Tagore's Bengal would not allow hate politics to overpower secularism: Mamata Banerjee
Bolpur (WB): Iterating that the BJP is a "party of outsiders", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the land of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore would never allow hate politics to triumph over secularism.
Banerjee, during a rally in Bolpur, claimed that conspiracies were being hatched to destroy the state's inclusive culture and cautioned people against divisive politics.
"Stop this politics of violence... this divisive politics. Please steer clear of outsiders in your area, inform the local police if necessary. If some goons from outside come to our state to terrorise locals, all of you should put up a united fight against them," she said.
Branding Visva-Bharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty as a "BJP man", the CM claimed that he is planning to destroy the rich heritage of the hallowed institution by "importing divisive and communal politics inside its campus".
"Those who do not respect Mahatma Gandhi and other icons of the country are now talking of building 'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal).
"Rabindranath Tagore has created 'Sonar Bangla' several decades ago, all we need to do is to protect the place from the communal onslaught of the BJP," Banerjee said during her address, following a four-kilometre roadshow here.
The feisty TMC boss said that "attempts to destroy Tagore's cultural abode (Visva-Bharati) have to be resisted".
"I feel bad when I see efforts are on to pursue communal politics at Visva-Bharati. The VC there is a BJP man, he is trying to tarnish this institution's heritage by practising communal politics," the chief minister claimed.
Chakraborty recently drew the ire of the state government after reports in the media claimed that he has accused Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of occupying varsity land illegally.
Talking about the recent defections from the TMC, Banerjee said saffron camp might have "bought a few MLAs", but it can never buy her party.
Senior TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari, along with five party MLAs and another MP, joined the BJP on December 19, during Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally at Medinipur.
Describing Shah's recent visit to a folk singer's residence here for lunch on December 20 as nothing short of "show off", Banerjee claimed that the food items served to the BJP leader were cooked at five-star hotels.
Reacting to Banerjee's comments, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said the TMC supremo is wary of the saffron party's rise in Bengal.
"What makes her think that only the TMC has the right to talk about Rabindranath Tagore? The TMC government has failed miserably on all fronts in the last ten years, and now she is trying to brand us as outsiders.
"The days of the TMC dispensation are numbered in Bengal, and I think she has sensed it. The TMC is wary of the BJP's rise in Bengal," he said.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are due in April-May.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
