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Kiran Bedi congratulates Puducherrians for France’s FIFA victory, gets called out for ignorant comment

OpIndia Staff
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Kiran Bedi congratulates Puducherrians for France’s FIFA victory, gets called out for ignorant comment

Yesterday, in a rather interesting match, France defeated Croatia to lift the FIFA world cup. While the French celebrated and the Croatians got applauded for a series well played, here in India, Kiran Bedi, ex IPS officer, BJP politician and the current Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry courted controversy.

After France’s win, Kiran Bedi tweeted some bizarre comments congratulating Puducherrians for France’s victory.


She also tweeted about the “memorable and historical bond with France” and how Puducherry “wanted France to win”.


In 1674 French East Company set up trading centre at erstwhile Pondicherry and has colonised the Indian Union Territory. Their exit came after massive civil agitation. For example, In 1787 and 1791, farmers of Karaikal agitated against the heavy land tax imposed by the French.

For an Indian Governor to now celebrate France’s victory owing to the illegal colonisation of Indian Territory did not sit well with Netizens who sharply called out Bedi’s stand and her ‘colonial mindset’.

One netizen reminded her of the deeply anti-Hindu legacy of French colonialists in Puducherry.


Some also shamed Bedi for celebrating colonialists as it insulted the ones who fought hard to free Indian territory.


Others reminded Bedi that the French not only colonised Puducherry but also collaborated with the genocidal Tipu Sultan.


She was also asked if she was celebrating a French victory because they were the colonisers of Puducherry, would she have celebrated if the British had won, considering they too illegally colonised India.


It was indeed shocking to see the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry celebrate the colonisers who oppressed and illegally occupied Indian territory. It would bode Indian politicians well if they choose their words wisely and retract when they goof up. Something Bedi had not done till the time this article was published.

TMC builds a ‘secular’ puja room in their office, BJP calls it drama

OpIndia Staff
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TMC builds a ‘secular’ puja room in their office, BJP calls it drama

Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress opened a new party office at Bolpur which has a separate ‘Thakur Ghar’, a puja room, with several deities, including a replica of Ajmer Sharif Dargah installed in it. However, this step hasn’t gone down too well with the BJP that has accused the TMC of using it as a cover for their ‘minority appeasement’ policy.

TMC’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal reportedly said that TMC has equal respect for all religions and hence they placed the replica of Ajmer Sharif Dargah in the puja room along with that of Goddess Kali and other deities. He also said that his own office also has a replica of Data Saheb, a Sufi saint of Birbhum.

However, it drew a lot of flak from the BJP. BJP’s Birbhum district president Ramkrishna Roy called this ‘drama’ and said that the TMC is trying to mislead the people since they are upset with TMC’s ‘minority appeasement’ policy. Banerjee had earlier said she would skip the NITI Aayog meet since it fell on Eid, while being accused of taking to ‘soft Hindutva’ approach on lines of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. In March, this year, she did a u-turn on Ram Navami celebrations by overturning the initial orders of banning the display of arms by allowing ‘restricted’ display of arms in the procession.

Interestingly, other than deities, photographs of Mamata Banerjee and some of her paintings will also adorn the newly inaugurated office.

Madhur Bhandarkar summarizes his sufferings during “Indu Sarkar” by the Congress, headed by “the benefactor of freedom of expression”

OpIndia Staff
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Madhur Bhandarkar summarizes his sufferings during “Indu Sarkar” by the Congress, headed by “the benefactor of freedom of expression”

Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar’ a much controversial film, was not well received by workers and leaders associated with the Congress party. A party which is piloted by the so-called ‘benefactor of freedom of expression’. Madhur Bhandarkar wounded by the backlash his film received took to Twitter to openly pass the buck onto the Congress supremo.


Almost exactly a year ago the Congress workers continued to protest against the screening of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar as the movie hit the theatres last year in July. The twist here was that, on one hand, all the so-called elite members of the party were harping that the party was not against the release of the movie, and reiterating their most treasured jargon of respecting ones “freedom of expression”, while on the other, hand the party workers were all out protesting against the movie.

Madhur here recollects the harrowing experience he had when he was hounded by the Congress workers, and how the party supremo, Rahul Gandhi, did what he is best at, staying mute at the time when he’s supposed to post reactions, at times when this ‘freedom of expression’, which he proudly endorses, is being muffled and murdered by his own workers and leaders under bright daylight.

In the video, Madhur attached with his tweet, it can be clearly seen how the Congress workers are protesting against Madhur Bhandarkar, burning his effigy, shouting slogans of ‘Madhur Bhandarkar murdabad’ and hailing Indira Gandhi and the Congress.

Earlier too, Opindia had reported how the Congress hooligans had disrupted the screening of Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar’ in various cities. The hollow talks of freedom of expression by these elite Congress leaders appeared to have no effect on their fellow Congress leaders and workers.

The film Indu Sarkar was a fiction based on the 19-month long Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1970s. Despite Bhandarkar’s assurances that the film was not a biopic on Gandhi’s life, Congress workers and leaders came down heavily on him. Outraged by this, Madhur Bhandarkar had then taken on Twitter to call out Rahul Gandhi’s hypocrisy.

Talking about Rahul Gandhi and the stance he takes on ‘freedom of expression’, frequently twisting it how it suits him and his party, scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan, who had earlier called out Shashi Tharoor and Congress’ hypocritical stand on freedom of expression, again took to Twitter to remind Congress President the number of times he stayed silent when freedom of expression was suppressed and murdered after he became politically active.

This was when recently, miffed at the portrayal of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Netflix series ‘Sacred Games’ as ‘fattu’ (coward), a Congress leader from Kolkata filed a complaint against the makers of the show. Rahul Gandhi, who had previously lent his support to the JNU students calling for breaking up the country, again came out in support of freedom of expression for Sacred Games. Congress President came out in support of the online series and said it is the BJP and the RSS which believes that the freedom of expression must be policed and controlled, but he ( the Congress supremo) himself believes freedom of expression is a fundamental democratic right (only when he, once in a while chooses to come out of his slumber and comment).

Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, the anti-India Baloch leader killed in a suicide attack by Islamist terrorists

OpIndia Staff
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Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, the anti-India Baloch leader killed in a suicide attack by Islamist terrorists

In one of the deadliest attacks by Islamist terrorists in Balochistan, Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, leader of the Balochistan Awami Party, who is known to be having extreme anti-India views, has been killed along with over 130 people in a suicide attack in Balochistan province. Raisani, the leader of the newly formed Balochistan Awami Party(BAP), was the son of former governor of Balochistan Nawab Ghaus Raisani, who was the founder of Balochistan Muttahida Mahaz in the early 1970s. His elder brother is the former chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Aslam Raisani.

The Balochistan government officials confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack and Raisani died of the blast injuries and he was declared dead even before he was taken to the hospital. The blasts took place near the PB-35 constituency of the Mustang district. Incidentally, Raisani was contesting from this constituency against his own brother, Nawab Aslam Raisani, who is contesting as an independent candidate.

In some widely circulated images, it is also seen that Nawabzada Siraj Raisani has shown at most contempt for India. As in one of those images, it is clearly visible that the amount of hate he has displayed against our country. In another image, it can be seen, where Raisani is seen disrespecting the Indian flag by standing on top of it.

Pakistan has been under severe attack from various Islamic terror groups, as the country is in the run-up to the general elections on July 25. There was another attack on Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s leader, Akram Khan Durrani, resulting in the killing of four people.

The Pakistani media reported that the Islamic terrorist organization ISIS had taken the responsibility for the attacks that killed Siraj Raisani and many other people. It is reported that the teenage son of  Nawabzada Siraj Raisani was also killed in the same district in 2011 when there was a grenade attack on his vehicle in 2011. Siraj had managed to escape the attack then.

Congress Twitter account goofs up, again, refers to Subhadra as Lord Jagannath’s ‘brother’

OpIndia Staff
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Congress Twitter account goofs up, again, refers to Subhadra as Lord Jagannath’s ‘brother’

Congress Twitter account is a delight on otherwise slow days. Ever since Divya Spandana has taken charge, Congress social media account has had goof-ups galore. Despite this, Divya Spandana has been hailed by a section of media for the ‘turnaround’ and winning social media space. Following Rahul Gandhi’s soft Hindutva approach, Congress social media account has also started celebrating Hindu festivals.

Yesterday, on occasion of Rath Yatra, Congress Twitter account posted a video of the journey.


Interestingly, the tweet talks about the annual journey of Lord Jagannath with his ‘brothers’. A little bit of research would have told them that the Rath Yatra is a procession of Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balaram and his younger sister Subhadra. Congress seems to have mistaken his sister for his brother.

Secondly, the procession goes towards ‘Gundicha Temple’, not ‘Gundicha Ghat’. There is no such place as ‘Gundhicha Ghat’. In fact, there is no ‘ghat’ nearby as the nearest waterbody is the Bay of Bengal.

Many Twitter users also tried to correct the gaffe.


This is not the first time Congress leaders have shown ignorance and arrogance towards Hindu rituals. Recently, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was also seen throwing away a coconut prasad given to him by party workers.

Trouble mounting for PDP as 18 disgruntled MLAs ready to join BJP to form the government

OpIndia Staff
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Trouble mounting for PDP as 18 disgruntled MLAs ready to join BJP to form the government

As reported by various media houses, a PDP MLA, Abdul Majeed Padder, hinted at joining the saffron party for the formation of a new government in the state. This development comes days after the Jammu and Kashmir former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti had warned the BJP of serious repercussions if they tried to instigate and engineer revolt amongst PDP.

Asserting to end the current ambiguity, rebel Padder on Saturday said they have the support of 51 members in the 87 member Legislative Assembly to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Rest assured, don’t worry about the numbers. We have more numbers than required. You need 44 members and we have 51 members. There is no problem as far as numbers are concerned. You will soon get to know how much numbers we have”, said Padder, who is PDP MLA from Noorabad constituency in the Kulgam district of south Kashmir.

As reported by DNA, on Friday, Padder, along with four other lawmakers – three PDP MLAs and 2 MLCs – held a news conference and stated that their faction was the “real” PDP. They added that they had lost confidence in Mehbooba Mufti’s leadership.

His comments came despite Mufti’s public warning that a rebellion in her party could lead to an increase in incidents of terrorism in the valley. Reacting to this, Padder reportedly said, “When my leader late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed could go for an alliance with BJP, why can’t we form the government with BJP.”

Padder isn’t the only PDP leader who has spoken against chief Mufti. Conflicts and divergence seem to have encroached the party since a fairly long time. Earlier, senior PDP legislator Abid Hussain Ansari slammed the former CM saying that she has converted the party into a “family fiefdom”.

In the last few months, J&K’s political scenario has seen many highs and lows with the BJP on 19th June deciding to pull out of the alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir saying it is “untenable” for the coalition to continue. The National General Secretary of the BJP, Ram Madhav while speaking to the media had reiterated that “Keeping in mind larger interest of India’s security and integrity, the fact is that J&K is an integral part of India, in order to bring control over the situation prevailing in the state we have decided that the reigns of power in the state be handed over to the Governor.”

In the 87-member legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, the magic number to form the government with simple majority stands at 44. The PDP to date is the single largest party with 28 members, whereas the BJP has 25 members. With BJP sources confirming that they had indeed received the “feelers” sent by the rebel PDP MLAs regarding the government formation, one is left to wonder for how long now, can the PDP grandstand of being the single largest party in the valley.

Cracks deepen in the coalition as Karnataka CM breaks down: I won’t stick to CM post at the risk of my self-esteem, he says

OpIndia Staff
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Cracks deepen in the coalition as Karnataka CM breaks down: I won’t stick to CM post at the risk of my self-esteem, he says

The ‘opportunistic alliance’ between the Congress and JD(S) in its craving to form the government in Karnataka, which was evidently nothing but a compromise, seems to be constantly grappling to accommodate each other.

In a pitching reference to some Congress leaders who are said to begrudging the Karnataka CM, H.D Kumaraswamy for latching on to the highest post, he, on Saturday, broke down at a JD(S) event and told party cadre that he would not keep the post at the cost of his self-esteem.

At the event which was organized to facilitate him on becoming the CM, a teary-eyed Kumaraswamy confessed that he is not happy with the present situation (of a coalition government) as it is a source of pain for him, akin to swallowing poison.

Kumaraswamy even refused to accept garlands and bouquets at the event. “You’re happy that your Anna became the chief minister but I do not share your happiness. I’m swallowing my pain, which is like swallowing poison, without sharing it”, Karnataka CM said in the context of heading a coalition government that lacks people’s mandate. Refusing to accept the facilitation Kumaraswamy said in a poignant voice, “If I decide to do so, I can step down within two hours,” clearly exposing the undercurrent between the two parties.

The Chief Minister said he was upset with the criticism he faced within two months of forming the government. “I don’t waste time and energy to save my chair. I have inherited the legacy of my father H.D. Deve Gowda, who quit the post of Prime Minister,” he said.

Expressing his limitations in implementing the promises made in the run-up to Assembly elections, the CM said: “I don’t know whether farmers are satisfied or not. The BJP is still accusing me of not fulfilling promises on the old age pension, allowance for pregnant women, among other things.” which clearly indicated that he is a merely a puppet in hands of the Congress and that what is irking him is that being the CM, he is not being able to take decisions on his own.

Citing fiscal hurdles in increasing the quantity of rice given to BPL card-holders from 5 kg to 7 kg, he said an additional ₹2,500 crore would be needed for the purpose. “Where do I get the money from”, said the anguished CM, in retaliation to these allegations which according to him, were being constantly barbed at him.

As quoted by TOI, The Karnataka CM ranted that people come to hear him speak but do not turn up to vote for him. “God has given me this power and he’ll decide how many days I stay in power”.

Congress and the JD(S), both ensuing completely different ideologies, were earlier in lock horns with each other over several issues, as they decided to go hand in hand in its quest to overthrow BJP. In fact, it’s ironical that the two had bitterly campaigned against each other before getting into this alliance.

Post-Karnataka elections, which concluded in May, BJP had emerged as the single largest party acquiring 104 seats. In this high-strung ‘Game of Thrones’ which had kept the entire nation on the edge of their seats, the Congress in its desperation to retain power was quick in teaming up with the JD(S) which was clearly nothing but a compromise.

And this eventually, almost immediately started showing up, when almost in no time an intense lobbying from both Congress and JDS for ministerial berths in the present government started surfacing. Congress party demanded two Deputy CM posts and reports suggests that JDS was not willing to consider. D K Shivakumar, one of the most powerful leaders of Karnataka Congress was also lobbying for the post, but the JDS was not keen to give in. Amidst this confusion, a Muslim faction had also demanded the post to be given to their community. As there are considerable MLAs from the Lingayat community, they too demanded the Deputy Chief Minister post for their community creating a considerable amount of internal turbulence. This is somehow just the beginning, the climax to this high-octane drama is yet to unfold.

Rahul Gandhi and freedom of expression – A paradox

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi and freedom of expression – A paradox

Recently, miffed at the portrayal of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Netflix series ‘Sacred Games’ as ‘fattu’ (coward), a Congress leader from Kolkata filed a complaint against the makers of the show. Rahul Gandhi, who had previously lent his support to the JNU students calling for breaking up the country, again came out in support of freedom of expression for Sacred Games. Congress President came out in support of the online series and said it is the BJP and the RSS which believes that the freedom of expression and must be policed and controlled, but he himself believes freedom of expression is a fundamental democratic right.


In his political career spanning over a decade, when he contested from Amethi for the first time in 2004, Congress President has not very surprisingly stood as a mute spectator while freedom of expression was stifled under his watchful eyes in the 10 years of UPA regime.

Scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan, who had earlier called out Shashi Tharoor and Congress’ hypocritical stand on freedom of expression, again took to Twitter to remind Congress President the number of times he stayed silent when freedom of expression of muffled and murdered after he became politically active.


At the time of publishing of this report, the count stood at almost 70 instances and counting. We curate some of the select few of these tweets.

  1. In 2012, the UPA government under Congress moved to block ‘anti-Prophet’ cartoons, published by Charlie Hebdo ‘fearing communal tension’.
  2. In June 2017, a Congress leader was sacked for calling Congress President Rahul Gandhi ‘Pappu’. Guess who stayed silent?
  3. In 2006, Rahul Gandhi’s mother and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi personally wrote to the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid sharing ‘sense of outrage’ about ‘publication of sensitive cartoons of the Prophet’ over Danish cartoons, which were soon banned in India.
  4. Spanish writer Javier Moro’s dramatised biography of Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi The Red Sari was banned and Congress demanded that the publishers withdraw the book.
  5. The film Da Vinci Code was banned in 2006, during the UPA 1 and Rahul Gandhi stayed silent, exercising his own ‘freedom of keeping silence’.
  6. When Congress goons disrupted the screening of the film Indu Sarkar in July last year, Rahul Gandhi maintained radio silence.
  7. Congress demanded a cut from the film Raajneeti, and Rahul Gandhi chose politics of silence.
  8. When a restaurant in Mumbai mocked the UPA government, Congress goons forced a restaurant to shut down.
  9. The CBFC under the UPA clamped down on creativity by harassing the makers of the film ‘Amu’ based on 1984 riots and the film could not be screened. Rahul Gandhi, as usual, stayed silent.
  10. Congress demanded intimate scenes between Jawaharlal Nehru (Rahul Gandhi’s great-grandfather) and Edwina Mountbatten in a film based on their relationship be cut. The film eventually got shelved.
  11. Padmaavat, Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Shanghai, 31st October, etc. are some of the films which ran into trouble in the last few years and Rahul Gandhi stayed silent.
  12. After a study ranked Gujarat as no. 1 state back in 2004, Sonia Gandhi demanded that all studies published henceforth by Rajiv Gandhi Institute must be politically vetted. Economist Bibek Debroy, who was heading it then, decided to quit.

These are just some of the many instances Rahul Gandhi’s party was either instrumental in policing the freedom of expression or was a mute spectator when it was happening.

Hence, Rahul Gandhi should perhaps tweet things which he actually implements and not something that appears politically correct and make a mockery out of himself.

National Commission of Scheduled Caste warns Aligarh Muslim University on SC/ST reservation

OpIndia Staff
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National Commission of Scheduled Caste warns Aligarh Muslim University on SC/ST reservation

In a recent development, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has written to the HRD Ministry, questioning the principle of funding the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) despite failing to implement the reservation policies similar to other central universities.

The Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), Ram Shankar Katheria has now issued another warning to the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). “This is not Pakistan, the university has to follow the rules,” Katheria, had said. He has earlier warned the university that, if it fails to prove its minority institution status and also follow up its orders of the reservation policies, the commission will file an FIR against the university.

The Commission has ordered the government to present the year-wise details of the grants that AMU received from its establishment till 2018-19.

Earlier, the NCSC had held a meeting with the University Grants Commission under its chairman Ram Shankar Katheria where the government has presented its new position on AMU’s minority status. The NDA government has reversed its position on the issue of the minority status to Aligarh Muslim University. The government has filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2016 and had informed the top court that the AMU was never intended to be a minority institution, as it was set by an Act of Parliament and is funded by the Central government.

The Uttar Pradesh SC/ST Commission has taken this issue seriously and has followed it with a notice to the AMU, questioning why it has failed to provide the quotas for SCs and STs, despite accepting grants from the Union government. At present, the AMU has close to 30,000 students and a reservation of 15 percent seats should go to SC and another 7.5 percent to STs. “If AMU fails to provide the documents, it will have to admit 4,500 Dalit students and 2,250 tribal students,” Katheria added.

The AMU on the other hand has defended its status as a Minority institution by citing a 1981 amendment made to the original act, which states that, “The educational institution of their choice established by the Muslims of India, which originated as the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, Aligarh, and which was subsequently incorporated as AMU.” The UPA had always supported the stand of the university and had given the status of a religious minority institution.

Recently, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath had demanded the reservation for Dalits at minority-run institutions like the Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Milia Islamia. Yogi had argued that if institutions like the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) could provide reservations for Dalits, then even universities like Jamia Milia and the AMU.

BJYM protests against the extortion of students by the Trinamool Chatra Parishad in Bengal

Anubhav
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BJYM protests against the extortion of students by the Trinamool Chatra Parishad in Bengal

There has always been much uproar about the politicization of student unions in Bengal, but for the last two to three years a new kind of problem has emerged. The problem is of student unions taking money in order to subvert the admission process into various colleges. This evolution from asserting student rights to allegedly being a cash-hungry organized syndicate has happened quite quickly and efficiently.

So much so, that now we have rate charts of different streams for different colleges. The vernacular media in Bengal has pointed out how systematically the merit oriented procedure has been subverted for cash-induced one. The Trinamool Chatra Parishad (T.M.C.P), the student outfit of the ruling party Trinamool Congress is accused of facilitating this transition of educational institutions into hubs of ill-gotten money machines.

The youth political outfit Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha associated with BJP took to the street on Friday in protest against the politicization of colleges and extortion of money by the T.M.C.P. They also raised the issue of Amlan Sarkar, a student from Boral who according to reports allegedly committed suicide after failing to secure an admission in any college.

The 18-year-old boy scored 79% in his higher secondary examination failed to get an admission in Andrews College and K. K. Das College even after his name appeared on the merit list.

The BJYM staged a silent protest in front of Swami Vivekananda’s house on Vivekananda road. The reason for staging a protest there was given by Kalicharan Shaw, the College Outreach Convenor for West Bengal, he said Vivekananda is regarded as the ideological head of BJYM and a role model for today’s youth that is why BJYM has chosen this place for the protest.

The protestors wore black bandanas around there mouth and held placards which accused the T.M.C.P of being goons and making a mockery of the College education system in Bengal.

Kalicharan, who completed his B.Com this year and looking to get admission in M.Com stated –

“Any of the colleges I go to I will be asked for money. The frustrating part is, after 12 to 15 years of hard work and academic rigour one can’t get an admission without paying the gate-keeper, who in this is the T.M.C.P. That is why we have staged a protest against this horrendous practice of extortion of money. We are also here to pay homage to Amlan Sarkar who took his life because he could not pay the money asked by the T.M.C.P.”

Pointing out the larger hand at play, Dinesh Pandey, chairman of South Kolkata BJP unit stated –

“T.M.C.P has evolved into an organization with similar traits to that of a criminal organization. I can show you in Jaipuria College, Surendranath College and in many other places, people who are 40 to 50 years old are    in T.M.C.P. Thus, it is no longer a student organization of the T.M.C but an arm of the party to extort money from the students to fill up the Party’s coffers.”

T.M.C supremo and West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has earlier directed the police administration to take strict action against such T.M.C.P units and many student leaders have been arrested.

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