BJP trying to buy tribal votes: Mamata
Jhargram (West Bengal), Aug 9 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the BJP of misguiding the tribal and scheduled caste communities in the state and trying to buy their votes by giving them cash before the elections.
Without naming BJP, the Trinamool Congress supremo also hinted that the saffron outfit was orchestrating the infiltration of Maoists into Bengal's Jangalmahal (western districts having large forest tracts) from neighbouring Jharkhand to cause unrest in the area.
"There is a political party that misguides the people here before the elections and asks for their votes by giving Rs.1000 in cash to each villager. Do not believe them. They will you give money for two-three days and then disappear," Banerjee said at a public meeting in Jhargram on occasion of 'Adivasi Dibas' (Tribal's Day).
"We have not allowed any tension in this region for the last seven years. We haven't allowed the Maoists to foment trouble. But now some parties are helping the Maoists from Jharkhand to infiltrate here. They are trying to bring back the days of bloodshed and violence in Jangalmahal," she claimed.
She urged the locals of Jhargram not to let the Maoist guerillas enter their area and also stop those who are influencing the Maoists.
The BJP had performed well and picked up a significant number of seats in Bengal's Jangalmahal area comprising Jhargram, West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts in the recent state rural body elections.
Referring to the incidents of lynching in the country, Banerjee said the BJP was not interested in people's welfare and was always trying to divide people along communal lines.
"We do not divide Hindus and Muslims, Sikhs and Chirstians. BJP, the ruling party in Delhi, does these things... They are not interested in the welfare of people. See how the dalits, tribals and minorities are being lynched across the country," Banerjee said.
"Let us take an oath to stop the communal forces. There is no room for communalism, fundamentalism, hatred, conspiracy and propaganda," she said.
Giving out a detailed list of her government's welfare schemes in the backward districts, Banerjee said the state Backward Classes Welfare Department (BCW) has provided caste certificates, reservation in the government sector and higher education, educational loans and scholarships, educational and job opportunities, healthcare facilities, and training in different skills.
She also laid the foundation stone of a new University in Jhargram.
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Central Myanmar shaken by new quake in one of biggest aftershocks since March 28 temblor
Bangkok, Apr 13 (AP): A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck on Sunday morning near Meiktila, a small city in central Myanmar, according to the US Geological Survey.
The quake came as Myanmar is engaged in relief efforts following a massive 7.7 magnitude temblor that also hit the country's central region on March 28.
The epicentre of the latest quake was roughly hallway between Mandalay, Myanmar's second-biggest city, which suffered enormous damage and casualties in last month's earthquake, and Naypyitaw, the capital, where several government offices were then damaged.
There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties caused by the new quake, one of the strongest of hundreds of aftershocks from the March 28 temblor. As of Friday, the death toll from that quake was 3,649, with 5,018 injured, according to Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for Myanmar's military government.
Myanmar's Meteorological Department said Sunday's quake occurred in the area of Wundwin township, 97 kilometers (60 miles) south of Mandalay, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles). The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the depth at 7.7 km (4.8 miles).
Two Wundwin residents told The Associated Press by phone the quake was so strong that people rushed out of buildings and that ceilings in some dwellings were damaged. A resident of Naypyitaw also reached by phone said he did not feel the latest quake. Those contacted asked not to be named for fear of angering the military government, which prefers to closely control information.
The United Nations last week warned that damage caused by the March 28 quake will worsen the existing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, where a civil war had already displaced more than 3 million people.
It said the quake severely disrupted agricultural production and that a health emergency loomed because many medical facilities in the quake zone were damaged or destroyed.
Sunday's quake occurred on the morning of the first day of the country's three-day Thingyan holiday, which celebrates the traditional New Year. Public festivities for the holiday had already been cancelled.
