- 15 hours ago
A massive political controversy has erupted over PM Modi's prime-time national address on Saturday on the state broadcaster on women's quota.
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00:00Welcome, we are watching To The Point. I'm Preeti Jodhari and the bitter battle in Bengal on Suze.
00:08The latest coming in where the political consultancy IPAC is concerned.
00:13The latest news on that.
00:15Yesterday there was news that IPAC's HR team had asked its employees in Bengal to go on a 20-day
00:21leave.
00:22Well, lots of political back and forth at that.
00:24Just a short while ago, the TNC held a press conference where you had senior leader of the Trinamul Congress,
00:31Derek O'Brien, say, young people in the 20s, 30s are working in the agency.
00:36We will not do anything which will jeopardize their careers.
00:40We are responsible political party and my chief minister said yesterday, everyone will be taken care of.
00:47This is at the back of Mamata Banerjee saying that there is an attempt to politically intimidate staffers of IPAC
00:54the political consultancy that is spearheading the TNC's campaign in West Bengal.
01:00She said there is an attempt to intimidate them, to scare them, and she has promised them that she will
01:06recruit them if they, in fact, lose their job.
01:08All of this in the wake of the co-founder of IPAC, who was raided by the enforcement directorate.
01:15He was summoned. He hasn't prepared for the summon.
01:17Fair amount of politics circling what is this controversy that is brewing right in the middle of elections,
01:24where you have two days before the first phase kicks in West Bengal.
01:29Listen in to the latest.
01:32We are the second largest political party in Parliament, opposition party in the Parliament of India.
01:39We are the second largest opposition party in the Parliament of India with 40 MPs about.
01:45Okay.
01:46We work with various agencies.
01:50Let the government, who have 20 agencies they are working with,
01:54CBI, ED, Godi Media, owners, not journalists.
02:00They've got so many agencies.
02:02We are doing fine.
02:04We are doing fine.
02:05All is well.
02:07We have to understand, when we talk about young people in agencies,
02:13we are young people in their 20s and 30s.
02:15We mustn't do anything which will jeopardize their careers.
02:19So we are a responsible political party.
02:22And as my chief minister said yesterday, that everyone will be taken care of.
02:30We are standing outside the office of the IPAC, the whole strategy body of Trinamol Congress.
02:35There are reports that IPAC have shut down its operations.
02:38However, Trinamol Congress, through a press statement,
02:40categorically denied and said that they are very much operational in West Bengal
02:44and working for Trinamol Congress.
02:46This is the office of IPAC here in Kolkata.
02:48You can see this remains to be absolutely shut down.
02:50It's locked from outside.
02:52Only a few housekeeping staff remains to be inside.
02:54We're not speaking to media as of now.
02:56We are yet to hear any official statement from IPAC.
03:00Till now, what the sources suggest, that till last Saturday,
03:04this office was fully operational.
03:05And from Sunday onward, this office was shut down.
03:09What we gather from sources, that there was a mail that was sent across
03:12from the HR to all the employees of the IPAC, asking them to take a short leave of 20 days.
03:18And after that, they will regather and reassess the situation.
03:21And following, they will also share the strategy of the organization as far as their functioning is concerned.
03:28Trinamol Supremo, Mohata Banerjee, have also categorically stated that it's a clear act of intimidation by the BJP.
03:34And if anything happens to IPAC, in that case, IPAC may go into a merger with the Trinamol Congress.
03:40That's what Mohata Banerjee have categorically stated.
03:43But as of now, what we witness here in Kolkata, this IPAC office remains to be completely shut down.
03:49No employees are here.
03:50And since last Sunday, this entire IPAC office remains to be absolutely under lockdown situation.
03:56And the politics is being played out, the BJP and the Trinamol Congress.
04:01The Trinamol have been blaming the BJP for playing intimidating tactics in order to have an upper hand
04:08as far as this political scenario is concerned.
04:10But this is one such office in Kolkata.
04:12Similar offices are there in different districts for IPAC.
04:17And what we learn from the Trinamol sources, that all the staffs of IPAC are very much operational.
04:23But it's not happening from this office, at least, that we can witness at this moment.
04:27But again, I say that at this moment, we have tried to reach out to the IPAC authorities.
04:33But there have not been any formal reply on the situation from IPAC authorities.
04:39With video journalist Shubhajit Gain, this is Tapu Sengupta for India Today in Kolkata.
04:47All right, so no formal reply where IPAC is concerned.
04:50But rumors continue to circulate that IPAC has shut operations in West Bengal.
04:55TMC denies this.
04:56TMC also says if there is an attempt to intimidate IPAC staffers,
05:00she's ready to induct them where TMC is concerned.
05:03They can join TMC.
05:04She'll take care of them.
05:05And that press conference pretty much mirrored the same by Mr. Derek O'Brien.
05:09All right, now that's not just the only controversy that is playing out,
05:12not just in West Bengal, but nationally so.
05:15A prime time address by the Prime Minister on the national broadcaster,
05:21as Doordarshan, has now led to a massive political controversy.
05:27Because the opposition says that the Prime Minister crossed the line
05:32where it came down to the Mobile Code of Conduct.
05:34It was an address to the nation, to the people.
05:36Prime Minister spoke of how the opposition parties defeated a bill,
05:43which was a delimitation bill,
05:45but could have led to implementation of women reservation.
05:48They defeated it.
05:49This was bad form, bad spirit.
05:51The opposition says bad form is that during the Mobile Code of Conduct,
05:58the Prime Minister made a national address.
06:12A prime time national broadcast on Doordarshan.
06:16Prime Minister Narendra Modi going on the offensive,
06:19naming opposition parties in poll-bound states
06:22and accusing them, and I quote,
06:25committing female photocide in Parliament, and I unquote.
06:37This, after his government's women's reservation push,
06:41linked to Lok Sabha expansion and delimitation,
06:44was defeated in the lower house.
06:46The backlash was swift.
06:48Opposition parties allege a clear model code violation,
06:51saying a state platform was used for political messaging
06:54amid ongoing elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
06:59Malik Arjun Kharge calling it a political speech
07:02and a misuse of official machinery,
07:05a travesty of democracy.
07:08The left parties escalated the matter to the election commission.
07:13CPM, General Secretary, M.A. Baby, stating,
07:17the tone and content were not that of governmental communication,
07:20but blatantly political,
07:23alleging the Prime Minister targeting opposition parties
07:26and sought to influence voters in favour of the BJP,
07:30calling it a flagrant breach of model code of conduct.
07:35In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin sharpening the attack,
07:39saying the address mirrored a campaign speech,
07:41word for word,
07:43despite the model code being in force.
08:00In West Bengal,
08:01Mamata Vainerji upping the ante,
08:03accusing the Prime Minister of misusing government machinery
08:06and turning a national address into an election campaign.
08:27The government, however, is pushing back.
08:31Union Minister Kiran Rijiju dismissing the allegations,
08:34saying the opposition is rattled.
08:38Mamata Vainerji M.K.
08:40M.K.
08:40Filal,
08:41it's a election going on the election.
08:42In the state of the city,
08:43the chief minister is left.
08:45Then,
08:45please don't put it seriously,
08:48because the escalator of Bengal people M.K.
08:50the mood is facing the.
08:52The political mobilize,
08:53the international party,
08:54the presidente of the body of the BJP,
08:54the President,
08:55so that he is saying,
08:57in the middle of the election,
08:58isn't going on the amendment,
08:59that not to be a diversion,
09:00it's not going on the agreement.
09:00Now,
09:00it's going to be a serious,
09:01but there is a serious matter,
09:13At the centre of the storm is the election commission's model code of conduct.
09:18It kicks in the moment elections are announced and stays till results.
09:23In a binding code under article 324, it bars hate speech and divisive appeals,
09:29prohibits new policy announcements and strictly forbids misuse of official machinery for political gain.
09:37With complaints now with the election commission, the question is stark.
09:41Was this a national address in public interest or a political pitch that crossed the poll court?
09:48EuroReport, India Today
09:59Alright, the latest news break coming in at the back of it.
10:02It seems the TMC and the opposition has now galvanised to move another impeachment motion
10:07against the Chief Election Commissioner, Yanesh Kumar.
10:11TMC says opposition will bring another motion to impeach CEC Yanesh Kumar.
10:17The reasons that the TMC gives is number one, where the TMC suggests that the prime time address meant for
10:24the nation
10:25was crossing of the model code line and the election commissioner should have taken note of the same.
10:34Not just that, the TMC also alleges, the kind of, the TMC alleges that there is an attempt by the
10:41election commissioner
10:42to set the stage for the Bharatiya Janata party where West Bengal is concerned for a scientific rigging of polls.
10:49Now, these are all allegations where TMC is making.
10:53But the latest coming in is TMC and the opposition have come together this time
10:59to move a second impeachment motion against Yanesh Kumar.
11:03The first was, of course, defeated.
11:05It was symbolic in nature.
11:07It's not a small thing, viewers.
11:08This would be the fifth time that an impeachment or the fourth time that an impeachment motion
11:16has been moved against the chief election commissioner.
11:21And the latest this time, the Trinamul Congress has decided, along with the opposition,
11:27to move a second impeachment motion.
11:30Listen in.
11:32The chief election commissioner, the BJP, I'm calling the criminal,
11:39the people and the people and the people, the impeachment notice of removal,
11:45the first 300 MP, which is the first party.
11:49This chief election commissioner.
11:51I'm calling the economy on record.
11:52I'm calling the court.
11:53The first day before, the chief election commissioner against the impeachment
12:00term, a notice of removal.
12:03This is the election commissioner in charge.
12:10all right two minutes time for all our guests to put their point forward i want to begin with
12:14shikha mukharji political commentator we're also joined by charu pragya national spokesperson bjp
12:20meeta chakravarti spokesperson congress monajeet mandal political analyst of course he has a
12:25pro tnc tilt because it's two is to one we will give charu pragya an extra minute but shikha
12:31mukharji to begin with you with all that is flying about shikha mukharji in west bengal
12:36how do you see the current political dynamics
12:41well i think i think that you know uh for a while it seemed that politics was kind of beginning
12:49to
12:49flow in the usual channels and now it seems that it's shifted track and has gone into a high speed
12:59bullet train track where between the ipac stories one doesn't know the truth of it
13:09one doesn't know whether ipac is on the ground or not on the ground what impact the ipac will have
13:15on the election if it's not functioning given the fact that the chief minister actually intervened
13:23in an ed raid on the ipac office sometimes then you have the women's reservation bill and the slugfest
13:33that has gone on about it because frankly speaking the women's reservation there is no women's reservation
13:39bill it is an act it is part of the constitution it's just that the timing of when it sits
13:47when it
13:48kicks in is under is under dispute and then is followed by this delimitation exercise
13:56and then the third thing that has now emerged is the prime minister's address to the nation
14:05in which he well if he's addressing the nation it can't be a wac a bjp agenda of passing the
14:14women's
14:14reservation bill and therefore i think that um using the west bingal election though it does impact
14:22uh taminadu as well and mr stalin has been making his statements about this thing the bjp seems to be
14:30demonstrating to be revealing a kind of
14:39intensity in increasing height but raising the intensity of the of the confrontation between
14:44itself and the regional players who are
14:52right i believe okay all right ma'am i think i think your clock has stopped two minutes are over
14:57charu pragya the charge is very simple he's the prime minister of the country a national address
15:03is given as the prime minister of the country not as a bjp leader and it seemed that the platform
15:10was used as a bjp leader to make a political pitch and that is the charge leveled by the opposition
15:18today suggesting that the election commission should have taken note and it hasn't
15:25i can't hear the other panelists for some reason so i don't know what miss mukharji has said at all
15:32but i will start using my time now so please reset my timer
15:38see the honest truth is and the basic principle yeah the basic principle of the moral code of conduct
15:46is that you are not supposed to be using the platform to make new policy assignments you're not
15:53supposed to be using any platform to announce any new schemes or financial promises and you're
15:59basically not supposed to be diverting official resources for political gain has any of this been
16:06done by the honorable prime minister not at all can we not even talk about what has happened in the
16:12country on an act which has already been passed on an act which couldn't be
16:20expedited and putting the honest truth
16:24for the whole country to know and understand sorry at the end of the day if the prime minister was
16:31conveying to the country what has transpired in the two or three days of the parliament this time
16:36it was extremely important to decipher this it was extremely important because this was a pushback
16:41against a policy which the government has worked very hard to not just table and get it passed
16:46but also to get it expedited and i really don't know why tmc is going around uh you know crying
16:52about
16:52this because uh what he stated was the truth you did not support the policy at the end of the
16:58day
16:58there is not one line that the prime minister has said that can be misquoted in any manner whatsoever
17:03and tmc cannot win any narrative so what do you do you start targeting institutions what do you do
17:09you start casting aspersions on institutions and people heading those institutions even though you
17:14properly understand both the mathematics of it both the constitutional legality of it and also the
17:21fact that if it is challenged in the supreme court and they've challenged enough things in the supreme
17:24court the supreme court has also not stood with them so where does the buck stop preeti for every
17:29single thing which doesn't go their way or every bit of conveying of information that the country
17:35people deserve to hear tmc will go running around everywhere i mean is this what a democracy is you do
17:41what you want you actually go all out and destroy the struggle women have faced for the last 40 years
17:51and then just on the building to pull back and nobody can even talk about
18:11okay i'm going to just stop you there charu pragya your network is back we've given you an extra minute
18:15we'll try and give it to you again we can't really hear you i want to bring in monajeet mondal
18:19and uh
18:20our uh congress spokesperson into this conversation monajeet mondal you just heard charu pragya there
18:26what was so wrong with what the prime minister said is the response because this wasn't a campaign for a
18:32particular state or a campaign against the opposition this was telling the nation that we were standing at
18:39the cusp of history and history in the making was denied by an opposition that defeated a bill that
18:45could have implemented women reservation good to be with four brilliant women in public life despite
18:52differences and we i'll call call the prime minister first of all think about the timing it has never
18:59happened in the history of the parliament of india that in the middle of the elections you call this kind
19:05of parliament administration to push for something that the prime minister himself is saying on the
19:11floor that agar aap isko sapat kare sabka fayda hai agar nahi kare hamara fayda hai mera fayda hai these
19:19are his words that's what he is looking for the prime minister or the bjpy were not at all interested
19:26in the women reservation bill they were interested only in the fayda that is the political dividend
19:32and for us or even for the tmc the women issue is not the issue of a fayda this is
19:39the issue of social
19:39justice and economic and political empowerment of the women who deserve it and irrespective this is
19:46history now irrespective of reservation the tmc for the last 25 years or so since its inception
19:53has been given more than 33 percent women the tickets to the parliament and that is true even for the
20:01current parliament both in rajashaba and in in the parliament in the rajashaba in fact miss chowdhury
20:07you know the tmc has created history by giving a ticket to a transgender this has happened for the
20:13first time in the history of indian democracy a transgender is sent to the parliament because of
20:19the liberal attitude of mamtha banerji and mr abhishek banerji you have to give it to tmc and coming back
20:26to the issue at hand
20:27look at the address of the prime minister what does he say in his 29 minutes 21 second addresses he
20:34took
20:34the name of only three for political party congress 55 times bjp tmc seven times dmk five times sapa seven
20:43times that is what the prime minister should not be supposed to do he has completely destroyed the
20:49grace of the office of the prime minister two minutes for the congress starts now i'm short of
20:53time allow me to bring the congress and go ahead the congressperson good evening to all your viewers
20:58and good good evening to the fellow co-panelists as well the bill that got defeated in the floor of
21:03parliament should not be called the woman reservation bill because the woman reservation bill was passed
21:09in 2023 it was passed in 2010 in the rajasaba under dr malmond singh when he was the prime minister
21:15and in 2023 in the lok sabha the bill that got defeated and rightfully so was a delimitation bill
21:22because behind the curve of woman empowerment and woman reservation amit shah and prime minister
21:28modi brought in a bill to change the political map of the nation and that got rightfully defeated by the
21:34politics by the opposition parties number one so it was not the woman reservation bill number two when
21:40we see the prime minister come and address the nation we thought that he'll be sharing his vision
21:45about how to empower woman in days to come but what did he do he mentioned congress's name and i
21:51was in
21:52an app studio and i tried to count and i lost track he took indian national congress's name some 50
21:59to 60 times
22:00so it was more an address more a political campaign against the congress and against some of the selected
22:06political opposition parties like the tmc and dmk states where which are poll going states so if you
22:13want me to believe that this is only suddenly concerned about woman empowerment and woman issues
22:19and he's not trying to use this for his own political fayda for his own political dividend then i'm sorry
22:26the people can see through the bluff people can people in the opposition benches can call the bluff out and
22:32people in bengal the state that i'm representing in a ahead of a very very important election has seen
22:39through his act and has seen through his bluff as well had he been really interested in implementing
22:43the woman reservation bill he should do that straight away in the current strength of the indian
22:48parliament he's not doing that he's not doing it in the cutting strength of 543 seats he wants to go
22:54ahead not get a census done get the limitation implemented all right okay your time is up ma'am i
23:00believe
23:00also i think tmc and you need to exchange notes the tmc uh supporter just said prime minister took the
23:08name of the congress seven times you said 50 or 60 times but discrepancy there having said that 30
23:13seconds i will give to charu pragya because it is two is two against one 30 seconds charu pragya you
23:18have before we go into a break i'm sorry short on time too many breaking news today thank you very
23:23much
23:23so did the prime minister ask for votes in every state did the prime minister say that please vote
23:29for bharati janata party did the prime minister say i am here addressing you because of the elections
23:35absolutely not and everything that the opposition is saying is factually incorrect because just now the
23:41congress spokesperson said this was about delimitation madam the bill that you have passed in 2023
23:46already speaks about delimitation delimitation is a prerequisite for that existing bill to come
23:53into effect and before that even before delimitation census is to happen so this basically was an attempt
23:59to ensure that nothing is linked to the census today we were trying to expedite a process that the country
24:06need it i believe your time is up thank you all right we are gonna we are gonna get into
24:12a quick
24:13break uh we have completely uh shortened time thank you for joining us uh too much news break less time
24:19for our panelists but uh days to come i'm sure we're in bengal and the debates will continue only get
24:25more
24:25heated up
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