Monday, May 10, 2021 | Last Update : 11:25 AM IST

Shikha Mukerjee

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee with her nephew Abhisekh Banerjee's daughter Azania (R), during interaction with media after trends show her party's wins in the State Assembly Election 2021, in Kolkata. (Photo: PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | After Bengal win, Didi to target BJP across India

The timetable for when and how Mamata Banerjee launches the counter-offensive is unclear, but it will happen

02 May 2021 11:04 PM

In the Bengali perception, Ray was an icon; his work was quintessentially Bengali, but his contribution was recognised as India’s gift to world cinema.

Shikha Mukerjee | Revisiting the legend @100: Ray’s iconic role to endure

Ray did not start out as a filmmaker with an agenda. He was a storyteller. But he responded to the shifts and changes in the world at large

02 May 2021 12:20 AM

The Election Commission dismissed the plea by Mamata Banerjee that the eight-phase election was very risky. It seemed to pay more attention to the BJP’s jeers that the eight-phase election was necessary to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections. (Photo: PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | Mishandling elections in the time of a pandemic

Through super-spreader events and shoddy observance of Covid protocols, Citizens are paying twice over for the EC’s failures

26 Apr 2021 12:00 AM

Is it realistic that the BJP will get 60 per cent of the 70 per cent Hindu votes in West Bengal? It would appear, as yet, difficult. (Photo: PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | Despite Modi’s push, BJP yet to reach tipping point

The need for a saturation campaign by Modi is one way of acknowledging that Mamata is a far stronger opponent than the BJP anticipated

12 Apr 2021 12:35 AM

West Bengal has to decide to be its whimsical wayward self or join the gang. (Photo: PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | Bengal to trigger domino effect in Indian politics?

It will not be an easy election for any of the three blocs that are competing for the voters’ hearts and minds

26 Mar 2021 4:30 AM

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | Mamata’s long game: Women’s status in Bengal is transformed

If Narendra Modi and his 56-inch chest is the epitome of male power, the barely 60-inch frame of Ms Banerjee is the epitome of woman power

07 Mar 2021 11:55 PM

By turning it into an early mid-term review of the Modi government’s performance and the BJP’s politics, Ms Banerjee has achieved what many other parties were trying to do but were clueless about how to galvanise people into making a choice. (PTI file photo/Ashok Bhaumik)

Shikha Mukerjee | More than a state battle: BJP strategy on test too

For the BJP, the current round of elections is crucial, and every seat won or lost in West Bengal will affect its future

03 Mar 2021 7:41 AM

If the BJP had studied the traditions of the celebration of Netaji Jayanti in West Bengal over the decades, it would have discovered the facts and stopped itself from inventing a fiction. (Photo:PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | Battle for Bengal: BJP to face hidden pitfalls

Steering between the simplistic and the messy complexities of identity politics in West Bengal, the BJP is travelling over a minefield

26 Jan 2021 12:05 AM

Union Home Minister Amit Shah (R) with Subhendu Adhikary (2L), former TMC leader who joined BJP, during an election rally ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls 2021, in West Midnapore district, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020. (PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | Bhoomi putra for Bengal: Has BJP made a mistake?

Every chief minister of West Bengal has been a national leader first and a local leader as well and most were at loggerheads with the Centre

23 Dec 2020 6:52 AM

BJP National President JP Nadda is greeted by his party supporters on his arrival in Kolkata on Wednesday, December 9, 2020. BJP MP Locket Chatterjee is also seen. (PTI /Ashok Bhaumik)

Shikha Mukerjee | BJP in Bengal: Bruised, battered… still upbeat?

The BJP in West Bengal needs to create a playbook that is in sync with the political culture of the state

15 Dec 2020 7:32 AM

Farmers prepare food for their fellows during their protest against the Centre's new farm laws, at Singhu border in New Delhi on Friday, December 4 (PTI /Arun Sharma)

Shikha Mukerjee | Pivot or perish: India’s heartland sends signal

To defy the demands by farmers is as politically risky for the BJP as it would be reckless for the Modi government

05 Dec 2020 8:13 AM

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung addresses a press conference in Kolkata on 21 October 2020. (PTI)

Shikha Mukerjee | TMC realpolitik, BJP & future of ‘Gorkhaland’

This time the spark was lit by the October 7 invitation to talks to “discuss issues related to Gorkhaland” by the Union home ministry

02 Nov 2020 10:55 AM

Delivering bare subsistence relief will be difficult enough, with supply chains disrupted and production halted. PTI Photo

Shikha Mukerjee: Amphan’s aftermath set to test Mamata & Modi

India is yet to declare devastation caused by Amphan a national disaster; its dithering is a signal of the political leadership’s inadequacy

26 May 2020 4:56 PM

Rebel Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh address a press conference at a resort in Bengaluru on March 17, 2020. (PTI)

Political trade grows: RS is the new market

Politicians have made enterprises of themselves and their constituents

18 Mar 2020 12:03 AM

Bengal war: Just political smarts won’t be enough

As much as other issues, parliamentary democracy in a multi-party federal State will also be on trial.

04 Mar 2020 3:00 AM

A chance for Mamata to grab secular space?

West Bengal will be the most closely watched state in this contest.

25 Feb 2020 2:48 AM

BJP failed to gauge the anger of women, youth

The subtext of the amendment is that the Muslim is not rooted; she is not a legitimate daughter of “Bharat Mata”.

13 Feb 2020 5:40 AM

The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she would not allow the National Population Register process to be conducted in the state. (Photo: PTI)

Pluralist vs polarised grassroots democracy

Citizenship as a basic identity has had the effect of bringing the politics down to earth.

21 Jan 2020 4:37 AM

The call is not a mere gesture of defiance. It is a resolve to defend the values of the Constitution, its basic structure. (Representational Image | PTI)

Decision time for Cong: Can it lead from front?

This is not a political impasse that can be negotiated through complicated calculations of advantage and profit.

08 Jan 2020 2:16 AM

Members of Aasu protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, in Guwahati on Wednesday.(Photo: AP)

Govt’s desperate hurry on CAB seems puzzling

The protesters and the posters in the Northeast, including Assam, are angry and upset by “illegal migrants”.

09 Dec 2019 12:38 AM

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Columns

Abhijit Bhattacharyya