Jai Hind Camp residents are living in ‘subhuman' conditions: TMC MPs
The delegation, comprising Rajya Sabha members Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, said the slum dwellers told them that they have been living without electricity for the last five to six days.
'We found that there are hundreds of families from Cooch Behar that have been living here for the past 20-25 years. The majority of them work as rag-pickers, and they are being asked to move as the private owners of the land want them out. We will send a detailed report to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,' said Mr. Roy.
The TMC MP appealed to political parties and social organisations to help the residents of the camp, whom he said were living in 'subhuman conditions'.
'Just because they are Bengali-speaking, they are being targeted by the authorities and subject to inhuman actions. We must find some place for them to live,' he said.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of being 'anti-Bengali', Ms. Banerjee, last week, in a post on X, said, 'There are over 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal who live with dignity. But the same cannot be said for BJP-ruled States, where Bengalis are being treated as infiltrators in their own country. Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi. They are as much citizens of India as anyone else, regardless of what language they speak.'
The police had conducted a verification drive in the area last year, following Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena's orders.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
20 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Former J&K deputy CM Kavinder Gupta appointed Ladakh's LG
Following resignation of Brig (Dr) BD Mishra (retd), President Droupadi Murmu on Monday appointed former deputy chief minister of J&K Kavinder Gupta as new lieutenant governor of union territory of Ladakh. BJP leader and former Jammu and Kashmir deputy CM Kavinder Gupta being offered sweets on being appointed as lieutenant governor of Ladakh, on Monday. (ANI) The strategic Himalayan region shared it's borders with Pakistan and China. Gupta, 65, expressed gratitude to the President Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and the party leadership for reposing their faith in him. 'This is a big responsibility entrusted upon me. I will serve the people of Ladakh and try to come up to their expectations,' he told media. 'Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir but there are several challenges after it became a UT,' he said. Gupta, who started off as a RSS worker, assured that he will take local populace along. 'Ladakh is a border region and I will try to shoulder all responsibilities while taking on board the administration and local people,' he said. Gupta informed that on Saturday he received a call from the Prime Minister, who asked him about the new responsibility. 'I gave my consent to the PM,' he said, adding that for the first time anyone from Jammu would be heading Ladakh as LG. In 2014, Gupta was elected as MLA from the Gandhi Nagar assembly constituency. He became the first speaker from BJP in the J&K Assembly, where he served from March 2015 to April 2018. In April 2018, Gupta became deputy CM in the PDP–BJP coalition headed by then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. 'Now, new responsibility has been given to me and I will try to live up to the expectations of the people,' he said. Recalling his earlier days, Gupta said that he had no political background. 'My father was an employee. I remained a student leader and worked for the youth,' he said. The change of guard comes at a time when Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance were spearheading a protracted agitation demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule to the region. Reacting to the development, president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association, co-chairman of the Leh Apex Body and former minister, Chering Dorje Lakrook said, 'I personally know him as we worked in the same government. However, people of Ladakh don't know much about him and they asked me about him.' 'Let's see how he runs the administration here. We have to see how he grasped the issues and problems of the people of Ladakh. It will be too early to make a comment,' he said. 3 time mayor, Gupta, joined RSS when he was 13 years old Gupta, born on December 2, 1959, joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at age of 13. He is a graduate and has three children. He served three consecutive terms as mayor from 2005 to 2010. After which he served as an MLA, assembly speaker and former deputy chief minister of J&K. In Punjab also he served as state secretary of ABVP for three years. His father, an employee in the postal and telegraph department, was posted at various places, including Gurdaspur and later Srinagar. A native of Smailpur village in Samba district, Kavinder Gupta officially joined the BJP in 1988. In the 2002 and 2008 Assembly elections, Gupta was initially given the BJP mandate from the Jammu West assembly segment, but the party changed its candidates at the last minute. In the 2014 assembly polls, he was shifted to the Gandhi Nagar assembly segment in Jammu city—then considered a Congress stronghold—where he defeated senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla.
Hindustan Times
20 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Jammu: BJP MLAS stage protest against making Urdu language test mandatory for naib tehsildars posts
The BJP MLAs on Monday protested outside the Civil Secretariat and Assembly against the NC government for making Urdu language test mandatory for the posts of naib tehsildars in revenue department. Leader of the Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly Sunil Sharma and supporters stage a protest outside the Civil Secretariat over the issue of making Urdu a compulsory subject for the post of naib tehsildar on Monday. (ANI) The BJP has been opposing the move across Jammu for over three weeks, holding protests and rallies across at the district level. The party has warned of launching a region-wide agitation if the order is not withdrawn. However, experts stated that the government has to amend a flawed SRO 74 pertaining to recruitment rules to ensure level playing field among the job aspirants. The MLAs of the saffron party arrived at the Civil Secretariat in the morning and staged a dharna, calling the order discriminatory and detrimental to the interests of Jammu's youth. Carrying placards highlighting injustice against Jammu's youth, Dogras and other official languages of the union territory, the BJP leaders raised slogans against the government and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, accusing the part of trying to create unrest in the region. 'We are staging a dharna against the decision to make Urdu mandatory for naib tehsildar examinations in Jammu and Kashmir, which is not acceptable to us,' BJP MLA and former minister Sham Lal Sharma said. He said, 'Kashmir-centric parties, particularly the NC, have been discriminating against this region for decades. This is a fresh example of it.' Taking a swipe at the NC governments for decades-long discrimination against Jammu and its people, he said, 'We thought their discriminatory approach had changed after 2019, but it continues even today.' 'By making Urdu mandatory for such important posts in the government, the NC rulers have overruled previous provisions where knowing the language Urdu was not compulsory,' Sharma further said. 'We are holding protests to get it revoked. The matter has been brought to the notice of the Lieutenant Governor as well and memorandums have been submitted through deputy commissioners, but nothing has been done so far,' he said. Sharma said that 14 BJP MLAs had even met chief minister Omar Abdullah over the issue. 'His approach was positive. Still, no action has been taken, and tomorrow is the last day to apply for the posts.' 'They are trying to create unrest in Jammu and are forcing us to go on agitation. All 28 BJP MLAs have started it with today's two-hour-long token dharna,' he added. The former minister further said that the party will soon announce its next course of action. 'Making Urdu a compulsory subject in recruitment for naib tehsildars is a gross injustice to the youth of the Jammu region,' BJP MLA Yudhvir Sethi said, adding that such injustice will not be tolerated. 'We will not allow the repetition of such injustice,' he said and added that the move is a clear violation of equal status accorded to multiple official languages, including Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri, Urdu and English.
Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
Organised murder by system: Rahul Gandhi attacks BJP over Odisha college student's death
Attacking the ruling BJP in Odisha over the death of the college student who set herself on fire, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged it was nothing less than an " organised murder by the system". Gandhi alleged that those who were supposed to protect her kept "breaking her". "The death of a daughter fighting for justice in Odisha is nothing less than a murder by the BJP's system. That brave student raised her voice against sexual harassment - but instead of delivering justice, she was threatened, tormented, and repeatedly humiliated," he alleged in a post on X. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy Lifetime Office 365 Download Undo "Those who were supposed to protect her kept breaking her. As always, the BJP's system continued to shield the accused and forced an innocent daughter to set herself on fire," he alleged. Gandhi claimed the girl's death was not suicide, it was an organised murder by the system. Live Events "Modi ji, whether in Odisha or Manipur - the daughters of the nation are burning, breaking, and dying. And you? You remain silent," he said. "The country doesn't need your silence; it needs answers. India's daughters need safety and justice," he added. The second-year student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore died on Monday night after fighting for her life for three days. She set herself on fire on the campus on Saturday over alleged inaction against a professor who allegedly sexually harassed her. She had suffered 95 per cent burns and died at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar .
