Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 18: The Indian Railways have planned to run several special trains from different centres in the country destined West Bengal ahead of the state Assembly elections later this month.
Official sources said the idea was to help migrant workers from West Bengal engaged in other states to reach their constituencies to cast their votes.
Polling in West Bengal is set to take place on April 23 and 29. Interestingly, the Howrah route, which had been facing delays for months, has seen a sudden improvement over the past week, with trains running on time. This shift is being directly linked to the upcoming elections.
Railway authorities have focused on cities where a large number of voters from West Bengal, Assam and parts of South India live and work. For instance, special trains have been introduced on routes like Pune, LTT and Valsad, connecting to Santragachi and Kharagpur. This is meant to help voters travelling from Maharashtra and Gujarat.
In the Bilaspur zone, routes like Durg, Gondia and Itwari are expected to assist passengers heading towards West Bengal. Similarly, in the Patna and Raxaul corridor, special trains are targeting regions like Malda, Dinajpur, Birbhum and Haldia, which are considered important from an election perspective.
There has also been a change in earlier cancellations. The Shalimar LTT Express, which was cancelled till April 24 due to maintenance work at Gondia, has now been rescheduled and restored ahead of the elections. In addition, a new weekly train has been introduced between Shalimar and Itwari.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that the BJP’s “downfall” has begun with the defeat of the women’s reservation bill due to opposition unity. Addressing a poll rally in Howrah’s Uluberia, Ms Banerjee also pointed out that the BJP was defeated even in the 2024 Parliamentary elections but was surviving in office only with the support of its allies.
Taking a swipe at the BJP over its push for delimitation, the Trinamool Congress supremo alleged that the saffron party wanted to “divide” the country.
Her nephew and the Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee cautioned the voters in a poll rally in Murshidabad, “A vote for any party other than the TMC is a vote for the BJP.” The district is considered to be a traditional stronghold of the Congress.
Addressing a gathering after a roadshow in Farakka, he claimed that while the BJP was “breaking the Congress,” the TMC was “thwarting the BJP’s influence on the ground.” Targeting the Congress, the de facto number two in the TMC, claimed that no MP or any representative of the grand old party stood by them in the past two years to address people’s demands.
The BJP’s West Bengal unit chief Samik Bhattacharya threw a “living fossil” barb at the Trinamool Congress government in the State, asserting that it was on “borrowed time” and has been virtually rejected by people. Alleging the TMC “regime” has crushed democracy while law and order has collapsed, he claimed that political violence reached alarming heights in the past few years, while police looked the other way.
“People of the state want restoration of democracy. There has been a total absence of law and order in West Bengal, where 253 BJP office-bearers were killed by the TMC after the 2021 elections,” he said.
In Tamil Nadu, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being “controlled” by U.S. President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Addressing a poll rally in Ranipet, Mr Gandhi said no matter what he does, the Prime Minister cannot control the current Chief Minister of T.N., M.K. Stalin. The Prime Minister could continue dreaming, but the reality would be strikingly visible on the day the Tamil Nadu Assembly election results were announced (on May 4), when the DMK-Congress combine would sweep the polls in the State, he said.
Also, he claimed that the Prime Minister “handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries.” “You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence,” Mr Gandhi said on the Delimitation Bill. “He [PM] could not even face the Opposition. He signed the India-U.S. deal that sold our country out,” Mr Gandhi said.
He further said, “Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi’s financial systems and understands Modi’s link with Adani,” the Congress leader alleged.
“Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. “That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in Tamil Nadu,” Mr Gandhi said.
Meanwhile, days ahead of the two-phase polling in West Bengal, the Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force seized a cache of arms and ammunition near Rajabazar Science College in Kolkata and detained a man,” officials said.
“Acting on suspicion, STF sleuths intercepted the man, carrying a bag, near a bus stand and recovered six single-shot firearms and 14 cartridges from him,” an official said. Investigators are trying to ascertain where the arms were being taken and to whom they were meant to be delivered. This development came amid intensified checking of vehicles by setting up roadblocks by police across the State.
