BJP contemplating to field more Muslim candidates in Bengal
Kolkata, Oct 30: The BJP in Bengal is contemplating to field "considerable" number of Muslim candidates in the Lok Sabha elections next year with an intent to make inroads into Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's solid support base among minorities, and corner a sizeable share of this numerically crucial vote bank.
The saffron party's aim to make a shift in its political strategy in West Bengal appears to be a result of their harvesting a good number of seats in the local body election early this year by fielding Muslim candidates.
The BJP had fielded more than 850 candidates from the minority community in the poll to the three-tier panchayats, with nearly half of them winning the elections.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had fielded only two minority candidates in the state, which has a total of 42 seats.
However, since the last Lok Sabha polls in the state, Bengal politics has witnessed a paradigm shift with the BJP emerging as the main challenger of the TMC by outsmarting the CPI(M) and the Congress.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh told PTI, the party will aim to field "considerable" number of Muslim candidates, given the fact that the state has nearly 30 per cent Muslim population.
"Although in our party, tickets are not distributed on the basis of religion, but we are receiving several applications from people of the minority community, expressing their desire to contest elections on our party ticket," Ghosh said.
There is still time left to decide on the issue of candidates and tickets will be distributed on the basis of eligibility, winnability and capability of an individual, he said.
Ghosh's views were echoed by party's Bengal Minority Morcha chief Ali Hossain, who felt Muslims are a deciding factor in the Bengal elections and the party cannot afford to ignore them.
The ruling TMC, however, discounted BJP's minority outreach plan and asserted that they continue to have faith in party chief Mamata Banerjee.
"The minorities have full faith in us. The BJP's strategy is nothing but a farce and the minorities are very well aware of their intentions," senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee said.
The Congress and the CPI(M) also pooh-poohed the BJP's Muslim outreach plan saying it was nothing but "shedding crocodile tears" ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Ghosh claimed his party has expanded its base in Bengal by leaps and bounds and Muslims too are not out of its reach.
"We are running the government at the Centre and in more than 20 states, Muslims are living in peace and there are no problems. We believe in development for all," he said.
According to state BJP sources, who did not wish to be named, in order to make party president Amit Shah's target of 22 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal a reality, it is a "necessity" for the party to reach out to the minorities as the community plays a deciding factor in at least 10-12 Lok Sabha seats of the state.
Buoyed by its performance in the last Panchayat polls, the West Bengal BJP has prepared its Lok Sabha blueprint, targeting 26-28 parliamentary seats in the state.
The party presently has two Lok Sabha seats -- Asansol and Darjeeling -- in the state.
The BJP's Bengal minority wing chief Ali Hossain said the ultimate decision on the candidates' selection would be of the party.
"We won't pressurise the party by saying that it has to field so many Muslim candidates. Everything will depend on various factors including whether he or she is able to win the seat or not," Hossain told PTI.
The BJP minority morcha, West Bengal unit had last week organised a two-day conference to discuss various issues pertaining to the Muslim community.
A number of morcha leaders decided to propagate issues ranging from triple talaq to the Assam NRC to counter the "false propaganda" against the party.
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Ahmedabad plane crash: Six months on, college hostel lies in ruins, sans bustle of students
Ahmedabad (PTI): Six months after the AI-171 plane crash, the B J Medical College hostel complex in Ahmedabad stands as a haunting reminder, with its charred walls and burnt trees replacing the once lively chatter of students with an eerie stillness.
Scattered across the crash site are grim remnants of daily life - burnt cars and motorcycles, twisted beds and furniture, charred books, clothes and personal belongings.
The Atulyam-4 hostel building and the adjoining canteen complex stand abandoned, with entry strictly prohibited.
For residents near the site, memories of the incident still linger, casting a lasting shadow on their lives, with some of them saying they are still afraid to look up at the sky when an aircraft passes overhead.
On June 12, Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London, crashed moments after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 260 persons.
The aircraft slammed into the BJ Medical College hostel complex in Meghaninagar, turning a lively student neighbourhood into a landscape of ruin and grief.
"The area now lies very silent, only a few birds chirp here," Sanjaybhai, a security guard deployed at the premises by authorities to prevent trespassing, told PTI.
Mahendrasingh Jadeja, a general store owner whose shop is just 50 metres from the point where the aircraft struck, described it as an unimaginable calamity. "In all my years, I have never seen anything like this."
Pointing to a tree behind his shop, the 60-year-old said the aircraft first struck there before crashing into the hostel building.
"It was a scorching summer afternoon. Not many people were outside. When I heard a loud crashing sound, I ran out of my shop. We were all terrified," he recalled.
"Even today, we instinctively look up whenever a plane passes overhead," he added.
Another local, Manubhai Rajput, who lives barely 200 metres from the site, said he witnessed the horror unfold on June 12.
"The plane was flying unusually low. Before I could understand what was happening, there was thick black smoke and a deafening crash," he said.
For over three decades, Rajput and his neighbours lived close to the airport without giving much thought to the aircraft overhead.
"We never looked up at the sky. But that day is etched in my mind. The plane hit a tree first, and then there was a loud sound," he said.
Rajput recalled how hundreds of locals rushed to the site even before police, fire services or the Army arrived.
Tinaben, another resident of Meghaninagar, said she never imagined something like this could happen in Ahmedabad.
"Despite being close to the airport, this area always felt safe," she said.
As an aircraft roared overhead during the conversation, Tinaben paused, looked up nervously and said, "It's still scary."
A senior official of Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the state government has yet to decide what to do with the damaged site.
Currently, investigations are going on and the site is strictly prohibited for people, he added.
