Hima Das : After demolishing liquor vends, teenager brings laurels to country
KOLKATA: “I rocked the world while you were sleeping,” said the 18-year-old athlete Hima Das to her father on phone line after bagging the first gold medal for India.
Golden girl Hima broke records after running like the wind in the 400m race at the IAAF World U-20 meet in Finland. She reportedly cried when her father told her “we were all awake to watch you run on television.”
Besides a sports enthusiast, the world-class athlete is a socially conscious teenager who took the lead in demolishing country liquor vends in her village Dhing and its neighborhood. According to her neighbor “She has never scared to speak out against illegal things. Hima is a role model for us and for the country.”
Hima Das wanted to play football for India two year ago. But she made the change at the behest of her teacher Shamshul Shaikh, who was impressed by her speed while playing football, and shifted to athletics.
The incredible story of the feisty girl continued when Nipon Das, one of her two coaches, convinced her parents to let her shift to Dharwad. A local doctor Pratul Sharma helped Hima by raising money for her lodging.
While Nipon Das believes that Hima can win gold at the Asian Games and even break the 50-second mark, Hima is a source of motivation for another coach Ranjit.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Will vacate one of two assembly seats won in 10 days: BJP''s Suvendu
Kolkata (PTI): BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur and secured Nandigram for three times in a row in the recent assembly polls, said on Wednesday that he would vacate one of the two constituencies within 10 days.
Adhikari also asserted that the party's central leadership would decide which constituency he would retain.
"I will vacate one seat within 10 days. The party will decide which one I retain. I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram," he said.
Adhikari on Monday defeated Banerjee in Bhabanipur by over 15,000 votes, puncturing what was long seen as her safest political refuge and delivering a decisive psychological blow to the TMC, amid a sweeping BJP surge across West Bengal.
Addressing party workers and supporters in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP leader appealed to them not to take out victory processions immediately and instead maintain peace.
"Do not take out victory rallies now. Maintain peace and discipline. Celebrate after May 9, after taking permission," he told party workers.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will be held on May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground.
Referring to alleged attacks on BJP workers during the TMC regime, Adhikari said he would not forget the “atrocities" faced by them and assured them of taking appropriate action against perpetrators through legal processes.
"I was part of the 2011 ‘poribartan’ (change), and now I am part of the real change. I offer my gratitude to the people of Nandigram," Adhikari said.
He was referring to the TMC's victory in 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee party dismantled the 34-year Left Front regime in the state.
Adhikari offered prayers at a Hanuman statue in Nandigram and remembered the BJP workers, who had died in political violence.
"We will work in such a way that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years," he said, expressing hope that the BJP’s vote share in the state would rise from the current 46 per cent to 60 per cent in future elections.
The BJP leader also assured residents of Nandigram of improved drinking water supply and better hospital and education infrastructure.
