Bangladesh protests: 39 killed, state broadcaster's building set ablaze
Dhaka: Violent clashes between student protesters and security officials over a quota system for government jobs have resulted in 39 deaths across Bangladesh. The protests, which erupted into violence on Thursday, have plunged the country into chaos.
Armed with sticks and rocks, students clashed with police nationwide, including in the capital, Dhaka. The protesters aimed to shut down transportation across Bangladesh, leading to widespread disruptions.
Hundreds were injured as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. Protesters torched vehicles, police posts, and other establishments, including the state broadcaster’s building.
Streets in Dhaka were deserted on Friday following the violent protests. Communication services were widely disrupted, with a near-total internet shutdown reported. The protests intensified after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s televised address, which aimed to calm the unrest.
The unrest began late last month and escalated on Monday when student activists at Dhaka University clashed with police and counter-protesters backed by the ruling Awami League. The students demand the abolition of the quota system, which reserves 30% of government jobs for the families of 1971 war veterans. They argue that the system is discriminatory and want a merit-based system.
Despite the government scrapping these quotas in 2018, a High Court reinstated them, and the Supreme Court is set to hear the government's appeal on August 7. Prime Minister Hasina has appealed for peace and assured the students of a fair judicial inquiry.
The Awami League alleges that the violence was incited by Chhatra Shibir and Chhatra Dal, student wings of opposition parties. The UN Secretary-General has called for restraint and urged authorities to investigate the violence.
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Former railway minister Mukul Roy dies at 71
Kolkata (PTI): Former railway minister Mukul Roy, once regarded as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's most trusted lieutenant and the TMC's principal strategist, died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital here early on Monday.
He was 71, and is survived by his son, Subhranshu Roy.
He breathed his last around 1.30 am at the hospital in Salt Lake, Subhranshu Roy said.
He had been suffering from multiple ailments and was in and out of the hospital over the past two years. Family members said he had also been diagnosed with dementia and had recently gone into a coma.
His body will be taken to his residence before the last rites are performed later in the day, they said.
A former Union minister and two-time Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, Roy's four-decade-long political journey saw his stints in the Congress, TMC and the BJP.
His political career began with the Youth Congress, before he joined hands with Banerjee when she broke away from the grand old party to form the Trinamool Congress in 1998.
As a founding member, he quickly emerged as one of the key organisational pillars of the fledgling party and went on to serve as its general secretary.
He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006 and became the party's leader in the Upper House in 2009, turning into TMC's principal troubleshooter in Delhi. In the UPA-2 government, when the TMC was a constituent, Roy first served as Minister of State for Shipping before taking over as the railway minister in 2012.
In West Bengal's political circles, Roy earned a reputation as a backroom operator deft in organisational work. Following the TMC's historic victory in 2011 that ended 34 years of the Left Front rule, he played a significant role in consolidating the party's hold in several districts, overseeing defections from the CPI(M) and the Congress, strengthening the new regime's political base.
However, his career was not without controversy. His name had surfaced in the Saradha chit fund case and the Narada sting operation.
By 2017, relations between Roy and the TMC leadership had deteriorated. In November that year, he joined the BJP in a move that altered the state's political equations. Tasked with strengthening the BJP's organisation in West Bengal, Roy was credited by party leaders with helping engineer defections from the TMC and expanding the saffron party's base ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the BJP won 18 of the state's 42 seats.
He was elected as a BJP MLA from the Krishnanagar Uttar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections. Within months, however, he returned to the TMC, triggering legal and political wrangling. Subsequently, a court disqualified him as an MLA under the anti-defection law for switching parties after being elected on a BJP ticket.
Though he rejoined the TMC, Roy never regained the political centrality he once enjoyed. As his health declined, he gradually withdrew from active politics.
Often described as the 'Chanakya' of West Bengal politics during his prime, Roy remained a pivotal figure in the state's turbulent political landscape -- a strategist who operated as comfortably in Delhi's power corridors as in the backrooms of Kolkata's party offices.
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, condoled Roy's death.
In an X post, he wrote, "Deeply disheartened to learn about the sad demise of senior politician, Shri Mukul Roy. My sincere condolences to his family. Praying that his soul attains eternal peace. Om Shanti."
