West Bengal won't accept BJP's politics: TMC's Sagarika Ghose
New Delhi (PTI): Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose on Saturday claimed West Bengal would never accept BJP's politics, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his party would win the next assembly polls in the state.
She also said Bengal has such a leader in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is 24x7 on the ground with the people and not a 'hawaii jahaz' (airplane) leader.
Talking to PTI Videos, Ghose said, "I would like to give a few reality checks to Mr. Narendra Modi. He spoke about the conquest of Bengal, that he wants to conquer Bengal, as if Bengal is a piece of land to be added to Mr. Modi's CV."
"First of all, Bengal will never accept the kind of politics that Mr. Modi and BJP do... You'll give money, you'll divide and rule, you'll use muscle power, violence. This politics Bengal will never accept," she said.
"Secondly, in Bengal, we have such a leader, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is 24x7 on the ground with the people. She's not a 'hawaii jahaz' (airplane) leader who's travelling in the hawaii jahaz and just coming for votes. She's 24x7 with the people," she said.
Ghose claimed the West Bengal government's schemes like Kanyashree show its commitment towards women empowerment.
"Scheme like Kanyashree is something that is a life commitment for the Bengal government... It's not a pre-election bribe to women to win votes," she said.
Ghose also accused the Centre of denying West Bengal its "legitimate dues" under schemes like MGNREGS.
"The manner in which the Bengal government has been denied dues, the central government has denied Bengal its legitimate dues, NREGA dues, Awas Yojana dues... Bengal will never bow down to a BJP and a central government which is flouting the federal structure, flouting constitutional norms, and denying a state its legitimate and just dues," she said.
She said people from West Bengal have been targeted in different parts of the country for speaking Bangla, and accused the Centre of being against West Bengal.
"The manner in which citizens of India who happen to be poor, who happen to be helpless, who are journeying to different paths as wage labourers, as labourers in different states, they are being called ghuspetia, they are being called infiltrators because they are Bangla speakers," Ghose alleged.
"They are citizens of India searching for a living, they're trying to earn a living , and you're using them for this dirty politics of divide and rule... Bengal will never accept this".
"There are BJP people who have called the Bangla language Bangladeshi language. Our language is extremely important to us. Our cultural sensitivities have been repeatedly targeted and abused by the BJP," she said.
"Bengal will not tolerate this. We are the children of Vivekananda, of Netaji Subhash Bose, of Rabindranath Tagore, and we will fight the BJP and we will win," Ghose added.
Narendra Modi on Friday termed the NDA win in Bihar as a vote for pro-people governance and vowed to throw out 'jungle raj' from West Bengal, saying the BJP's victory march will follow the flow of river Ganga from Bihar to Bengal.
Addressing a thanksgiving function at the BJP headquarters here, he said the victory in Bihar has paved the way for the BJP's triumph in Bengal.
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Tejas jet suffered damage to airframe while landing at frontline air base
New Delhi (PTI): A Tejas light combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) sustained major damage to its airframe after it overshot the runway at a frontline airbase following a suspected brake failure earlier this month, authoritative sources said on Sunday.
The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely, they said.
It is learnt that the aircraft was returning to the base after carrying out a training sortie.
There was no official word from the IAF on the accident that took place on February 7.
Following the incident, the IAF grounded the entire fleet of around 30 single-seat Tejas jets to carry out an extensive technical scrutiny, the sources said.
It was the third accident involving the Tejas jets. The first one took place in March 2024, when a Tejas jet crashed near Jaisalmer.
The second incident took place in November 2025, when a Tejas jet crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Airshow.
The latest accident comes at a time when Tejas maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has missed several deadlines to supply the Tejas Mark 1A variant of the aircraft to the IAF.
In February 2021, the defence ministry sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with HAL for the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets for the IAF.
The delivery of the jets is facing delays primarily due to GE Aerospace missing several deadlines for the supply of its aero engines to power the jets.
The defence ministry in September last year sealed another deal worth Rs 62,370 crore with HAL to procure 97 Tejas MK-1A light combat aircraft for the IAF.
Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.
It has been designed to undertake air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike roles.
