Page 2 - All India Trinamool Congress

TMC MP Saket Gokhale agrees to apologise in Lakshmi Puri defamation case

The Delhi High Court has put the payment of ₹50 lakh in damages that Gokhale has to pay on hold for now

'I challenge, go for elections tomorrow': Mamata hits back at PM Modi

Stating that her government stands for compassion, Banerjee accused the BJP of following divisive policies and alleged that the ruling party at the Centre incites riots

PM Modi slams Mamata govt, says Bengal suffering from 'selfish politics'

PM Modi criticised the Trinamool Congress TMC government for showing 'enmity towards poor, Dalits, Adivasis and women'

PM Modi to address rally in Bengal's Alipurduar today, launch gas project

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal on Thursday to lay the foundation stone for a gas distribution project and address a rally in Alipurduar. This will be his first trip to the state after the success of 'Operation Sindoor' earlier this month and a year ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. During the visit, Modi will lay the foundation stone for an Rs 1,010-crore City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts and later address a public rally in Alipurduar, BJP leaders said. State BJP president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar told PTI that both the government events and the rally would be held in adjoining areas of the north Bengal districts. "The prime minister will first attend the government programme and then address the public meeting. In the evening, he will leave for Patna," Majumdar said. The visit comes amid heightened political activity in Bengal, with the BJP seeking to regroup ahead of the 2026 polls, and the ruling ...

TMC's Yusuf Pathan to opt out of all-party mission on anti-terror stand

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerje asserted that the leadership of a party should decide the names of its representatives for the Centre's multi-party diplomatic mission

TMC's Bandyopadhyay declines govt outreach role citing health issues

Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay on Saturday said he will not be able to join the government's diplomatic outreach delegations being sent to different countries after Operation Sindoor due to health reasons. The government has announced it will send seven all-party delegations to key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Bandyopadhyay told PTI that he received a call from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and the External Affairs Ministry, and was asked to go to the US but he informed them that he would not be able to go due to health reasons. A statement issued by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said, "The all-party delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country's stro

Court grants bail to Derek O'Brien, TMC leaders in 2024 ECI protest case

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to 10 TMC leaders, including Derek O'Brien, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, in a case registered against them for their protest in April last year in front of the Election Commission of India despite a prohibitory order being in place. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal also granted relief to TMC leaders Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Nadimul Haque, Vivek Gupta, Arpita Ghosh, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Sudip Raha, on an application moved by their lawyer. While nine TMC leaders were physically present before the court, Vivek Gupta appeared through video conferencing. The court has granted bail to five of the leaders, who are sitting MPs, on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each. The rest were granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 along with a surety of like amount. While granting bail, the judge noted that the chargesheet was filed without the arrest of the accused persons. The court has listed the matter for further hearing on May ...

98% ED cases against politicians target Oppn leaders, claims TMC's Gokhale

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale on Saturday said 98 per cent of the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate against politicians were against opposition leaders. "The remaining two per cent are those who went and joined the BJP's 'washing machine,'" he said. Gokhale referred to Thursday's statement of ED Director Rahul Navin, to claim that the surge in cases post-2014 was at the behest of Narendra Modi, who came to power the same year. Speaking at an event on ED Day, Navin said the anti-money laundering law had been "largely ineffective" before 2014 and there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity since then. In a post on X, Gokhale said, "Yesterday, the head of central agency ED admitted that there's been a surge of cases filed after Modi Government came to power in 2014." "In the last 11 years, a total of 5,297 cases were filed by ED. How many were taken to court for trial? Only 47," he said. The TMC Rajya Sabha MP said the conviction rate in ED cases

Pahalgam attack deepens Bengal's identity rift, sparks fresh polarisation

The return of four coffins from Kashmir to Bengal three deceased of the Pahalgam terror attack and one soldier killed in Udhampur has not only stirred grief, but also ignited a volatile mix of religion, politics and emotion deepening polarisation and marking a turning point in the state's identity politics. With the 2026 assembly elections less than a year away, the killings have swiftly taken on a political charge, threatening to become the emotional nucleus around which competing narratives and electoral strategies will revolve. The brutal killing of tourists Bitan Adhikari, Samir Guha and Manish Ranjan Mishra in Kashmir, allegedly after being asked to reveal their religion, has sent shockwaves through the state. The chilling nature of these targeted killings has thrust the politics of religious identity into the spotlight, with the faith of the victims now becoming a potent political tool. As parties scramble to frame the narrative through religion, nationalism and victimhood

West Bengal CM turns to 'universal religion' to blunt communal polarisation

Tensions have remained high following the eruption of violence in Murshidabad over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025

TMC Murshidabad unit urges MP Yusuf Pathan to visit violence-hit district

Amid criticism by the opposition over the absence of Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan from violence-hit Murshidabad in West Bengal, the TMC local leaders on Friday said they are in touch with him over the phone and have urged him to visit the district soon. The district Trinamool Congress leadership is "unhappy" with the Baharampur MP for not visiting Murshidabad during last week's communal clashes, with a section of the unit expressing displeasure over the party's decision to field a celebrity candidate who was absent during the crisis and has perceived disconnect from grassroots workers, TMC sources said. "He is a cricketer and a celebrity. Why would he come here? We are the ones trying to manage the situation on the ground. This is the issue with nominating celebrities. He is in touch with us over the phone, and we have asked him to come to the district. But right now, he is busy with the IPL," Murshidabad MP and senior TMC leader Abu Taher Khan told PTI. Pathan, a former Indian ...

TMC's Kunal Ghosh alleges Murshidabad violence linked to some conspiracy

There's an allegation that with BSF's help, a conspiracy is underway to malign Bengal and create unrest, which the BJP and Opposition can exploit for political gains, said TMC's Kunal Ghosh

TMC begins voter list verification amid allegations of manipulation by BJP

Trinamool Congress leaders on Saturday began a door-to-door campaign to scrutinise the electoral rolls amid allegations of voter list manipulation by the BJP ahead of next year's assembly polls in West Bengal. Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim personally carried out the voter list verification drive in the Chetla area of south Kolkata. The BJP is trying to manipulate the electoral rolls by bringing in fake voters from other states. So, along with our party workers, we are on a door-to-door visit to verify the voter list, Hakim told reporters. Local TMC leaders were also busy in a similar exercise in the Bhabanipur assembly constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The verification drive is being carried out by party workers in other places as well, as instructed by Banerjee, also the TMC supremo. TMC claimed that several individuals from other states were found to have been registered under the same EPIC number of genuine voters of West Bengal. Banerjee has called them "ghost ...

TMC accuses EC, BJP of conspiring to include outsiders names in voter list

The Trinamool Congress on Saturday accused a section of Election Commission (EC) officials of conspiring with the BJP to add names of outsiders to the voter list in various assembly segments of West Bengal to benefit the saffron party. TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh told reporters that a section of EC officials are incorporating names without proper physical verification, particularly in the border areas of the state. He said stopping infiltration is the responsibility of the Border Security Force (BSF), and any reports of unauthorised outsiders being added to the voter list should be handled by the Centre, as it controls the BSF and "remote controls" the EC, which has apparently relaxed the verification process. Ghosh, who was referring to reports about alleged rise in the number of electors in the voter list in Champahati area under Baruipur assembly of South 24 Parganas district, said, "If that is the situation, the credit goes to the local administration and police for

RSS-BJP offer 'jumlas,' Mamata Banerjee will lead INDIA bloc: Kirti Azad

People of RSS and BJP unite in the name of religion but if you ask them what did they actually do, they have only 'jumla' to offer, TMC MP Kirti Azad said

Wait and watch as RS dy speaker yet unlikely: TMC leader Derek O'Brien

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien has said a deputy speaker may not be appointed even during the current Budget session, even as he asked people to "wait and watch" if the opposition brings another impeachment motion against Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. In a post published on his blog on the first day of the Budget session of Parliament, the TMC Parliamentary party leader in RS shared notes on the upcoming Session, and said speeches by two women President Droupadi Murmu, and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will present the Budget will dominate the news space in the next few days. He, however, added that of the six largest political parties, Trinamool Congress at 39 per cent has the highest number of women lawmakers. In contrast, Telugu Desam Party has 6 per cent women MPs, BJP has 13 per cent, and INC, DMK and SP have 14 per cent each, he said. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's saying that India has massive scope for live concerts, the TMC leader wondere

Congress saw 320% surge in donations in 2024 elections, BJP witnesses 87%

The share of electoral bonds in the BJP's total contributions dropped to less than half during the same period to 43 per cent while electoral bonds comprised 73 per cent of the Congress' donations

Parl panel must question Meta on fact-check, hate speech rules: TMC MP

If Meta executives are summoned by the Parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, they should be questioned about the company's decision to stop fact-checking and changes in its content guidelines on hate speech and disinformation, panel member and TMC MP Saket Gokhale said on Wednesday. Gokhale's remarks come a day after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the panel, said the committee will summon executives from social media giant Meta for "tarnishing" India's image amid a controversy over its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's statement during a podcast that after the COVID-19 pandemic, most incumbent governments, including the one in India, lost elections in 2024. In a letter to Dubey, Gokhale said that in the same interview, Zuckerberg also announced that the platform would be ending its fact-check programme and would also be making changes to its community guidelines. "It has been reported on several occasions that there has been a significant misuse of Me

Police arrests five in connection with Malda TMC councillor murder

Police on Saturday said they have so far arrested five persons in connection with the murder of Malda English Bazar Trinamool Congress councillor Dulal Sarkar. Sarkar, described by West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee as a close associate of hers and a popular leader, was shot dead by miscreants in Malda district on Thursday morning. Two men were arrested on Friday after apprehending three others on the day of the murder, taking the total number of arrests in the case to five, a senior police officer said. The arrested accused persons were identified by the police as Bihar's Katihar district natives Sameer Akhtar, Mohammad Abdul Gani and Malda residents Tinku Ghosh, Abhijeet Ghosh and Amit Raja. Sarkar was shot in the head multiple times from close range after chasing him into a shop in English Bazar town's Jhaljhalia More, when he tried to flee the bike-borne assailants, according to the police. The TMC supremo expressed shock over the killing of Sarkar, who was popular by his ...

TMC councillor gunned down in Bengal's Malda, CM Mamata expresses shock

Trinamool Congress councillor Dulal Sarkar was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in West Bengal's Malda district on Thursday morning, police said. Sarkar, the TMC councillor from Malda, was shot in his head multiple times from close range by bike-borne assailants at Jhaljhalia More area, they said. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to injuries. A probe has been initiated and we are trying to identify the culprits, a senior police officer told PTI. Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the killing of Sarkar, who was popularly known as Babla. My close associate and a very popular leader, Babla Sarkar, has been murdered today. From the beginning of the Trinamool Congress, he (and his wife Chaitali Sarkar) worked hard for the party, and Babla was also elected a councillor, she said in a post on X. ... I am so shocked and sad that I do not know how to convey my condolences to the bereaved family. May God give Chaitali strength to sur