PM arrives in Kolkata to unveil projects, address rally in Bengal''s Nadia
Kolkata (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Saturday for a visit to West Bengal's Nadia district, where he is scheduled to inaugurate national highway projects and address a public rally, amid heightened political tensions over the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.
This is Modi’s first visit to the state since the draft SIR rolls were published, and the third in the past five months.
"The PM arrived at the N S C Bose International Airport at 10:33 am and boarded a helicopter for Nadia," an official said.
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The Prime Minister, political observers said, is scheduled to address the growing unease amongst the Matua community members post the publication of the draft rolls from his strategically located BJP rally venue in Taherpur area of Ranaghat, not far from the heartland of the Namasudra Hindu community in adjacent Bongaon.
In the process, Modi is likely to sound the BJP’s bugle for the assembly polls, which are due in the state early next year and finalise the roadmap for the party’s big push for the crucial elections.
“The people of West Bengal are benefiting from numerous pro-people initiatives of the central government. At the same time, they are suffering due to the TMC’s misgovernance in every sector,” the PM posted on X on Friday evening while announcing his visit.
“The loot and intimidation of the TMC have crossed all limits. That is why, the BJP is the people’s hope,” he added.
The PM’s visit comes at a time when the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has mounted sustained opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise is being carried out in “haste” and that a large number of genuine voters, particularly refugee Hindus, risk disenfranchisement on its account.
In the draft electoral rolls published after the enumeration phase, 58,20,899 names have been excluded, reducing the electorate to 7.08 crore.
Around 1.36 crore entries have also been flagged for "logical discrepancies", while 30 lakh voters have been categorised as unmapped – a significant percentage of whom are likely to be called for verification hearings over the next 45 days.
For Matuas, a Dalit Hindu community that migrated from Bangladesh over decades due to religious persecution, this exercise has revived anxieties over identity and documentation.
Political observers widely believe that the community members hold sway in as many as 80 of the 294 assembly seats in the state.
Speculations are rife that significant numbers of Matuas have already been excluded from draft rolls. Many more are likely to follow suit in the final rolls on account of the unavailability of the EC-specified indicative documents they need to produce in the eventuality of receiving hearing notices during the verification phase.
Over the past years, poll results have indicated that the BJP gained significant inroads within the community, promising them formal Indian citizenship.
BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar, who represents the Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat, where Taherpur is located, claimed that fear was being spread deliberately among the Matuas about SIR.
"We are hopeful that the PM's message would dispel those fears and canards," he said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already led anti-SIR rallies in Nadia and North 24 Parganas, the two adjoining districts that share a border with Bangladesh and have a significant Matua presence.
During his visit, the PM will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for two national highway projects worth around Rs 3,200 crore.
He will inaugurate the 66.7-km-long four-laning of the Barajaguli-Krishnanagar section of NH-34 in Nadia district and lay the foundation stone for the four-laning of the 17.6-km-long Barasat–Barajaguli section in North 24 Parganas district.
The projects are expected to serve as a vital connecting link between Kolkata and Siliguri, boosting trade, tourism and economic activity across southern and northern parts of the state, officials said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
