Roundup of the Week: From Olympics to Post-Budget Analysis to West Bengal Politics & More | Oneindia - video Dailymotion

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Editors' Roundtable with Pankaj Mishra.      #OneindiaEditorsRoundtable #EditorsRoundtable #Olympics2024 #Bihar #Budget2024 #NewsoftheWeek                  ~GR.124~PR.274~ED.102~

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to this yet another broadcast of Editors Roundtable from where the editors of

00:06One India from all the pin codes across the country join and bring you up to speed with

00:12how the week has been and what to watch out for in the coming week. Beginning with Kalpesh

00:18Khandoria without much ado. Kalpesh, I believe you are at a flood hit area in the part of Saurashtra

00:25in Gujarat. What is the scenario there? Because the rest of the part of the country is also

00:29reeling under heavy rains and floods. Yes, from the last one week it's been heavily raining in

00:37Saurashtra. Many farmers, rain has caused damage to crops. Farmers are now protesting for

00:50compensation here in Saurashtra. Okay. And what kind of situation is it? Because we know that

00:57in Gujarat, the virus is also spreading in a way. And now because of the rain,

01:02a sand fly, as they used to say, spread the disease. Has the administration made any

01:08preparations for it? Yes, the administration can't do much more in this. It's just doing a survey

01:16and dusting, powder dusting, that's what it's doing. Apart from this, it's doing a sampling

01:22report. Apart from this, it can't do much more because we don't know from where it has spread

01:30and from where it will spread. After seeing the symptoms in this, we will know whether it has

01:36spread in this area or not. It has now reached Khambalia, the Chandipura virus. And there are

01:43about 120 active cases in Gujarat and Chandipura. Yes. I know you are busy with active ground

01:52reporting there. Why did you choose Saurashtra? Tell us a little about this area of Gujarat,

01:58what kind of situation is there now? Yes, Mr. Pankaj. I chose Saurashtra because

02:04it has rained the most in Saurashtra since last week. Especially the Dwaraka district of Saurashtra,

02:11Porbandar district and Dhanagar district. It rained the most in these three districts.

02:16140% rain in just 7 days of the season. And because of this, many villages of Kalyanpur,

02:23Taluka and Tehsil were affected by the flood. Some people lost their food there,

02:35some people lost their furniture, some people lost their entire house.

02:45Right, Kalpesh. Thank you so much. I won't hold you back. Please go ahead before it's sunset in

02:51Saurashtra. And Kalpesh Kandori will be filing us that report on all important weather patterns,

02:58the changing weather patterns in Saurashtra. You would know the scenes of diamond traders

03:04sticking their boxes on their head and moving out on the streets, the flooded streets. That

03:08was a picture that startled not just the northern part of the country, the western part of the

03:12country, but the whole country, I would say, in this rainy season. Now, Kanhaiya is there with

03:18us from Andhra Pradesh. Kanhaiya, a regular feature on our show also. A lot happening there,

03:24Kanhaiya, once again, I would say, in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These twin

03:31Telugu speaking states are making headlines. First, let's begin with Andhra Pradesh. Jagan

03:37Mohan Reddy was here in Delhi, and apparently he was approached. And yes, he was approached

03:44by the India bloc leaders and was asked to join the party. What benefit do you think that India

03:48bloc will have? Or vice versa? What benefit would Jagan have after losing his share in Andhra

03:55Pradesh? Good evening to the audience. So firstly, let me come with Jagan's episode.

04:06Actually, the two Telugu states have been trending this whole week, just in a political

04:13scenario. So yesterday, Jagan was in Delhi. Jagan was in Delhi, he actually staged a protest.

04:22As the law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh is turning out to be worse,

04:30he actually reached Delhi to stage a dharma. So in that episode, he invited both the parties from

04:41India as well as the India bloc. So as the government is of India's here in Andhra Pradesh,

04:48no party had attended. But a few main components from the India bloc,

04:55Samajwadi party, and then Shiv Sena. So the parties have reached out and they have

05:00extended their solidarity to Jagan. So they have actually, what the sources tell is,

05:06Akhilesh Jadhav has invited Jagan to join the India bloc. But Jagan, he smoothly rejected. But

05:13his question today also, actually when there was an assembly going on on one side and he held a

05:19press meet, former Chief Minister Jagan held a press meet at his residence. So there also,

05:25there were reporters asking him, will you join India bloc? He smoothly rejected. He said that

05:35if Congress would have supported his protest, then he would have thought of whether to join

05:43Indy bloc or India or as it is. Like right from his giving, he is extending his support in both

05:50in Parliament based on the issues. So that is it. So here what we need to actually stress upon is

05:58that Jagan is holding 11 seats in Rajya Sabha, in the upper house. So if the bills have to be

06:04passed in the Rajya Sabha, definitely India needs that support. So now the question is,

06:08NDA will lose him or Indy bloc will hold him. So now Indy bloc in Rajya Sabha, it has 98 and

06:16if Jagan joins there, it becomes to one of nine. The strength grows to one of nine.

06:21So when the bills have to be passed, definitely Jagan will play a key role.

06:26Absolutely. And what I sense is, because it was the then Congress government or EPA government

06:35where Jagan was put behind bars in their tenure only. So I don't think so Jagan will actually

06:41reach out to Congress. And moreover, his sister Sharmila, YS Sharmila Reddy, she is the Andhra

06:48Pradesh Congress chief here. So if at all something has to work out, first his demand will be to

06:53remove Sharmila from that position. Absolutely, absolutely. No matter you face a setback in the

07:03assembly elections, but if your MPs, your party has performed well in lots of elections, then

07:07definitely you are still much sought after by both the factions of the Indian polity. Also,

07:14Kanhaiya, one important aspect that we were introduced by this morning is the budget

07:23of the state of Telangana. And Chief Minister Revent Reddy has chosen to reduce the allocation,

07:29budgetary allocation for SCST. Any specific reason behind that?

07:34Yes, definitely. There is what we sense from this budget is that definitely SCST,

07:42the allocations to SCST welfare has been reduced drastically. So in KCR's regime,

07:48it was at 21,000 crore for 23 and 24. And now it's almost 11,000 crore the current government

07:57has put in. And they have also increased the budget allocations for Muslim minority benefit.

08:03So here the whole quota is that next year, GHMC elections will be on. Greater Hyderabad

08:11Municipal Corporation. So if Congress have to get benefited or if Congress have to

08:16back that mayor seat, or majority of the corporate seats, they definitely require

08:22AIMM. They definitely require that Assadian OAC support. That is much this party AIMM.

08:30So to learn the Muslim community as well as AIMM, they have actually allocated more funds

08:39to the Muslim minority welfare. And moreover, for the whole of GHMC was never in the history of

08:46be it Aswail Andhra Pradesh or Telangana, 10,000 crores were allocated only for the

08:53development of GHMC. So here what we see here is in Hyderabad, so in Hyderabad,

09:02it is a majority of Muslim community or Muslim broadband. So they are towards MIM.

09:09A section of them are towards MIM and a section of them are towards BIS. So in GHMC limits,

09:17Congress doesn't hold any Muslim broadband. So that is the main problem that I see here.

09:24And moreover, what Revandh Reddy, Revandh Reddy cannot alone get that mayor seat. He cannot alone

09:32win that mayor seat. And for that, he definitely needs MIM support, where MIM has 40, 45 to 50

09:38corporators as well as they hold one, seven, they have seven assembly seats, one empty seat here.

09:45So they definitely require, for that matter, they definitely require OAC support. And BJP,

09:53anyways, everybody knows that BJP can't save with the MIM. So this is a fund over here. And

09:59that is the reason what even experts are saying that, political experts are also saying that

10:07they're pointing the very same reason why SCST vote bank, anyways that SCST vote bank

10:12always will be with the Congress. So now he wants to fully Muslim minority vote bank,

10:16spot 14% population here in Telangana. But their main target would be what I see is the GHMC

10:23elections next year, that is due next year. Right, right, absolutely.

10:28For those who are not aware with the GHMC elections, they must read up here because

10:33Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections are one of the key and hotly contested elections,

10:40especially with that particular coveted body, which only comes second to Mumbai,

10:46Bombay Municipal Corporation, which is the richest municipal corporation body.

10:51Thank you so much, Kanhaiya, for speaking to us and taking time out. Please go ahead and

10:56before it's the advent of the weekend, I am sure you have lots and lots at hand.

11:02Thank you so much.

11:05Gopal Panigrahi, the editor of One India Oriya is also there with us today. Welcome to the show,

11:10Panigrahi ji. BJD, one name that Odisha used to be reckoned with, is now sitting in opposition.

11:20But also, historically, BJD is the biggest and the strongest opposition that Odisha has

11:27ever seen. Because since the fall of the Patnaiks, or since they were there in the power,

11:33there was no other opposition, you know, that could stand in front of them.

11:37What does it mean for this new setup with BJP at the centre of power? And how do you think the BJD

11:47could make its presence felt in this new arithmetic in the state?

11:53The government, the state government has, you know, got the popular budget yesterday.

12:032,65,000 crores, which is one of the, you know, most people have well thought about it. And

12:13the focus is given to agriculture, women development, women empowerment,

12:19development. So, the government, new government has focused the all sectors through its budget.

12:26Now, the new government, you know, is the centre of all, you know, attraction for bringing new

12:34reforms to the life of people in micro level. So, like, you know, the state is totally it is

12:42dependent on agriculture. So, the government has given the highest size of budget in this sector,

12:5033,000 crores, 33.919,000 crores given to agriculture and other sectors. There are

12:59farmers development is there, the government has, you know, brought a new scheme Krishnath

13:05Samruddha Yojana. You know, with compliment to this, the irrigation is quite important for

13:12agriculture. So, beyond this budget for irrigation and for flood control, 14,000 crores, you know,

13:19kept in the budget, proposed in the budget. The chief minister himself is a finance minister here

13:25in Odisha. So, historically, he gave a two hour long speech in his speech, he focused on the,

13:33you know, reforms in agriculture, you know, for purchase of paddy, you know,

13:39production of paddy is important as well as purchase, you know, procurement kind of thing,

13:44because the farmers need to sell it in a right, you know, price. So, the MSP,

13:49minimum support price was less actually, quite two years ago. Now, 3,100 rupees given per quintal

13:57for paddy, which is a historic step by the state government. So, the government has brought some

14:07reforms in the procurement of paddy, so that the middle people cannot take the, you know,

14:13amount of farmers, like it was happening, like some middle people come to the farmer and take

14:20the, you know, procure the paddy and sell in differently, so that farmers were losing their

14:27rights actually, rights of getting a proper price. Now, important is agriculture, then alert sector,

14:34then irrigation and flood control, then after production of the paddy, how the farmers will get

14:40proper price, minimum support price, that is the focus of the government now. And beyond that,

14:49you know, for the rural development, 36,000 crore is kept for women empowerment, 17,000 crore,

14:5817,942 crore is kept. All these numbers, Pani Grahi ji, help me understand this.

15:08Odisha is a state which was plagued by abject poverty. The Patnaiks brought them out of

15:17the poverty line. Odisha was always battered by floods, rains and all the storms and everything.

15:25And now, when we talk about these numbers, well, it might be new for the BJP. But what

15:32is happening on the ground? What changes in Odisha, since BJP has come to power?

15:37And since the BJP… Actually, just 30 days, you know,

15:43just passed forming this government around 30 days, not 100 days also passed actually. So,

15:50there was the government for last 24 years. So, definitely, you know, in a process,

15:58when a new system comes in, then it takes time. But yes, for a government 30-40 days is also,

16:07you know, important. So, within this period of time, one thing is developed, the people,

16:13the government is called, the CM is called as the people's CM. In Odia, we popularly say that

16:19Lokonkar is the Chief Minister. When he goes into the crowd, he never fails to take any protocol

16:27kind of thing. He loves to go to the people. So, popularly people call him the people's CM.

16:41So, the first stage to go into the crowd means to get in touch with the public, to

16:48take the pulse of the public, so that you understand the requirement of people actually.

16:54If a very common man comes to the Chief Minister, he can access to the Chief Minister on the Monday

16:58hearing, the open door policy of the Chief Minister. In the Monday grievance hearing day,

17:04anybody, any citizen of this country, not only the states, if somebody is residing in Odisha,

17:11he is also open to go to him. He just goes and talks to the CM directly, sir, this is my problem.

17:18Then the CM calls the concerned official and gives the direction. This is one example that

17:24the CM is, you know, the CM prefers to go into the public, into the crowd, so that he can

17:31understand the pulse of the public. And it's a very little time to calculate actually, because

17:37on the 12th of June, the new government forms to, you know, counter or to do anything in a very

17:46major way, mega way, you need time actually, because 24 years is a very big time, quarter

17:52of a century. Well, if you ask me, 24 years and people vote that government out, then the difference

18:00and the changes would be visible from day one itself. And what are people's expectations of

18:05things changed. But nonetheless, I get your point, what you're saying that for more than two decades,

18:12and the BJD, and equal popularity of the new chief minister also, thank you so much,

18:17Gopal Bhanegrahi, the editor of One India Odia, joining us from Bhubaneswar. Thank you so much.

18:24Pritesh, you are in the vicinity in the neighbourhood of Odisha, West Bengal, and it

18:30looks like the BJP is trying all the tricks in the book, in order to, again, woo back the electorate

18:40the way they had done five years ago. Not this time around, though. BJP's Bengal chief,

18:45Shukanto Majumdar has met Narendra Modi, and a lot has tumbled out of that. What did he

18:51really speak? And what did he really mean? When he met Prime Minister Modi came out and spoke

18:56to the reporters? Yeah, thank you, Pankaj ji. He recently met the Prime Minister of India,

19:05Narendra Modi ji and proposed a plan or his demand of, he asked for merger of North Bengal

19:15with the northern states of India. So what he is trying to clarify is that he said that so,

19:24so that this area will get the benefits of the central government schemes, which BJP always

19:31alleges that the north of Bengal is deprived of central schemes. The local DMC government

19:40don't allow central schemes to be implemented in the northern part, especially in the northern

19:46part of West Bengal. This sparks a huge debate because it's almost cutting off the North Bengal

19:57from Bengal and merge it with northern India, northeast India. But the thing is,

20:05DMC is protested already. And they demanded apology from Shukanto Majumdar and local BJP

20:14leadership. But let me tell you, Pankaj ji, this is not the first time that any BJP leader,

20:21whereas MP, MLA or anyone who asks for separation of North Bengal from West Bengal.

20:30This has happened before also. Yeah, BJP MP recently, in 2021, I think, he made a comment

20:41that John Barla from Alipur Dwar, he also makes the same demand for excluding North Bengal from

20:48Bengal and ask for separate state. Recently, before the Lok Sabha election, Bengal MLA,

20:58still he is a Bengal MLA of Kashiang, Bishnu Prasad Sharma, we interviewed him in Kashiang.

21:06He demanded the same thing he wanted to the separate North Bengal states.

21:12And mainly Gorkhala and he supported and he fought election as an independent candidate.

21:22So this kind of things is very regular in North Bengal politics and BJP leaders often

21:30made this kind of comments. Even Shukanto Majumdar, the Bengal BJP chief, he is also

21:37from North Bengal. He was re-elected from Balu Ghat, which is in the Dinajpur district.

21:45Right. Okay. So, well, that adds definitely, I would say a different line to what many have

21:56already spoken about and the separation of the states and also the rights are something that

22:05the Bengali community would always back up. Likewise, when it comes to, you know, state

22:15and the center communication, Mamata Banerjee will be meeting the Niti Ayog, most probably

22:24tomorrow, that is on Saturday. What is expected of her? Because at times we have seen her skipping

22:29the meeting. At times we have seen her not following the central protocols. What is the

22:35trucks that she's meeting the Niti Ayog for? Yeah, Mamata Banerjee will attend the Niti Ayog

22:42meeting. She already gone to Delhi. And what is desired, she asked for

22:50PM's time to meet him in person and put the demands of West Bengal, which is a long due.

23:00Especially in the field of 100 days work, Manrega, road and many other rural schemes,

23:11which EMC government categorically alleging that central government is not releasing fund

23:19for these projects, especially for West Bengal. And after that, she said that,

23:26especially on the budget, she will protest against, on Niti Ayog meeting,

23:33she will protest against the budget, because she termed this as, even PMC the first one to

23:40term this budget as a kursi bachao budget, just because Andhra Pradesh and Bihar was

23:46given prioritized. And what she said, she said that

23:54this budget is a stepmotherly attitude to the non-BJP states. So that's why she is going to

24:03protest against this budget in the Niti Ayog meeting. Right. I see Keshav getting ready at

24:09the moment, the name of, mention of Bihar came up. Keshav, we are saving the best for the last,

24:15I would say, but Avinash is there with us taking some notes. Avinash, well, in a few hours from now,

24:21the world would watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games held in Paris. One thing is

24:28very peculiar this time around, and I distinctly remember when it comes to the Western part of the

24:35world, security, if too tight, it becomes an object of concern, object of worry for the Westerners,

24:42especially the Europeans, especially. What are you picking up from the streets of Paris and how

24:48is it going there? Yes, Pankaj, the news is not very happy as far as the local Parisians are

24:57concerned. They are not used to so much of security beef up, which is happening across

25:04the city of lights, as we know it. And the people generally love to walk around freely

25:13without being questioned, go about their business, whatever they do under the sun,

25:18without being questioned a lot. But the security concern has definitely heightened their tensions.

25:25And the reports are also coming up that the local public, despite it being a quadrennial event and

25:33Paris is hosting an event like Olympic after a gap of 100 years, most of the public are either

25:40shifting to their second homes, which are away from the city, hustle and bustle. And they are

25:49going to do that for the next 15, 20 days until this chaos and the vibrance of Paris subsides and

25:59it returns to its normalcy. Because as we all know, the world is going to pour in Paris in the

26:07coming days as well. If you talk about today's opening ceremony in the history of Olympics

26:15that we have watching and we have been witnessing, it is the first time that a ceremony, the opening

26:22ceremony in the last 60 years, it's not going to be held inside a stadium. So the river Seine and

26:29the entire city of Paris is going to celebrate and welcome their arms for the 10,500 plus athletes

26:39coming in around more than 200 nations, the delegates, the athletes, everybody is going to

26:47be there. And the report just came from Indian contingent is that around 78 athletes are going

26:55to participate in the opening ceremony. So Sharad Kamal Achanta, who's making his fifth

27:03Olympic appearance along with two time medal winner PV Sindhu, the flag bearers of India,

27:09who are going to sit on one of the boats on river Seine as they head towards,

27:17cover the six kilometer stretch and reach in front of the Eiffel Tower. So a lot of

27:25arrangements, big arrangements are being done. Paris is glittering. The visuals that we are

27:30receiving from Paris are just eye-popping, if we can say so. And we can clearly say that

27:43the Paris Olympic Committee and the French government, they have laid the red carpet out,

27:50they have rolled the red carpet, but whether or not it will be a success, it's a thing to be,

27:56I mean, we have to look forward to because a lot of theft and vandalism reports are also coming in

28:03and around Paris. We heard what happened in the daytime when a high-speed train was

28:11on the way from Marseille to Paris. And reports were also that two of India's sailors, Vishnu

28:20and Netra, were supposed to travel in one of those high-speed trains. So security

28:25definitely is going to be a concern. Indeed, Avinash, I know that any sporting event obviously

28:35puts the host country under a lot of scrutiny also and to put all the ducks in the row,

28:41it's a tight job for the administration there as well. Nonetheless, we hope for safe beginnings

28:47and safe conclusions for this mega event that is unfolding. Thank you so much for bringing us up to

28:53speed from what is transpiring in Paris. And we would be anxiously waiting to watch the opening

29:00ceremony as well, if we are there in the office with you. Thank you so much, Avinash. Thank you.

29:06Keshav, as they say that there are days and then there are days. There was a time when Bihar only

29:12used to get trains and the connectivity and nothing else. On Bihar and West Bengal also,

29:19if we may refer to Lalu and Mamata Banerjee's times. But this time around, Bihar has got a

29:25lot of things in budget. Is it going to help it? Is it just another feather in the cap of

29:32Sushant Babu Nitish Kumar? Or it is going to be just another case, just another day in Bihar

29:39where things fall apart like anything. Thank you, Pankajji. And let me begin with

29:44thanking the central government for the reason they have brought Bihar on the central stage,

29:52on the front stage. But let us examine what exactly the state of Bihar has got

29:59from this union budget. I would go down into history recalling once Prime Minister Modi

30:06has identified himself to be the hard bargainer. Okay. But when it comes to bargaining,

30:16I would say Nitish Kumar is, of course, better than the best. Okay. Nitish Kumar has...

30:26Yes, Nitish Kumar, of course, you know. Nitish Kumar is better than the best when it comes to

30:32bargaining. Okay, okay. The result is in hand. Now let us go through, of course, the finance

30:40minister in her budget speech, she uttered Bihar word 11 times, so that the whole world will know

30:49that how kind or how generous they are to the state. Let me tell you, the state has got about

30:5858,000 crores of budgetary allocation for different developmental projects. Of course,

31:03that is not a small amount. Indeed, it's huge. Now let us break it down. 26,000 crores

31:13has been given for the highways, expressway, road projects. Roads, right. Okay. Another

31:202,000, sorry, 21,400 crores are allocated for the power project in

31:31Tirupati under Bhagalpur district. 11,500 crores for flood relief. For? Flood protection. Right,

31:43okay. So this 58,900 crore rupees are burnt. Right. Okay. Almost 59,000.

31:53Almost. Then she had promised about the industrial development,

31:58airports and medical colleges, sports infrastructure, particularly tourist

32:06development. Where are the budgetary allocation for those? So again, whatever she has spoken

32:15about all these remaining points, it appears to be a Zimla. And also, not only Zimla, if I can

32:24just stop you there, if the government wants to avoid this special status to Bihar on which

32:31Nitish Kumar had parted his ways, I mean, I think it's still a pocket change for them.

32:36Special status requires thousands of crores to be given away to them. Definitely, definitely. I

32:43would come on that as well. But let me tell you, even from the list which I just read to you,

32:50barring the highway projects, there is nothing new. Even the power plant in Tirupati of

32:59Bhagalpur district was already promised 10 years back by the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan

33:06Singh. But I don't know for what purpose it was put on the back burner. Now, this new government

33:14has started speaking about it. Okay, so this is also not new. There is a hilarious thing in this

33:22list, the airports and the kinds of those infrastructure which the finance minister was,

33:29you know, proudly giving to Bihar. I'll again bring you back during the time of campaigning

33:38for this Lok Sabha election itself. Our honourable Home Minister was during the campaign doing a

33:47rally in the district of Purnia, where one of the proposed airport is going to be set.

33:53And the hilarious thing is the Home Minister has got people to clap. As he said,

34:02the Purnia airport is already operational. So Purnia already has got an airport,

34:08which airport again the finance minister is giving to Purnia of Bihar. And again,

34:15then the developmental projects, the sports infrastructure, when you will go through the

34:20budget, the speech is different. So the budget speech is one thing and the budget document

34:25is another thing. When you would go through the budget documents, you come to know that

34:31the central government has promised its support to the state governments on point B, C, D.

34:39So they are going to get some help through PPP model, maybe from some international,

34:47you know, financial bodies. So this helps the central government may be instrumental

34:55in bringing to Bihar. But the way it is being, you know, a portrait that Bihar has got everything

35:03is like, everything is, you know, glittering is absolutely not the case.

35:11Absolutely, Keshav. But see, I mean, you're right. Coming from Bihar also,

35:14I understand that Bihar needs more than what it has been given to them.

35:18And secondly, that was the only reason why I asked you that whether Bihar has got a lot,

35:26because it's very pocket change, as I said, for them, and especially with the demands of a special

35:32status, which should not just means money, but direct intervention of the central government in

35:39a lot of infrastructural projects, including schools, roads, everything comes into that ambit.

35:46Thank you, Keshav, for, you know, breaking the bubble, as far as the Bihar budget is concerned.

35:56What Bihar got, it's only once again, either the Chief Minister or the people of Bihar would tell

36:02us. Ritesh has been waiting patiently. Ritesh, I was meaning to ask you one more aspect of,

36:08you know, the Gorkha land, you spoke earlier about, you know, a separate state,

36:12all for another zone in West Bengal. How useful do you think it is?

36:20Yeah, Pankajji, like, as I said, this separate state demands in the specially in the northern

36:28side of Bengal is not new. We know what happened many years back on Gorkhaland

36:34territorial issue demand space separate state for Gorkhas. And even Kamthapur, Kamthapuri people

36:42also asked for separate nation, which will be comprising of districts from Bengal, Assam,

36:49and Nepal. Even before the election, BJP MP Soumitra Khan also demanded a separate

37:02state for Jangal Mahal area, which is Adivasi dominant area of western West Bengal. So this

37:09kind of things happening in many pockets of West Bengal, whether it is northern side within the

37:17western side. These regional leaders have their own agendas. And especially if we talk about North

37:25Bengal, the BJP, especially the North Bengal leaders of BJP in the time of election, beginning

37:35from 2014, they supported the separate state of Gorkhaland or separating North Bengal from

37:44Bengal. So that time they supported things and people of North Bengal have flooded BJP with votes.

37:53So now when in the election time, when we spoke with BJP ML of Karsiyan, who demanded separate

38:00state, he clearly said that, we told people that we'll fulfill your demand of separate state.

38:10Now, when we're going to public, they're asking us that where is our demand? When we'll

38:19ask for and when will you fulfill our demand of separate state of Gorkhaland or separating

38:26North Bengal from the West Bengal. So the local leaders of North Bengal, especially from Sukant

38:34Mazumdar to John Barla to Vishnu Prasad Sharma, they are feeling the heat from the ground when

38:40they are meeting, interacting people of northern parts of Bengal. That's why in a regular basis,

38:47you can see BJP leaders of North Bengal is asking for separate state or separate

38:54positioning for this North Bengal districts. Right. So in that regard, obviously,

39:02as you rightly mentioned that the demands would only grow louder, but whether either the state

39:09or the center pays heat to it, because in your vicinity, Bihar, not long ago in the year of 2000,

39:141999-2000 was separated and two separate states were carved out of it when Jharkhand was born.

39:20And likewise, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had also come into picture and Uttar Pradesh also had

39:27Uttarakhand carved out of it. We'll have to wait and watch, definitely, how does it transpire and

39:32when does this chorus finally reach its either crescendo or final finalization. Thank you so

39:39much, gentlemen, for joining us today for this edition of Editor's Roundtable. Next week, we'll

39:44be back with a new edition with new faces and new states added to the heat. Thank you so much for

39:49watching. Don't miss out. Follow OneIndia for real-time updates.

Roundup of the Week: From Olympics to Post-Budget Analysis to West Bengal Politics & More | Oneindia

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