The RSS Bengali weekly Swastika has cautioned the BJP against inducting former Trinamool Congress (TMC) members in West Bengal, alleging that some new entrants are damaging the party’s image. In its October 12 issue, the magazine urged the BJP to remove what it described as “garbage” from its ranks. The warning comes amid allegations of extortion and anti-party activities involving some BJP workers. The magazine alleged that unruly elements from the TMC were joining the BJP and tarnishing its reputation. The article mentions BJP as a party of “bhadraloks” (gentlemen), which has dislodged thieves from office clearly implying TMC. However, there is a concerted effort to break that image of BJP, the article claimed. Cautioning senior BJP leadership against the entry of “rowdies”, Swastika claimed these elements were exploiting the restraint shown by party leaders and workers to undermine the organisation’s standing. Concerns have also been raised over whether chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s government is taking adequate measures to promote its developmental work, amid Opposition parties allegedly spreading propaganda against it. The magazine had issued a similar warning in August, cautioning that the BJP risked losing voter support if people began viewing it as another version of the TMC. It was then claimed that even if 2% voters feel that the present BJP is a replica of the Trinamool thugs who governed the state for 15 years, 90% voters will shift from BJP. The article urged the BJP to remove the five per cent of “thugs” who had allegedly entered its ranks. The warnings indicate that the RSS is closely monitoring the BJP’s functioning. The organisation played a pivotal role in spreading Hindutva ideology across the state through its shakhas.

In a major push to consolidate its political footprint across West Bengal, the BJP has set in motion an ambitious infrastructure expansion drive, focusing primarily on its newly carved strongholds in the southern districts. To accommodate its growing cadre base following recent gains in the state Assembly elections, senior leaders launched foundational bhoomi pujan ceremonies across seven organizational districts. The organisational push is strategically aligned with the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, where the party views West Bengal as vital to securing a fourth term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Party state president Samik Bhattacharya and Bengal observer Sunil Bansal presided over foundation ceremonies in Howrah Rural and Asansol, respectively. Simultaneously, State General Secretary (Organisation) Amitava Chakraborty led the rituals in Hooghly’s Chinsurah. Similar events were conducted by Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar in Barrackpore, Rajya Sabha MP Rahul Sinha in Kolkata North Suburban, State General Secretary Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato in Jhargram, and Vice-President Ramapada Das in Behrampore. Confirming the initiative, Bhattacharya stated that plots acquired years ago are finally being developed after election-related delays. Emphasizing the party’s rapid growth since assuming power in the state, he revealed that all 43 organizational districts would soon feature upgraded premises. Party insiders noted that while district units currently operate out of existing spaces, these have proven inadequate for scaled-up political operations since the BJP’s breakthrough performance in the 2019 parliamentary polls. Each proposed district headquarters will feature a modern five-storey complex complete with state-of-the-art amenities, expansive conference halls, dedicated spaces for affiliate wings, and private quarters for visiting leadership. The infrastructural scaling comes amid heightened political ambitions. Both Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Bhattacharya...

Five months after West Bengal’s political change, silence has descended on several artists, writers and intellectuals who once stood firmly behind Mamata Banerjee. From Kabir Suman and Jogen Chowdhury to Abul Bashar, many familiar faces from her political platforms have largely disappeared from public view. Artist Shuvaprasanna has stayed largely out of the public eye since May. A pivotal figure during the 2006–07 Singur-Nandigram movements, he hosted strategy meets at his Salt Lake residence—attended by Kabir Suman, Joy Goswami, Jogen Chowdhury, Shaoli Mitra and Bibhas Chakraborty. After halting in 2011 upon Trinamool’s rise, these gatherings resumed in 2018 with the BJP’s emergence. Shuvaprasanna taught Mamata painting, coordinated her exhibitions, held railway and Heritage Commission posts, received the Bangabibhushan award, and vigorously defended her 2022 Bangla Akademi award. However, on September 20, he inaugurated an exhibition alongside BJP minister Dilip Ghosh and leader Bishwapriya Roy, a month after BJP minister Agnimitra Paul attended his wife Shipra Bhattacharya’s exhibition. Nationally-acclaimed painter and former Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Jogen Chowdhury (88) has also receded from public life. Singer Kabir Suman (78), who experienced a volatile relationship with Mamata—once predicting a temple in her honour before distancing himself and considering backing a compassionate Left party—refused direct comment. Yet, an October video showed him thanking local BJP MLA Papiya Adhikari for civic improvements in local infrastructure, water, and power. Author Abul Bashar, who once declared that leaders like Mamata are born only once in a while, deferred his remarks. Meanwhile, poet Joy Goswami—who once lauded Mamata’s humanity but later sparked debate by exiting an RSS-linked event over Taslima Nasrin’s presence—remains the sole voice expressing sorrow over her plight.

After a gap of 45 months, a Ranji Trophy match returned to the historic Brabourne Stadium. Railways—which has probably given more women cricketers to the national team—has chosen the famous venue on Dinshaw Vachha Road, Churchgate, to play three of its ‘home’ matches of the 2026-2027 Ranji Trophy Elite League at the Cricket Club of India ground, which last played host to the prestigious tournament between Maharashtra and Mumbai in January 2023. The Brabourne has hosted 94 Ranji Trophy matches, and Bombay has won the final at the venue seven times from 1941-42 to 1963-64, defeating Mysore, Baroda, Holkar, Bengal and Rajasthan. The Brabourne was Bombay’s home ground until the early 1970s, when the Bombay (Mumbai) Cricket Association built its own ground at “D” Road, Churchgate, and began playing matches there. The Railways will play two more matches at the Brabourne against the 42-time winner Mumbai in November and Haryana in January 2027. The Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi is the home ground of the Railways, which owns many grounds in India, but it opted to give its team the joy and experience of playing the multi-day match at a venue which has played host to 18 Test matches. The Brabourne has hosted IPL and WPL matches, as well as many other BCCI tournaments. It also hosted the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, which Australia won. The late Rajsingh Dungarpur and the Club’s President for many years believed that the CCI was always meant for cricket and its development, and no one should forget this. Past Australian teams loved to practice at the venue; it was here that the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai team thrashed Shane Warne and Australia in a warm-up game before the 2001 home series. The Brabourne has its own class!

Batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar was somewhat crestfallen that he never got an opportunity to forge a partnership with Garry Sobers in the Australia versus World XI five-match series played in Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in the 1971-72 season. Gavaskar opened the innings with South African Hylton Ackerman, and the first two matches did not create a situation in which he could have made his dream come true. With Sobers slotted at No 6 after Rohan Kanhai, Zaheer Abbas and Clive Lloyd at Brisbane, and at No 7 after Kanhai, Abbas, Lloyd and Tony Greig—opening with Farokh Engineer—Gavaskar’s chances of pairing up with his idol Sobers in the middle probably had 100/1 odds. But it did happen in the first innings of the third match at the MCG Bowl, when Gavaskar was in good nick, and his partners in Ackerman, Abbas and Lloyd all gone. Gavaskar, who rose to fame with a phenomenal 774 runs in four Tests in his debut series in the West Indies in 1971, was cock a hoop with the great West Indian all-rounder coming to bat at No 5! But the Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee became a killjoy for Gavaskar, sending back Sobers first ball and the Gavaskar-Sobers partnership became a non-starter. But in the second innings, Sobers played the innings of his life, 254, described by Sir Don Bradman as the greatest ever, and Gavaskar was thrilled because the majestic Barbadian was wearing the Indian’s oversized sweater, from the time he called for a sweater when he was in the thick of action in the middle. “Have a look at the sweater Sobers is wearing,” Gavaskar told the audience at the Bombay Gymkhana on Monday (Oct 12) evening at an event around Sir Garfield Sobers. The film was screened, after which Gavaskar and Ian Bishop paid glowing tributes to the legendary West Indian all-rounder.

A day after meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi whose MLAs are part of his government, Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay did the most audacious thing – he went to the airport to receive PM Narendra Modi on his first visit to Chennai after TN polls and sort of rolled out the red carpet. He used PM Modi’s visit to the state to sort out all pending issues — early approval for new Metro projects and the unconditional release of Rs 5,100 crore in pending education funds. Speaking at the at the inauguration of a Chennai Metro stretch –15-km Poonamallee Bypass–Vadapalani section — Vijay outlined demands covering urban transport, education funds, and river linking. He urged the Centre to expedite approval for Chennai Metro’s Phase III to improve connectivity across the metropolitan area. He also sought Metro projects for Coimbatore and Madurai to serve western and southern TN, and an interstate link between Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Bommasandra in Karnataka. Vijay thanked PM Modi for the Chennai–Bengaluru and Chennai–Hyderabad high-speed rail corridors announced in the 2026 Union Budget. Vijay also called for linking the Godavari and Kaveri rivers to ensure equitable water availability across states. On his part, PM Modi assured Vijay all possible help. Political analysts contrast Vijay’s tactical handling of pending state issues with Centre and the manner in which he raised it as a superb move. It apparently contrasts with the hostile manner in which then CM M K Stalin had heckled PM Modi publicly in Chennai in 2021. If PM Modi cedes to Vijay’s demands it will certainly be the end of the road for the DMK. That’s why a silly DMK claimed that PM Modi had “merely” flagged projects it had launched when it was in power.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has dismissed incumbent Congress MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam with immediate effect following an inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment. According to a university order dated October 9 and signed by Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit, JNU’s Internal Committee conducted the inquiry and recommended a major punishment. The university said it decided to dismiss Akoijam after following due process and considering the available facts and the committee’s report. The issue had taken a political turn, with BJP’s students wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staging a protest at the university last month to demand action over complaints that had been filed by 11 women students. Akoijam had rejected the allegations, accusing what he described as “racist schemers” of trying to damage his reputation through unverified allegations and lies. Akoijam taught at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems in JNU’s School of Social Sciences. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Manipur’s Inner Manipur constituency in 2024 on a Congress ticket. So far the Congress has not officially reacted to action on him. JNU V-C was heard saying that Akokijam had played truant and was not responding to “some 300 emails sent to him” by the Inquiry Committee. He was reportedly calling the women students home which were objected to by the students. The V-C went on record praising the women students who had the courage to see through their complaints. The complaints took a political hue with BJP’s Mahila Morcha planning to hold protest outside Congress offices across the country

Famous Marathi play ‘Natsamrat’ (Greatest Performer) has earned a niche position in the history of Marathi stage. Written by Dnyanpeeth awardee litterateur Kusumagraj over five decades ago, the play is revered for its plot, dialogues and message. The central character of a stage artiste counting his final days is a challenge for any actor who performs the role. Nana Patekar was one of them. The play was so popular that a Marathi movie based on it earned over Rs 150 crore. Some of the soliloquies of the main character are so long and need so much strength to deliver that they were most tiring for an actor, Nana had disclosed in one speech. He recalled how towering thespians like Dr Shreeram Lagoo, Datta Bhat, Chandrakant Gokhale and Yashwant Dutt who had depicted the unfortunate personality had died of heart attacks. It is ironical that Nana, appearing perfectly fit physically, should fall prey to a suspected heart condition. Several such unknown facets of Nana’s life are coming out through the respects paid to his memory by his co-workers and admirers. It makes one shudder to know that Nana was related to dreaded gangster Manya Surve, whose police encounter had become a sensation in the early 1980’s. Nana’s mother, fearing that he might be influenced by Manya, had sent her son to their Konkan village to avert the possibility. Fortunately, Nana did not choose a wrong path after returning to Mumbai some years later and started acting in experimental stage.

Veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s grandson-in-law has been allotted 1200 acres of land by the Maharashtra government on lease in Ahilyanagar’s district of western Maharashtra. The plot in Haregaon village has been entrusted to Vishwaraj Renewables Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based company owned by Sarang Lakhani, son-in-law of Supriya Sule, daughter of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo. As soon as the government’s decision came under fire, Supriya Sule maintained that her son-in-law’s business and professional activities were entirely his personal matter. She refused to say anything beyond that. Interestingly, Sarang is the son of BJP MLC Arun Lakhani, an ardent RSS volunteer from Nagpur. Arun is considered close to various bigwigs of the saffron organisation. The land held by the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation has been leased to the Lakhani company for 49 years, according to an order issued on October 5. The allotment comes within two weeks of the government allotting on lease 1500 acres of land to another private firm, Nibe Group, in the same cluster. The state government has also allotted 1500 acres to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Social activist Anjali Damania has questioned the allotment decision, taken without following a tender process. Damania claimed that the government had decided to develop a green energy park on the land through “Maha Urja” but just three months later, the same 1200 acres was allotted directly to a single private company in September. Revenue minister Chandrakant Bawankule has defended the decision, ruling out likelihood of any further fireworks.

Five years back the Biju Janata Dal government led by Naveen Patnaik had taken the initiative to build the ambitious the Shree Jagannath International Airport in Sipasarubali, Puri — the abode of Lord Jagannath. It has now received the official go ahead. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has agreed to take up its development as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has already granted the final Environmental and Coastal Regulation Zone clearances. The airport is proposed to be developed over 1,164 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 5,631 crore across three phases via public private partnership model. The airport will have passenger handing capacity of 4.6 million per annum in phase-1. The question doing the round in Odisha is whether the Mohan Charan Majhi government can complete the project before his five-year term comes to an end in mid-June 2029? Very unlikely say sources.