PM lauds books on Bengal politics
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded three well-researched books on West Bengal politics by senior Hindi journalist Ras Bihari, saying that “it is an important labour task to present decades of political history by highlighting it with fairness and correct facts”.
The PM made these comments when Ras Bihari presented the books to him at Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata during the recent 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The books, Raktanchal: Bengal Ki Raktcharitra Rajneeti, Raktranjit Bengal: Lok Sabha Chunaav 2019 and Bengal: Voto ka Khooni Lootera have come at a time when the state is going for Assembly elections. Ras Bihari was the president and general secretary of Delhi Journalists’ Association for a long time. At present, he is the president of the National Union of Journalists (India).
The books talk about the violent politics of Bengal. The author says that political violence was expected to cease after Mamata Banerjee became Chief Minister in 2011. But it did not happen. There was rigging and violence in the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2016 Assembly elections. The murders and conflicts for political reasons from 2011 to 2018 have been mentioned in detail. The TMC leaders and activists fought with each other for the cut-money syndicate, grabbed contracts, collected extortion money and ran illegal businesses. To maintain dominance, the TMC men allegedly killed the CPI(M), Congress and BJP workers to spread terror.
Ras Bihari told The Sunday Guardian that his books describe Bengal’s bloodthirsty politics, with examples of incidents of rapes and setting houses on fire to teach a lesson to opponents. There is an in-depth assessment of Mamata Banerjee’s life and politics and the CM’s confrontation with Governors on political violence.
According to Ras Bihari, with increasing political violence by the ruling TMC, the support base of the BJP is increasing and the base of the TMC, Congress and Left parties is getting narrow. The growing influence of illegal weapons and black money in politics has been highlighted.
Wrestling event for farmers
The Punjab Wrestling Association is planning to organise competitions at the Singhu border to keep the protesting farmers’ morale high. Several national and international wrestlers are being roped in for the shows. Association president Kartar Singh Pehelwan told The Sunday Guardian that along with farmers, many youngsters are also protesting, so, it is important to keep them upbeat.
AAP Chup Kare: LS Speaker
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla rarely loses his temper while trying to keep the House in order. But on Wednesday, Birla got upset and raised his voice to say “chup” to Aam Admi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann. The Speaker had warned Mann, who was among the first opposition MPs to rush to the well to protest against the handling of the farmers’ agitation, once earlier in the day. After the first adjournment, when the House met again, Mann came to the centre of the House and started shouting slogans. The Speaker angrily said: “Chup.” BJP MPs thumped the desk.
No Mobile Phones For House Recording
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu is upset with the misuse of mobile phones in the House. On Wednesday, he asked the members not to record the proceedings of the House by using mobile phones in the Chamber of the House. “Such recording and its circulation in the social media amounts to breach of privilege and contempt of the House,” he told them.
A Parliamentary Bulletin was issued on 29 January, telling Members that such unauthorized recording of the proceedings of the House and its circulation ion on social media might lead to breach of privilege and contempt of the House.
Scindia vs Digvijaya in RS
When the former Congress leader-turned BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia stood up in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday to defend his “new party” as part of the motion of thanks to the President’s address, he pointed to what he called was Congress’s “hypocrisy” on the farm laws. The next Speaker was Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. The situation evoked laughter from some MPs. Complimenting his former party colleague, Singh said that Scindia defended and presented the BJP’s side as well as he used to do for the Congress in the past. As Scindia tried to get up to say something, Singh with a hand gesture asked him to keep sitting and said that his blessings were always with “maharaj”, irrespective of the party he was in.
Tibetans Protest Against Beijing Winter Olympics
In Himachal Pradesh, Tibetan NGOs organized a protest march in McLeodganj (Dharamshala) on Wednesday to condemn the International Olympic Committee’s decision to host the Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing. McLeodganj is the place where the Tibetan Government-in-Exile exists and the Tibetans’ spiritual guru Dalai Lama lives.
They staged a street play to express anger and disappointment. It symbolised Chinese President Xi Jinping and IOC president Thomas Bach joining hands ignoring the suffering of the Tibetans, the Taiwanese, the Uyghurs, the southern Mongolians and Hong Kong residents. The activists alleged that they hosting the games in a country committing genocide and ethnic cleansing was akin “to legitimising these crimes.”