The Supreme Court set 14 May as the date for
the West Bengal panchayat polls and asked the
State Election Commission (SEC) to ensure free and fair polls, according to
several media reports.
In a setback to
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the apex court stayed the results on 18,000
uncontested seats and said unopposed seats in Bengal
cannot be notified,CNN-News 18 reported. The court
also stayed the order on nomination by e-mails.
Earlier, the
division bench of Calcutta High Court said, "Law and order is a state
subject. We expect whenever elections will be held, fair steps will be taken.
The state government will be liable for loss of life and property", ANIreported.
On Thursday, theSupreme Court heard the West Bengal
SEC plea challenging the Calcutta High Court order directing it
to accept the nominations of candidates who have filed their papers
electronically within the stipulated time for the panchayat elections.
The SEC, which approached the apex court on Thursday, sought a
stay on Wednesday's order, saying it would suffer "irreparable loss and
injury" that cannot be compensated.
CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said in a tweet, on Wednesday,
that "the TMC, WB Govt and SEC nexus, upset after the landmark judgment of
the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday wanted to move to the Supreme Court. A
caveat has already been filed on our behalf there on Wednesday". The CPM
claimed many of its intended candidates were prevented from filing nominations
by the TMC.
The high court on Tuesday directed the SEC to accept the
nominations of those candidates named by CPM who filed their papers
electronically within the stipulated time before 3 pm on 23 April. Passing the
order, the court observed that the poll process itself involved participation
and to shut out an intending bona fide candidate from participating thwarted
the very basic democratic principles on which it stood.
SC scraps land acquisition in Singur, orders plots returned
Dhananjay Mahapatra & Amit Anand Choudhary| TNN | Sep 1, 2016, 06.17 AM IST NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the acquisition of nearly 1,000 acres of land in West Bengal's Singur in 2006 for Tata Motors' Nano car project and called it bad in law, intent and execution, delivering a major blow to CPM which led the then Left Front government in the state. The SC's view that the "hurried" acquisition process was anti-farmer and in violation of law was promptly hailed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee as a "landmark victory" for a campaign she had led and was seen as the springboard to her electoral win in 2011.
Had Tears Of Joy, Now Can Die In Peace: Mamata Banerjee After Singur Verdict
All India | Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: September 01, 2016 11:22 IST KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court's order setting aside the land acquisition for the Tata Motors' Nano project as a "landmark victory", adding that she had "tears of joy" on learning about the decision and can now "die in peace".
"This is a landmark victory. We have been waiting for this day for ten long years, This is a victory of the people, victory of Ma, Mati Manush (Mother, land and people -- Ms Banerjee's pet slogan)," an elated Mamata Banerjee told media persons at the state secretariat Nabanna.
"The people of Singur suffered so much, they endured so much torture, but they never left me. I have tears of joy in my eyes. Returning land to the farmers of Singur was one promise my government could not fulfil so far. But now we can return the land," she added.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court set aside the acquisition of land by the previous Left Front government in the state for the Nano car plant in Singur of Hooghly district, saying due processes and procedures were not followed. it also decreed that land has to be given back to the farmers within 12 weeks.
The state's principal opposition leader at that time, the Trinamool Congress chief had undertaken a 26-day hunger strike in Kolkata in December 2006, against the "forcible land acquisition" in Singur, and demanding 400 acres taken from farmers unwilling to part with their land be returned to them.
She later travelled to the rural pocket and laid siege on the factory for 14 days in 2008.
The Tata group then moved the project out of the state and finally set it up in Sanand in Gujarat, on land assigned to them by the state's then investor-friendly Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
"The acquisition was wrong and it was a historical suicide," Ms Banerjee said, attacking the erstwhile Left Front regime.
In contrast, Ms Banerjee said her government never acquired land forcibly, and even for public purposes like roads and railway infrastructure it negotiated with all stakeholders.
"It was because of our movement that the draconian 1894 law on land acquisition was changed. Now this verdict has yet again proved the success of our anti-land acquisition movement," she said.
Ms Banerjee said her government would obey the court order fully and a strategy meeting has been called on Thursday to decide on the follow-up action.
The next administrative meeting of the government will be held on September 14 in Singur, followed by the main victory rally of Singur farmers the same day.
Ms Banerjee said "Singur festival" will be organised in all blocks of the state on September 2 to show respect to the peasant movement, and called for cultural programmes to be organised as part of it.
The date September 2 is significant as 17 central trade unions, with the left parties in the forefront, has called a nationwide general strike on that day.
A nostalgic Ms Banerjee said she had coined her slogan of Ma, Mati, Manush inspired by the Singur movement.
She recalled her hunger-strike, saying, "I wasn't allowed to move freely. Peasants were tortured."
Ms Banerjee said the first decision of her cabinet after the Trinamool came to power in 2011 was to return the land, but the matter got dragged in court battles after that.
She said she did not want to make a distinction between "unwilling" and "willing" farmers. The "unwilling" farmers are those who had complained that the land was taken against their will and joined Ms Banerjee's anti-acquisition movement, the "willing" farmers gave the land and took compensation cheques from the Left Front government of the day.
"I am not vindictive. It was a matter of principle. I want to reach government services to all. We will talk to the locals and take people into confidence," she said.
WB assembly passes resolution to rename state as Bangla, Bengal
By: ANI | Kolkata | Updated: August 29, 2016 4:39 pm
The Indian Express
The West Bengal Assembly on Monday passed a resolution for renaming the state as ‘Bangla’ in Bengali and ‘Bengal’ in English, weeks after a proposal in this regard was put forward by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Speaking to the reporters after passing of the resolution, Mamata said, “Everyone would be happy with the change of name of Bengal. The people of Bengal have accepted the name ‘Bangla’. We have given importance to that. Congress, CPM, BJP have opposed to the renaming of the state. If the opposition is doing this for the sake of it, then it is very much unfortunate.”
Mamata said the TMC Government would send the resolution to the Centre as it needs to be passed in the Parliament.
“Bombay has become Mumbai, Chennai has been renamed as Tamil Nadu and there are many other instances. The base is Bengal and we want to take everyone along with us. We are proud as Bengalis. Our intention is to make Bengal world famous. I hope this decision will be good for Bengal. There should be a brand of Bengal. We are proud that with your help, we could adopt this name,” she added.
Taking a strong exception to the opposition parties who did not support the resolution, Mamata said, “Those who did not support us in this, the future won’t forgive them. It will remain as a blot. The Congress has turned into a frontal organisation of the CPM by opposing everything. They play ‘narad narad’ by seeing any issue.”
Further escalating her attack on the Centre, the West Bengal Chief said the ruling dispensation there has sold themselves to the BJP workers in the House.
“If the people of a party control the government like this, then you can understand that their intention is to oppose at every single step. Why should any middleman take its responsibility and say they won’t allow it? This is wrong and if need be, I will talk about this with the Home Minister,” she added.
Mamata said she respects all political parties but they must have a responsibility.
“Just because they could not pass the resolution, they are criticising it. I don’t think they have the right to do politics in Bengal who do not support anything for the benefit of Bengal. This is very unfortunate. We are also against the policies of the Centre but we cannot allow losses of crores in the name of Bandhs,” she added.
The proposal to pass the resolution was approved by the special session of the West Bengal Assembly, which was convened on August 26 to discuss the renaming of the state.
In 2011, the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre for renaming West Bengal as “Paschim Bango”, but that never got the green signal.
Another reason for changing the name of the state is that whenever there is any meeting of all states, West Bengal comes at the bottom of the list alphabetically.
After the partition of India in 1947, Bengal was bifurcated as East Bengal and West Bengal. East Bengal became a part of Pakistan.
It was rechristened East Pakistan in 1956 and later emerged as the independent nation of Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.
