Mamata visits injured BJP MP Khagen Murmu at Siliguri hospital, assures him of all help
Siliguri (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday visited BJP MP Khagen Murmu at a private hospital in Siliguri, where he was undergoing treatment after being assaulted during a visit to flood and landslide-affected areas in the northern part of the state a day ago.
The CM's visit comes a day after a political storm erupted over the assault of two BJP leaders – Maldaha Uttar MP Khagen Murmu and Siliguri MLA Sankar Ghosh – at Nagrakarta in Jalpaiguri district in flood-ravaged north Bengal.
Banerjee spent a few minutes speaking to the injured MP, his wife, and son, before consulting the team of doctors attending to him.
According to sources, Banerjee enquired in details about the MP's condition, including his injuries and medications.
"Do you have diabetes? Are you taking insulin and medicines regularly?" she was heard asking Murmu.
Before leaving, the chief minister requested him to follow medical advice carefully and told his family that the government would extend all necessary help.
"If you need any assistance or further treatment elsewhere, please let me know," Banerjee reportedly said.
However, it was still not clear whether Banerjee met BJP MLA Sankar Ghosh, who is also admitted at the hospital.
Ghosh and Banerjee share an acrimonious relationship following several occasions of verbal duels on various issues on the floor of the assembly.
The West Bengal BJP welcomed the CM's gesture but wondered why not a single arrest has been made, even after 24 hours have passed since the incident.
"This was a courtesy visit. But it is really appalling that even after 24 hours have passed, the police have not made any arrest and the culprits, who assaulted Murmu and Ghosh, are roaming free," state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, claimed that Murmu suffered facial injuries.
Speaking to reporters at the hospital, the BJP MLA said, "She visited one of the two injured but did not enquire how it happened. She is trying to shield her party workers who were involved in the attack."
"As Murmu has been advised not to speak due to serious facial injury, he could not pose relevant questions to her about the involvement of TMC workers and why no arrests have been made so far," he added.
Adhikari also dismissed the CM's claim that the BJP leaders had visited the spot in a convoy of 20 cars which infuriated locals.
He said the BJP leaders' convoy comprised not more than four-five cars and included central security forces, while both police and local panchayat officials had prior information about their visit and the number of vehicles.
The BJP leader said that as advised by members of the medical board of the hospital, Murmu will undergo treatment in the same private medical facility for another three weeks, while Ghosh will be discharged in one-two days.
A full-blown confrontation broke out on Monday between the Centre and the West Bengal government over the attack on Murmu and Ghosh by a mob.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday night condemned the attack, terming it "outright appalling" and "reflective of the absolutely pathetic law and order situation" in the state.
Banerjee hit back, accusing the PM of "politicising a natural disaster", instead of standing by the people during their time of distress.
Torrential rain triggered flash floods and landslides in north Bengal, leaving 32 people dead and several missing.
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.
Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
_vb_22.jpeg)
