West Bengal govt to bring in resolution opposing NEET, new criminal laws

Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, announced on Saturday that the state government will present a resolution in the upcoming Legislative Assembly session against the NEET and the recently enacted criminal laws.

Raising concerns over the new criminal legislation that went into effect on July 1, Banerjee said, “I don’t know what they have done with the new criminal laws. Even doctors and journalists are afraid of it. Freedom is at stake. Despite no evidence, one can fall victim to the law.”

Banerjee urged the Centre to review the laws, pointing out that the bill was approved without consulting the opposition in the parliament, the New Indian Express reported.

"Without giving any scope to understand the bills, they have passed those unilaterally. It will affect good governance, judiciary, legal fraternity, police and all," she said, stating that a resolution opposing the NEET exam and criminal laws will be brought by her government.

Additionally, Mamata Banerjee took a jibe at the BJP by bringing up the saffron party's loss in the most recent assembly byelections.

"The trend across India is against the BJP...The mandate is against them, and now they have again started the agency raj," she said.

When asked if this suggested the BJP-led NDA government at the centre may not survive to serve out its entire term, Banerjee said, "The trend is very clear, even earlier mandate (of Lok Sabha elections) was not in favour of NDA.”

The TMC retained Maniktala in Kolkata and took back the BJP's seats in Raiganj, Bagda, and Ranaghat Dakshin in West Bengal.

"There was a political significance of the elections in Raiganj and Maniktala," she said.

The TMC chief stated that party candidate Supti Pandey's victory by over 62,000 votes in Maniktala was a "very good one," while Krishna Kalyani's victory in Raiganj, just a month after he was defeated by the BJP candidate in the elections to the eponymous Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Dinajpur district, was a "resounding reply" to the saffron party.

The TMC head called it a "people's victory" and stated that it would revive the party's commitment to social responsibility.