Politics of West Bengal
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Politics in West Bengal is dominated by the following major political parties: the
Government
History
The area's early history featured a succession of
Indian National Congress rule(1947–1962)
Princely state merge with West Bengal
In 1950, the Princely State of Koch Bihar merged with West Bengal after King Jagaddipendra Narayan had signed the Instrument of Accession with India.[5] In 1955, the former French enclave of Chandannagar, which had passed into Indian control after 1950, was integrated into West Bengal. Portions (the then Manbhum) of Bihar were subsequently merged with West Bengal and now this region serves as the district of Purulia[citation needed]
During
United Front (1967–1969)
After the state legislative elections held in 1967, the
Naxalbari uprising
In 1967 a peasant uprising broke out in
The
1969 Assembly election
Fresh elections were held in West Bengal in 1969. CPI(M) emerged as the largest party in the West Bengal legislative assembly.[8] But with the active support of CPI and the Bangla Congress, Ajoy Mukherjee was returned as Chief Minister of the state. Mukherjee resigned on March 16, 1970 and the state was put under President's Rule.
Indian National Congress rule II (1972–1977)
Indian National Congress won the 1972 assembly election, and its leader
This period was marked by large scale violence as the police force battled with the Naxalites in the state of West Bengal.
Left Front rule (1977–2011)
In the 1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, the Left Front, headed by Communist Party of India (Marxist), won 231 seats thereby gaining a majority, reducing the Indian National Congress to a mere 20 seats. The first Left Front government was established with Jyoti Basu as the Chief Minister. The state saw rapid developments in this period, with the Land Reforms and the Panchayat System being two of the many notable ones. In this time, the state had become one of the leaders in agricultural output, being the leading producer of rice and the second leading producer of potatoes.
The Naxalite movement was crushed during this time.
Major incidents
1979 Marichjhanpi Massacre
The massacre in Marichjhanpi, which took place under CPI(M) rule in Bengal between January 26 and May 16, 1979, relates to the eviction of refugees from the reserved island of Marichjhanpi, Sunderbans, who had fled from East Pakistan thereby leading to the death of a sizable population among them.[9]
Out of the 14,388 families who deserted [for West Bengal], 10,260 families returned to their previous places … and the remaining 4,128 families perished in transit, died of starvation, exhaustion, and many were killed in Kashipur, Kumirmari, and Marichjhapi by police firings (Biswas 1982, 19).[10][11]
After leading the Left Front government for consecutive five terms, Jyoti Basu retired from active politics and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was appointed as his successor. In 2000, the Left Front came back to the power with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee again assuming the office of the Chief Minister.[9]
The state's economic recovery gathered momentum after
Singur Tata Nano controversy
The
Nandigram violence
The
The SEZ controversy started when the government of West Bengal decided that the
All India Trinamool Congress rule (2011–present)
In the
Under this administration, famous scandals include:
- Saradha Group financial scandal (started circa 2000; arrest started 2013)
- Rose Valley financial scandal (hit headlines in 2013)
- Narada Sting Operation (done in 2014; came into light in 2016)
- Coal Scam Case (May 2020)[22][23][24][25][26][27]
- Cattle Smuggling Case [28][29][30]
During the
Political Parties
National parties
Political party | Flag | Electoral symbol | Political position | Founded | Founder | WB unit leader | Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lok Sabha | Rajya Sabha | West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |||||||||
Bharatiya Janata Party | Right-wing
|
6 April 1980 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Sukanta Majumdar | 15 / 42
|
2 / 16
|
66 / 294
| ||||
Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Left-wing | 7 November 1964 | E. M. S. Namboodiripad | Mohammed Salim | 0 / 42
|
1 / 16
|
0 / 294
| ||||
Indian National Congress | Centre-left
|
28 December 1885 | Allan Octavian Hume | Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury | 2 / 42
|
1 / 16
|
0 / 294
|
State parties
Political party | Flag | Electoral symbol | Political position | Founded | Founder | Leader | Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lok Sabha | Rajya Sabha | West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |||||||||
All India Trinamool Congress
|
Centre to Centre-left | 1 January 1998 | Mamata Banerjee | Mamata Banerjee | 25 / 42
|
13 / 16
|
221 / 294
|
See also
- Government of West Bengal
- Chief Minister of West Bengal
- List of political parties in India
Notes and references
- The Telegraph. Kolkata. Archived from the originalon 18 January 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
- ^ "West Bengal legislative assembly". Legislative bodies in India. National Informatics Centre, India. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
- ^ Delimitation Commission (15 February 2006). "Notification: order no. 18" (PDF). New Delhi: Election Commission of India. pp. 23–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
- ^ "Composition of Rajya Sabha" (PDF). Rajya Sabha at work. New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Secretariat. pp. 24–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
- ISBN 81-86860-23-1.
- ^ (Bennett & Hindle 1996, pp. 63–70)
- ^ Biswas, Soutik (2006-04-16). "Calcutta's colourless campaign". BBC. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
- ^ Indian National Congress had won 55 seats, Bangla Congress 33 and CPI 30. CPI(M) allies also won several seats.ECI: Statistical Report on the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Election Archived 29 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Bhattacharya, Snigdhendu (25 April 2011). "Ghost of Marichjhapi returns to haunt". The Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
- ^ Ross, Mallick. "The Morichjhanpi massacre: When tigers became citizens, refugees "tiger-food"" (PDF).
- ^ "Remembering Marichjhapi Massacre, 1979". insightyv.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
- ^ Ghosh Roy, Paramasish (22 July 2005). "Maoist on Rise in West Bengal". VOA Bangla. Voice of America. Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
- ^ "Maoist Communist Centre (MCC)". Left-wing Extremist group. South Asia Terrorism Portal. Retrieved 2006-09-11.
- ^ "Several hurt in Singur clash". rediff News. Rediff.com India Limited. 28 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- The Telegraph. 15 March 2007. Archived from the originalon December 4, 2012. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ "Terrorism and Rising Security Concerns in West Bengal | IPCS". www.ipcs.org. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "2007-Nandigram violence: A state of failure". India Today. December 24, 2009. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "CBI clean chit to Buddha govt on Nandigram firing". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ For more information on the Salim Group please see Sudono Salim
- ^ Asia Week
- ^ Far Easter Economic Review October 1998
- ^ Das, Madhuparna (2021-09-14). "Behind Bengal's Rs 1,900-cr 'coal scam' story is Class 8 dropout who began as 'petty coal thief'". ThePrint. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ Dhananjay Mahapatra (Oct 22, 2021). "bengal: Bengal trying to save accused, bar on CBI won't apply: Centre | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "CBI arrests four persons in West Bengal coal pilferage scam". Zee News. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "Coal scam case: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee to appear in front of ED on Monday". Hindustan Times. 2021-09-05. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "Bengal coal scam: Delhi Court issues non-bailable warrant against accused Vinay Mishra". ANI News. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "West Bengal coal scam case: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before ED today". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "Cattle smuggling case: CBI searches at multiple locations in West Bengal | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. PTI. Dec 31, 2020. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ Das, Madhuparna (2021-01-14). "8 Bengal IPS officers under CBI probe in Ponzi & cattle smuggling cases, TMC says don't care". ThePrint. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
- ^ "Anubrata Mondal in Tihar jail till April 3 over cattle smuggling case". The Telegraph.