
Tanmay Chatterjee
Tanmay Chatterjee has spent more than two decades covering regional and national politics, internal security, intelligence, defence and corruption. He also plans and edits special features on subjects ranging from elections to festivals.
Articles by Tanmay Chatterjee

Decoding PM Modi’s pre-poll run in Bengal and Assam
By Tanmay Chatterjee and Utpal Parashar
PUBLISHED ON FEB 23, 2021 10:32 AM IST
During these day-long tours, Modi not only inaugurated projects and welfare schemes as prime minister but also sent strong political messages as the BJP’s face. The location of Modi’s events, be it political or administrative, also gave a glimpse of BJP’s geographical priorities in the upcoming elections

'Mamata Banerjee’s white saree, slippers a façade': MP minister Narottam Mishra
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON FEB 22, 2021 08:29 PM IST
- The CBI on Monday questioned Banerjee’s nephew and TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee's sister-in-law in a coal scam case.

Bengal minister not target of blast, suspect sleuths; JMB under scanner
By Sreyasi Pal, Tanmay Chatterjee, Behrampore
PUBLISHED ON FEB 21, 2021 08:10 AM IST
- A security alert in reference to all stations in the Malda division of the Eastern Railway including Nimtita was sounded before the Republic Day.

From kin to Saraswati Puja, salvos from Shah, Mamata turn personal before polls
PUBLISHED ON FEB 19, 2021 12:33 AM IST
- Shortly after Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Bengal, accused Banerjee of not letting people perform Durga and Saraswati pujas and alleged that the only person benefitting in Bengal was her nephew Abhishek, a Lok Sabha member from the same district, the chief minster hit back.

Bengal polls: New contender in race, far-Right group Hindu Samhati forms party
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON FEB 15, 2021 01:03 AM IST
- Registered as an NGO, the group is known for its stand against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

TMC’s stand against Left, Congress raises questions in poll-bound Bengal
PUBLISHED ON FEB 13, 2021 01:21 AM IST
- The BJP alleged that with such a crackdown the ruling party is making space for the Left and Congress and helping them paw into the anti-establishment votes that helped the saffron camp rise in Bengal.

Amit Shah asks Bengal cyber cell to connect to 10 million people ahead of polls
PUBLISHED ON FEB 12, 2021 12:51 AM IST
- He asked the cell to form a WhatsApp group for the cyber team in every polling station area. There are around 80,000 polling stations in the state where the current population is projected to be 101.9 million, according to the census department.

Cong, CPI(M) tell Owaisi’s Bengal ally to dump AIMIM before seat-sharing talks
UPDATED ON FEB 09, 2021 01:20 PM IST
- Siddiqui, who has accused the TMC of not doing enough for the minority community and using it as a vote bank instead, launched the Indian Secular Front (ISF) on January 21 and offered the Congress and the Left parties to become its ally and share seats.

Two BJP MLAs meet Mamata Banerjee, spark speculations of ‘homecoming’
UPDATED ON FEB 08, 2021 07:39 PM IST
- While one of the BJP MLAs refused to comment on the meeting with Mamata Banerjee, the other said that he had met her to discuss development projects in his constituencies.

PM Modi’s 'match-fixing' remark draws criticism from TMC, Left and Congress
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON FEB 07, 2021 10:26 PM IST
- PM Modi, during a rally, also held the 3 parties responsible for the woes of the people and lack of development in Bengal.

Nadda’s Bengal ‘rath yatra’ may run into TMC’s motorcycle rally; traffic chaos
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON FEB 06, 2021 12:42 AM IST
- A district police official said, “With so many people travelling from across Nadia and possibly adjoining districts to take part in these programmes, movement of traffic may be hit.”

Bengal’s top Muslim clerics want paper ballots in polls, question EVMs
PUBLISHED ON FEB 05, 2021 01:01 AM IST
- The demand from the clerics attains significance since Bengal’s Muslim population stood at 27.01% during the 2011 census and is projected to have increased to 30% now. According to surveys done, a swing in Muslim votes can influence poll results in as many as 120 assembly seats.

Vitriolic slogans, sarcastic songs go viral in poll-bound Bengal
PUBLISHED ON FEB 03, 2021 11:15 PM IST
- On Tuesday, former forest minister Rajib Banerjee, who joined the BJP at Amit Shah’s Delhi residence on January 30, raised eyebrows by dishing out his adaptation of the chief minister’s most popular slogan on the eve of the historic 2011 assembly polls that ended the Left’s 34-year-long regime.

RJD, NCP set to ally with TMC for Bengal polls; SP likely to join
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON FEB 03, 2021 06:20 AM IST
RJD national general secretary Shyam Rajak met Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday, Rajak said.

RJD, NCP hold alliance talks with TMC to fight BJP in Bengal assembly polls
PUBLISHED ON FEB 02, 2021 10:47 PM IST
- RJD national general secretary Shyam Rajak met Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata while TMC MP Saugata Roy held talks with NCP's Sharad Pawar in Delhi.

Budget 2021: Sitharaman’s ₹2.25k crore infra push for 4 poll-bound states
By Divya Chandrababu/Tanmay Chatterjee/Utpal Parashar/Ramesh Babu
UPDATED ON FEB 01, 2021 08:38 PM IST
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Assam are the major states going to polls in April-May this year and the budget comes at the time of farmers agitating at Delhi bor-ders against the new farm Bills

Shah welcomes TMC rebels in Delhi; Bengal politics enters 'chartered plane era'
By Tanmay Chatterjee | Reported by Sparshita Saxena, Kolkata
UPDATED ON JAN 30, 2021 11:40 PM IST
- Never before in Bengal was a chartered plane hired by a party to carry defectors, political observers said.

Advantage TMC, as regional parties enter Bengal polls race
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON JAN 30, 2021 02:51 PM IST
- Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United), and the main opposition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD); the Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand’s governing Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) as well as Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have decided to contest the polls either in alliance or on their own.

RSS rejects Ram chants at Netaji event in Bengal
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Hindustan Times, Kolkata
UPDATED ON JAN 27, 2021 04:40 AM IST
- The RSS is of the view that the slogan hailing Lord Ram should not have been shouted at a government event organised to pay homage to Netaji.

Mamata Banerjee declines to speak at Netaji event after chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram'
PUBLISHED ON JAN 24, 2021 06:09 AM IST
Banerjee expressed displeasure at Bharatiya Janata Party supporters at Saturday’s event shouting slogans. She said such an “insult” was unacceptable.

In poll-bound Bengal, politics overshadows Netaji’s birth anniversary
PUBLISHED ON JAN 23, 2021 11:32 PM IST
- Some leaders and political experts even described Modi’s visit as an exercise to woo Bengali voters on whom Bose’s ideology has great influence even after 76 years of his mysterious disappearance.

Firebrand who shaped Bengal’s politics, culture
UPDATED ON JAN 23, 2021 07:07 AM IST
Born in Cuttack in 1897 in a prominent Bengali family, Subhas Chandra Bose went to college in erstwhile Calcutta and chose the city as his political arena.

Politics over Netaji: Parakram vs Desh Nayak
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
PUBLISHED ON JAN 20, 2021 01:47 AM IST
While the TMC wants that the day be celebrated as Desh Nayak Diwas (day of the national hero), the Forward Bloc, which Bose formed in 1939, and a section of his family demand that January 23 be observed as Desh Prem Diwas (day of patriotism).

Eyes on polls, TMC reshuffles three district units; Jitendra Tiwari sidelined
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON JAN 17, 2021 11:45 PM IST
- The most significant reshuffle was made in West Burdwan where two adjacent Lok Sabha seats are represented by Union ministers Babul Supriyo and SS Ahluwalia.

Shiv Sena gets ambitious, to contest 100 seats in Bengal assembly polls
UPDATED ON JAN 17, 2021 10:11 PM IST
- The Shiv Sena which is a marginal force in West Bengal, is aiming to punch much above its weight.

For TMC and BJP, swing in Left, Congress votes can be crucial in Bengal polls
PUBLISHED ON JAN 13, 2021 07:42 PM IST
- Analysis of the 2019 poll results showed that the biggest contributor to the BJP’s stunning performance in Bengal were voters who were loyal to the CPI(M) and its partners for more than three decades.

Bengal: TMC removes Suvendu Adhikari’s father from another post
UPDATED ON JAN 13, 2021 02:56 PM IST
Soumen Mahapatra will replace Sisir Adhikari as the district unit chief while legislator Akhil Giri, a known detractor of Suvendu Adhikari, has been made its coordinator

JP Nadda sharpens attack on Mamata Banerjee, avoids naming Abhishek
By Tanmay Chatterjee, Kolkata
UPDATED ON JAN 10, 2021 12:05 AM IST
- Interestingly, for the first time, Nadda did not refer to Mamata Banerjee as pishi (aunt) and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as bhaipo in Bengali.

Owaisi’s politics won’t work in Bengal: Muslim clerics react to AIMIM’s poll debut
By Tanmay Chatterjee | Hindustan Times, Kolkata
PUBLISHED ON JAN 08, 2021 12:59 PM IST
The BJP, which has been accusing chief minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasing the minority community for years, has said that AIMIM is an independent party and can contest anywhere

Trinamool shifts attention to infighting in party units after minister quits
By Tanmay Chatterjee | Hindustan Times, Kolkata
UPDATED ON JAN 06, 2021 05:29 PM IST
Not willing to be quoted, at least three TMC leaders admitted that infighting is an issue that plagues the organisation in several districts and addressing it before the assembly polls is urgent.