unyielding.

His eyes widened, first in mild surprise at the ease with which he'd made it in: no locked doors. Then in shock, since his favourite person - you - was currently curled up on the floor, facing the sunset. Knees pulled up to your chest and tears streaming down your face as you whimpered softly now and then.

The next emotion was confusion at the music playing in the room - something that sounded like a folk song sung by a gravelly male voice in a language he didn't understand. However, he'd heard you speak or sing in it to yourself enough to know it was Bengali.

He joined you on the floor, quietly tapping your arm.

You turned your head to look at him, making no effort to wipe away the salty moisture on your cheeks. "I miss home."

Three words. Just three words from you tugged violently on his heart-strings, making him scoot closer and wrap his arms around you, pulling you closer. You let him engulf you, finding comfort in him.

He didn't bother asking any questions. He knew the answers. Unfair elections and totalitarian practices had completely destroyed the political opposition in India five years ago. You'd watched democracy fall apart slowly but surely within fifteen years. Your beloved state of West Bengal, safe from the ruling party till then, had been overpowered too.

You'd run. You'd wished you could stay and do something, be a patriot, but you'd run. Forced yourself to throw yourself and your best efforts into medical school, even if your heart had ached for a different subject instead. You'd clenched your jaw and survived five years of suffocating dictatorship (nobody ever called it that but that's what it was) and communal riots. Then, the moment you'd graduated, you'd packed your things and left your homeland for a stable future.

You hadn't taken anyone with you. Your family wasn't the best and you'd made the decision to go no contact with them while still in high school. You'd lied to them about where you would be living, promised them you'd call. At the airport, just before boarding, you'd sent your mother the final text you'd silently prepared beforehand, listing everything she'd done wrong and refused to make up for and why you felt wronged. You'd apologised for being so harsh, and for abandoning them, but explained that you needed to protect yourself and you couldn't do it while staying with them. Then you'd thrown away your phone.

It was for the best, for your best, but you still missed the carefree life of your early years. Carefree, not in the sense that you weren't being hurt over and over, but carefree in the sense that you were naïve enough not to realise you were being hurt. You were alone in this new environment. Yes, you'd found friends, you'd found Steve. But a part of you still felt lonely.

Steve knew all of this. He'd held you close the day you poured all of it out. And he held you close now as the homesickness returned.

"I'm a fucking coward," you sniffle. "I should've stayed and tried to fight. Spoken up. Done something. Said something. Anything. I didn't even try. Like a selfish bitch."

He pressed a kiss to your head, stroking your hair and shushing you. He'd save that conversation for later. Right now you didn't need a response from him, you needed to let your feelings out. He'd always be here to wipe your tears away and get you back on your feet.

You hugged him tighter, and he pulled you into his lap, leaning against the bed as he closed his eyes, focusing on the song playing on loop.

Weirdly, it felt like home. Nevermind that he understood nothing. There was something earthen and rustic about the song and its ambience, something that called to him. He thought of his mother. A little voice in him said she'd love this music too. He felt his own eyes water as well, and blinked to prevent them from spilling.

You turned in his arms a little so now your back was to his chest, and you both watched the sun go down in silence.

When you'd calmed down, he brought one of your hands up to his lips. "Do you feel like going out and getting some ice cream? Or brownies?"

You giggled - despite the surge of emotions earlier. "I'd love that. Thank you," you met his calm and loving eyes, genuine gratitude in your own.

"Of course, honey."

Minutes later, as you held on to him from behind while his motorcycle wove in and out of traffic, you felt some of the weight lifting off your chest. Life had been rough, but it was better now. You were better now. Safe and loved. You'd be okay, right?

You rubbed his arm softly. He found your hand and squeezed it three times at a red light.

Yeah, you'd be okay.

[AN: This is the direct product of me being homesick, while sitting in my hometown, and being terrified for the future. Steve is my comfort character so I wrote this solely to calm myself; this is the most self-indulgent piece I've ever written. I know most of you won't relate to this much, but I hope that for once, you can put yourself in my place and at least try to understand the emotions in this fic rather than agonise over the details which don't apply to you.

AN 2: India is quasi-federal in structural, meaning while there is a Prime Minister to govern the entire country, every state also has their individual Chief Minister and Cabinet of Ministers for the affairs of said state. The party in power at the Centre isn't always the ruling party in every state. West Bengal is one of such states where the part in power is different from the one at the Centre...so far.

Current affairs in the country are really bad. Abuse of legislation, silencing the national press, completely altering the Constitution, bribing the judiciary, rigging the polls - it's all happening. It's bad enough that the UN and even other countries have criticised the central administration here. This fic is me being super scared that what I mentioned here will actually happen. Elections are this month, and like many other civilians, I'm desperately praying it doesn't take a turn for the worse.

AN 3: The song linked above is the inspiration for the title. মনের মানুষ (moner manush) translates to "soulmate". It is one of the most popular Baul songs. Baul are a category of Bengali folk songs which have double meanings. Most songs, at first listen, appear to be aimed at a lover, however, they can also be meant for God. It depends on how you wish to interpret them. They're a highly respected part of Bengali heritage and can be easily identified by the sound of the ektara in the instrumental, a one stringed musical instrument.]

Tagging my desi friends:

@mainly-marvel @slut-for-henry-cavill @averageambivert