Scheduled Caste religious group with origins in Bangladesh is grappling with identity politics
On April 14, B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J.P. Nadda held a road show in Bongaon town. The BJP, for which religious and sub-religious identities have emerged as the most crucial tool of the 2021 campaign in the West Bengal Assembly polls, the date and the place were well chosen.
Since the past two years, Bongaon, a sub-division in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, is witnessing a new identity politics around the Matua sect, a Scheduled Caste religious group with origins in Bangladesh.
24-hour campaign ban on BJPâs Sayantan Basu, TMCâs Sujata Mondal
The Congress has been critical of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for holding political rallies amid the rise in coronavirus cases in the country
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday banned BJP leader Sayantan Basu and Trinamool Congress leader Sujata Mondal from campaigning for 24 hours for their recent comments.
The ban is effective from 7 p.m. on Sunday to 7 p.m. on Monday.
Basu was banned from campaigning for his remark over Sitalkuchi violence in which five people lost
their lives, while Sujata Mondal for her remarks against Schedule Caste (SC) community.
COVID-19: Rahul Gandhi Cancels Poll Rallies as WB Notes Highest Single-Day Spike
Campaign rallies by all political parties in the poll fray have seen large crowds pay little attention to COVID-19 protocols like social distancing.
A BJP rally at Illambazar in Birbhum district, Saturday, April 17, 2021. Photo: PTI
Rights6 hours ago
Kolkata: A day after Bengal went to its fifth phase of assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, April 18, cancelled all campaign rallies in the state in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases.
He also advised all other politicians to think about the consequences of holding large public rallies.
The chief minister made the statement during an online interaction with industrialists while underlining the need for ramping up oxygen supply and other health infrastructure to deal with the pandemic.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. File
| Photo Credit:
R. Ragu
The Left leader mentioned that his party had earlier announced that it would not hold large public rallies in the poll-bound West Bengal The CPI(M) on April 18 hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for continuing to campaign in the West Bengal Assembly polls despite the surge in COVID-19 cases, alleging that he is demonstrating his role as a “partisan party campaigner” and not that of the country’s PM.
“As we Indians suffer under a raging pandemic, we unfortunately don’t have a Union government. What we have is a PR company, with an electoral campaigner, callously and brazenly unleashing pain, misery and devastation over the masses.