Man arrested for questioning Mamata, activists condemn incident

August 11, 2012
mamatha
Kolkata, August 11: A man, who had publicly questioned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee about her government policies towards farmers, was Saturday arrested from West Midnapore district for "disrupting a public rally and assaulting police officers", police said.

The step has come in for criticism from civil society who slammed Banerjee for her "growing intolerance".

"Shiladitya Chowdhury was arrested Saturday morning and booked for disrupting a public rally, entering into a high security zone and assaulting police personnel," Superintendent of Police, Jhargram, Bharati Ghosh told IANS.

He was later remanded to 14 days' judicial custody by a court.

Banerjee, on a visit to the Maoist-affected Belpahari area in the district Wednesday, was addressing a public rally when Chowdhury stood up and asked her: "Farmers are dying because they have no money. Empty promises are not enough. What are you doing for farmers?"

Stunned by the question, an angry Banerjee immediately branded him a "Maoist" following which Chowdhury was detained and taken for interrogation by the police.

He was, however, allowed to go that day but was arrested Saturday morning.

The arrest has drawn condemnation from the civil society and yet again brought to the fore the temperamental nature of Banerjee, who is known for losing her cool over the slightest of uncomfortable questions.

"What can I say? The arrest is highly unwarranted and highlights not only Banerjee's growing intolerance, but also her dictatorial attitude. I don't know what has happened to her," social activist and writer Mahasweta Devi told IANS.

Earlier Banerjee had stormed out of an interactive programme on a TV channel following a barrage of questions by students, over the arrest of a professor for forwarding a cartoon depicting her.

Branding them as "Maoists", Banerjee had even instructed police to take photographs of those in the audience who had asked the questions.

"I can only say that whatever has happened is highly deplorable. Being a people's representative, Banerjee should have answered his questions and not had him arrested," noted poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay said.


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Agencies
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: A medium-intensity earthquake of 3.4 magnitude hit Delhi on Sunday.

According to the National Center for Seismology (NCS), the quake occurred at 1.45pm at a depth of five kilometres.

There were no immediate reports of loss of life or property.

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Agencies
July 27,2020

New Delhi, Jul 27: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he is not going to lie about Chinese transgressions in eastern Ladakh even if it costs him politically, asserting he will say the truth as far as Indian territory is concerned.

Gandhi made these remarks in a tweet, along with an over-a-minute-long video, as part of a series launched by him on the India-China face-off along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Asked in the video how he would react to people who say his questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on China weakened India, the former Congress chief said, "If you want me to lie that the Chinese have not entered this country, I am not going to lie. I will simply not do it. I do not care if my whole career goes to hell. I am not going to lie."

"This disturbs me. Frankly, it makes my blood boil. How can some other nation just come into our territory?"

"Hiding the truth is anti-national. Bringing it to people's attention is patriotic," Gandhi said.

"So frankly, I do not care if it costs me politically. I do not care if I have no political career at all after that. But I am going to say the truth as far as Indian territory is concerned," he added.

Gandhi has been repeatedly attacking the prime minister and the government over Chinese transgressions on the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

"As an Indian, my number one priority is the nation and its people," he said on Monday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit back at Gandhi over his attack on the government on the Ladakh face-off, alleging he is seeking to politicise defence and foreign policy matters and "wash their past sins of 1962 and weaken India".

BJP president JP Nadda has also alleged that for years, a dynasty has been trying to destroy Modi, while adding that those who want to destroy the prime minister will only end up causing further damage to their own party.

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News Network
July 16,2020

New Delhi, Jul 16: With the highest single-day spike of 32,695 cases and 606 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally on Thursday reached 9,68,876, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

The total number of COVID-19 cases includes 3,31,146 active cases, 6,12,815 cured/discharged/migrated and 24,915 deaths.

As per the Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst-affected state from the infection -- has a total of 2,75,640 COVID-19 cases and 10,928 fatalities. While Tamil Nadu has a tally of 1,51,820 cases and 2,167 deaths due to COVID-19.

Delhi has reported a total of 1,16,993 cases and 3,487 deaths due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, as per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,27,39,490 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till 15th July, of these 3,26,826 samples were tested yesterday.

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