FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | WORLD NATION Kharge’s remark on PM sparks row; Congress chief clarifies US, Iran signal new ceasefire talks in Islamabad as truce nears end Page 9 Page 4 Modi’s, Shah’s fake promises not to be trusted: CM Mamata Mamata alleges BJP planted ‘cherry-picked’ officers at airport: STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 21 April T rinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee today urged people not to trust the “false promises” made by the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders ahead of the election, calling them a tactic to mislead voters. She was speaking at a political rally at the Barrackpore Lumtex Jute Mill ground this afternoon. The Trinamul has re-nominated sitting MLA Raj Chakraborty from Barrackpore. Miss Banerjee said: “If Modi was truly interested in supporting women and giving them Rs 3,000 monthly dole, he should have made provisions in the annual budget. We announced Lakshmir Bhandar in the state budget. Everyone knows the Centre cannot directly provide such schemes for a state. This is the biggest lie, and I urge people not to be swayed by the Prime Minister’s false claims. I have never seen a Prime Minister who lies so Khardaha: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had planted its "cherry-picked" officers at the airport to deliberately delay her flight. Speaking at Khardaha in North 24-Parganas, the Chief Minister said: “We had to struggle a lot to get permission for this meeting. They have cherry-picked officers. They deliberately stopped me so that my programmes would get delayed. They are not giving us permission to hold meetings. A person has come who thinks he is a ‘big leader’ of the BJP. I know the person very well. That person is given duty during the polls. They are troubling the people of this district. We will take revenge democratically,” she said. boldly and confidently.” She also condemned the deployment of central forces during the election: “I have never seen an election where CISF, CRPF, even Army personnel and armoured cars are used. When terrorists attacked Pahalgam or carried out the Delhi blasts, the Prime Minister remained silent.” Miss Banerjee accused the BJP of double standards: “On one hand, the Prime Minister and Home Minister talk about creating ‘Sonar Bangla,’ while on the other, Bengali-speaking workers are beaten up in BJP-ruled states. This exposes their hypocrisy.” TN, Bengal Phase 1 campaigning ends, BJP, regional satraps face key Assembly test VIBHA SHARMA New Delhi, 21 April Campaigning for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Phase-1 in West Bengal ended on Tuesday, with top political leaders holding high-pitched rallies and making last-minute appeals ahead of the 48-hour silence period before voting on 23 April. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal ~ two politically complex states with strong regional identities ~ are key battlegrounds where the BJP is seeking a breakthrough in 2026. Strict security measures are in place. All 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu will vote in a single phase in a contest primarily between the DMK-led alliance ‘India to grow at 6.4 pc this year, 6.6 pc in 2027’: New Delhi: Amid the ongoing global disruptions due to the Iran war, the United Nations has revised India's growth outlook saying the country is projected to grow at 6.4 per cent this year and 6.6 per cent in 2027. Inflation for the country is projected to be 4.4 per cent this year and 4.3 per cent in 2027. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in a report said the economies in South and SouthWest Asia grew by 5.4 per cent in 2025, compared to 5.2 per cent in 2024, driven largely by strong growth in India. India's growth edged up to 7.4 per cent in 2025, supported by robust consumption, especially from the rural economy along with goods and services tax rate cuts, and export frontloading ahead of the United States' tariffs, the report said. In 2025, the economic activities moderated in the second half of 2025 as exports to the US declined by 25 per cent following the introduction of 50 per cent tariffs in August 2025. and the AIADMK-BJP alliance, with actor Vijay’s TVK adding another dimension to the multi-cornered contest. In West Bengal, 152 of 294 seats across 16 districts will vote in Phase 1, while the remaining 142 constituencies will go to the polls on 29 April. The main contest is between the ruling TMC, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and the BJP. The campaign there has seen considerable drama, including over issues related to voter rolls and SIR. The Congress and Left parties are also in the fray, but West Bengal is largely being seen as a one-on-one between the regional satrap and the national party, with the BJP leaving no stone unturned in its all-out push to unseat the TMC. The BJP has never been in power in either state and the 2026 outcome can have farreaching consequences for national politics as well as the two regional players. Counting of votes for both states will take place on 4 May, along with results for Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry. In the 2021 Bengal elections, the incumbent TMC won by a landslide despite predictions of a close race, with the BJP becoming the official Opposition with 77 seats. Contesting solo and leveraging anti-incumbency through grassroots campaigns centred on illegal immigration and national security against the ruling TMC, this time the BJP added another election plank ~ Opposition “resistance” to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill ~ which the party has used in both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu to target the TMC and the DMK. In 2021, the DMK led by M.K. Stalin swept Tamil Nadu, winning 133 seats on its own. The DMK, along with Congress and other partners in the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), secured 159 out of 234 seats. The key question, therefore, is: Will the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Bihar formula’ can work against two strong regional leaders ~ Mamata Banerjee and M.K. Stalin ~ in states with entrenched political traditions. Will the Prime Minister’s “jhalmuri magic” work in Bengal? MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI | Wednesday, 22 April 2026
The Statesman is one of India's oldest English newspapers. It was founded in Kolkata in 1875 and is directly descended from The Friend of India (founded 1818). The Englishman (founded 1821) was merged with The Statesman in 1934. The Delhi edition of The Statesman began publication in 1931. The Statesman Weekly is a compendium of news and views from the Kolkata and Delhi editions. Printed on airmail paper, it is popular with readers outside India. The Statesman (average weekday circulation approximately 180,000) is a leading English newspaper in West Bengal. The Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000.
