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An angry Ghosh claimed that 'goons were deployed' to disturb the meeting A day after the  Jana Andolan Party   activists protested against his visit in Kalimpong, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh was on Thursday heckled, his party workers were roughed up and his meeting had to be aborted midway in hill town Darjeeling. An angry Ghosh claimed that "goons were deployed" to disturb the meeting, and blamed the Binoy Tamang faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for "roughing up" BJP activists. He also hinted that the instigation for the "attacks" could have come from "Kolkata" in an indication to the Mamata Banerjee government. There were two incidents of protest against the BJP leader, who was first shown black flags and 'go back' posters by another hill-based outfit Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) on his way to Darjeeling. Later, there were protests and demonstrations at the Bijoya Sammilani which he at...

Best quality in Gauri was one could always argue with her, dispute her and tell her she was wrong “Be careful about what you post on social media. We live in dangerous times,” I told  Gauri Lankesh  last week. She replied saying “We can’t be so dead. It is human to express and react. What we feel impulsively is usually our most honest response.” On Tuesday night, she was shot and killed in cold blood. The killing was not impulsive. It was well thought and carefully planned, like the murders in Maharashtra and Karnataka of the rationalists and thinkers Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi that she had herself condemned and protested. I grew up in a family of writers. My father, K. Marulasiddappa, and P Lankesh, Gauri’s father, were colleagues and close friends. Lankesh was an English lecturer. My father taught Kannada. ALSO READ:  Right-wing critic, senior journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead in Bengaluru We lived in the same neighbourhood. ...

Mamata Banerjee during oath taking ceremony in Kolkata West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathy administers the oath of secrecy to West Bengal Chief Minister   Mamata Banerjee   during swearing-in ceremony in Kolkata

Victory in Assam could help passage of GST, hope of seats in 2019 from all across India After a disastrous 2015, where it was electorally mauled first in Delhi and then Bihar, the year 2016 has brought much cheer for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The results are beyond   BJP ’s expectations -– it has comprehensively won Assam byand nearing the majority mark on its own, it has won its first ever seat and over 11 per cent votes in Kerala, as many as half dozen seats and 10 per cent vote share in Bengal and to top it, has the comfort of the return of a favourable government in Tamil Nadu. The results will sweeten Modi government’s second anniversary celebrations, brighten hopes for the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution amendment in the Monsoon session and boost BJP’s preparations for the important Uttar Pradesh assembly polls due by February 2017. Most of all, the results are good news for the BJP in the context of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. T...

Assembly elections are due in the summer of 2016 in five places: Assam & West Bengal in the east and Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south. These account for 116 Lok Sabha seats. The ruling BJP has little or no political capital here. How will the outcome of these elections influence national politics? Business Standard presents the facts ( Click here for detailed report )