West Bengal

On Saturday morning, the police did not allow Majumdar to come out of his residence in New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata. However, after a lot of arguments, he stepped out of his house headed towards the tensed pockets in Howrah district. But as soon as his vehicle reached the toll plaza on the Vidyasagar Setu, the principal connecting point between Kolkata and Howrah, it was stopped by a large team from the Howrah Police Commiserate.

A formal decision was taken by the state cabinet on Monday afternoon to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as the visitor of private universities operating in the state. At a previous meeting on May 26, it was decided to replace Dhankhar as the Chancellor of state universities. Monday's decision was an extension of that decision.

Going by Trinamool Congress' numerical strength in the Assembly, the state government will have no problem in getting the proposed Bill passed with a comfortable majority. However, the state government will then have to send the Bill to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for his assent. State Education Minister Bratya Basu has already said that in case the Governor refuses to clear the Bill, the state government will pass an ordinance to bring the changed system into practice.

This is for the first time that the state government has taken such an initiative to break the protocol, persisting since Independence, of having the Governor as Chancellor of the state universities. Following the state cabinet meeting at the state Secretariat, Nabanna, Education Minister Bratya Basu said that the state government will bring a bill in the Assembly proposing that the Chief Minister, not the Governor, will be the Chancellor of the state universities.

Veteran Trinamool leader and three-time party Lok Sabha member from Dum Dum constituency, also in North 24 Parganas district, Saugata Roy opined that Singh's return will not result in additional value addition for the party.

The question also arises on whether Shah gave a clear message to the state party leaders to stop the infighting and work unitedly to boost the falling morale of the party workers. Political observers feel that only time can tell whether the minister's visit will ultimately help the Bengal unit of the BJP or not. However, these observers admit that Shah utilized these two days as a seasoned politician in giving clear messages to his party workers in the state.

Amit Shah reached Ganguly's residence accompanied by state BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, senior BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari and head of BJP's IT cell Amit Malviya. He was greeted at the gate by Ganguly and his wife Dona Ganguly. The BCCI President said that since Amit Shah is a vegetarian, arrangements of a special vegetarian platter has been made by his mother, Nirupa Ganguly.

That was assurance Shah gave to the senior party leaders of the state at a close-door meeting here on Friday afternoon. The meeting was attended by all the BJP legislators and MPs from the state, as well as the members of the party's state committee. A state committee member, who did not wish to be named, told IANS that although there were demands on imposing Articles 355 and 356 in the state, the Home Minister ruled out that possibility and said that it was not a solution.

Though the CAA was passed in 2019, rules regarding its implementation are yet to be framed. Amit Shah is on a three day visit to West Bengal. He returned to the state exactly a year after the BJP lost the state elections. Shah also said that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government is trying to divide the Gorkhas, Rajbanshis and Adivasis in north Bengal with an attempt to change the demography of the region.

"I have no hesitation in admitting and acknowledging Prashant Kishor's role in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls. Because of his planning Trinamool Congress had won with such a majority. PK's contribution. The package with which he presented Trinamool Congress was a beautiful one. It was a perfect corporate package in the true sense,' Mitra said on Monday afternoon.