Political miscalculation
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Odisha on April 17 to meet her ailing party MP who is in judicial custody under CBI. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who was arrested by the CBI in the chit fund scam, was admitted in AMRI hospital Bhubaneswar. Mamata Banerjee had sought permission from Bhubaneswar court which granted her the permission to see her colleague. During the twenty minute interaction that was allowed to her, three CBI officers, who were from Kolkata and understood Bengali, were present. Mamata’s only gift to the MP was a diary and pen, using which he could scribble about the pain of being in jail.
Though the court granted her 20 minutes, Odisha chief minister could spare only 10 minutes for her. At the end of the meeting, while Mamata talked about not needing a secular front, Naveen ensured that "no political discussing took place." Even her visit to Puri’s Jagannath temple was marred with controversy as a section of temple authorities wanted to prevent her from visiting the temple because of her “anti-Hindu politics”.
Saffron slogan changes—from Congress mukt to BJP yukt
In Bengal, Mamata faced a dramatic visit by BJP president Amit Shah. Quite unprecedentedly, Shah visited Naxalbari when the place is all set to celebrate 50 years of India's first revolution after independence. A strong team of left delegation from all over the world is expected to visit the place to mark 50 years of Naxalbari movement. It was not clear why Shah chose Naxalbari, when the BJP-led government has been carrying out one of the most intense retaliation to Maoists in Dandakarnaya. Shah was seen eating rice and dal on banana leaves at the house of a tribal in Naxalbari. Then he took a train, not Darjeeling Express, but the Padatik Express, to reach Kolkata. While lambasting Didi’s government, he came up with the slogan 'Ebar Bangla (now Bengal)'. He said he would ensure lotus blooms in sonar Bangla (golden Bengal). Asked about his intention about Congress mukt India, Shah said, “Lets call it BJP yukt India.”
Tragedy struck
A dream former railway minister from Bengal, Ghani Khan Chaudhury had was to turn Kolkata into London. CM Mamata Banerjee has the same dream and it came true when east-west metro tunnel went under the river for some length. Union minister of heavy industries Babul Supriyo inaugurated it last week. In the 80s, Chaudhury had suggested this to then prime minister Indira Gandhi, who had to turn it down because of unavailability of resources. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved what Indira Gandhi refused. But tragedy struck soon. A wooden jetty over Ganga at Bhadreswar, on the outskirt of Kolkata, collapsed on April 26. There were 130 people on board. Four died while 23 are still missing. Death toll is expected to rise.
