Mamata Banerjee also shared a video message calling on people of the state to gather in large numbers at the Brigade Parade Ground.

Brigade parade ground: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday called for a large rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on March 10. Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed a public meeting at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

Chief Minister Banerjee said in a social media post that the “Bohiragoto Jomidars” (foreign landlords), meaning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), should not consider the patience and courtesy of Bengalis as weakness.

“The patience and courtesy of Bengalis should NOT be mistaken for their weakness. The Bohiragoto Jomidars must be reminded of this on March 10. The #JonogorjonSabha at Brigade Ground this Sunday will be a historic event for the country that has always fought for its rights. Join us as we lead the people’s movement for the secure future of Bengal. Bengal will show the way,” she wrote on X.

The patience and courtesy of Bengalis should NOT be mistaken for their weakness. The Bohiragoto Jomidars need to be reminded of this on March 10.

The #JonogorjonSabha Brigade Ground will host a historic event this Sunday in the country that has always fought for its rights.

Join us as we lead… pic.twitter.com/MuWVqLYX7D

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) March 6, 2024

Mamata Banerjee also shared a video message with this post in which she appeals to people of the state to gather in large numbers at the Brigade Parade Ground.

“We will protest against the manner in which Bengal and its people are being deprived by cutting off funds for road construction, house construction, hundred-day work, health programs and various other programs. They are trying to create a distorted environment in Bengal which is against the Bengali ethos,” the CM said while pointing out that people of Bengal do not discriminate on the basis of religion and accept people from multiple cultures.

“Bengal is the cultural capital of India and shows respect for all cultures. We say that although people have individual beliefs, everyone can share the festivities surrounding them. We do not discriminate among ourselves. We cannot accept how they are conspiring to divide Bengal and end Bengali culture,” the chief minister said.

“I love all cultures, be it Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Muslim and Christian. We love everyone. We treat everyone as one among us. But if you humiliate Bengalis, it means humiliating those who stay here,” she added.

Banerjee said that just as Bengal showed India the way forward during the freedom struggle, it will also do the same.

“Bengal has shown the way to the freedom struggle, to the renaissance of India. Bengal has contributed to the progress of the country. There is a conspiracy to tear this Bengali consciousness to pieces. Let us unite against this conspiracy for one day,” the Prime Minister said.

(With ANI inputs)

The Bhagavad Gita is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer-guide Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Lokkho Kanthe Gita Path: West Bengal’s famous Brigade Parade Grounds, Kolkata, reverberated on Sunday as around a million people from different backgrounds collectively chanted holy verses from the Bhagavad Gita.

The people, adorned in traditional attire, and hailing from different age groups and social status, gathered at the iconic location and recited the verses of the Bhagavad Gita along with revered sages.

“The Bhagavad Gita is India’s greatest gift to the world,” said BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar. Prominent figures from the Bengal BJP unit and the leadership of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were present and actively recited the verses. Organizers said about 120,000 people had registered to participate in the program.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his best wishes for the ‘Lokkhe Konthe Gita Path’ event and expressed his belief that recitation of Bhagavad Gita by a huge gathering from diverse backgrounds will not only enhance social harmony but also energize to the country’s development journey.

Message from Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the ‘Lokkho Kanthe Gita Path’ program to be organized at Parade Ground in Kolkata.

The message reads: “…The initiative aimed at reciting the Gita by one lakh people is truly commendable….” pic.twitter.com/k86CNz5YZR

— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2023

Earlier, it was announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the “Ek Lakh Gita Path” programme, but Majumdar said on December 20 that the Prime Minister will not attend the event.

“We invited PM Modi. However, yesterday he informed me that he regrets that he cannot participate in the event due to previous official commitments. Nevertheless, he has sent his best wishes,” Majumdar told PTI.

The event is a joint effort of various religious groups, who maintain an apolitical stance, as highlighted by Majumdar. “This event has nothing to do with the BJP; we are not the organisers,” Majumdar added.

Earlier, on December 10, a similar event took place in Hooghly district where more than 2,000 people took part in chanting Bhagavad Gita. The event, organized by the Mahesh Lord Jagannath Development Trust, was attended by TMC MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay and West Bengal Panchayat Minister Pradip Majumdar.

The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita in English can be roughly translated as ‘The Song By God’ and is often referred to as the Gita. It is a Hindu scripture of 700 verses, which is part of the epic Mahabharata. It forms Chapters 23–40 of Book 6 of the Mahabharata, the Bhishma Parva.

The Bhagavad Gita is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer-guide Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu.

(With PTI inputs)

Hamas, the armed group that controls Gaza, said on Sunday that one of its top commanders had been killed in the war with Israel there.

Hamas’s announcement came on the third day of a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israel has vowed to continue its military campaign in the enclave after the ceasefire expires on Tuesday morning, with the main aim being the destruction of Hamas.

On Sunday morning, Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, issued a brief statement saying that Abu Anas al-Ghandour, who led the group’s fighters in northern Gaza, and three other commanders had been killed. No further details were given about when or where they had died.

The Israeli military said earlier this month that it had targeted Mr al-Ghandour in an attack on Hamas’s underground infrastructure. according to The Times of Israelbut did not say at the time whether he had been killed.

A number of other Hamas officials and commanders are believed to have been killed since Israel began a war in retaliation for the group’s October 7 attacks, which killed an estimated 1,200 people in southern Israel and led to the kidnapping of about 240 hostages. Israeli authorities.

Mr al-Ghandour was the top commander Hamas has confirmed dead since the group’s announcement last month that Ayman Nofal, a member of the General Military Council and commander of the Qassam Brigades’ Central Brigade, had been killed.

The State Department placed Mr al-Ghandour under US sanctions in 2017, saying this was “involved in many terrorist operations” – including a 2006 attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and led to the kidnapping of another, Gilad Shalit.

Mr Shalit was released in October 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. One of the freed, Yahya Sinwar, eventually became the leader of Hamas in Gaza and, according to Israeli officials, a mastermind behind the October 7 attacks.

The Beatle’s ‘new’ single Now and Then has predictably generated great interest.

However, this is a far cry from the fuss caused in June 1965 when the Fab Four were awarded MBEs in the Birthday Honors list by the Queen.

Less than three years after the group’s debut single, Love Me Do, they topped the charts in what was dubbed the monarch’s first ‘Pop Honours’.

Retired brigadiers huffed and puffed, the palace was knee-deep in letters of complaint. Some high-profile recipients have handed back their MBEs in protest.

Grateful or not, the mop-haired Scousers were cheerfully irreverent at a press conference on the day of the announcement.

“Medals can’t change the way we live,” Paul McCartney squeaked: “I’m still a villain.”

John Lennon had already said: ‘I thought you had to drive tanks and win wars to get the MBE.’

Those who had done one or both were unimpressed.

In a bulging palace mailbag was a letter from former Squadron Leader Paul Pearson, telling the Queen that the Labor government was ‘trying to influence the idiotic vote’ through the likes of the Beatles and Violet Carson (Ena Sharples of Coronation Street ) to the list. to blend.

From Montreal, a disgruntled Canadian navy veteran advised his queen as follows: “Don’t count on me for the next war – use the Beatles or the Beatniks.”

The Daily Mail was apparently serious: ‘The main concern is what all this fraternization with the nobles will do to the Beatles’ image? There was a time when they represented the youthful rebellion against the dusty old tradition.’

As the letters – and returned medals – poured in, a palace spokesperson used an admirable understatement:

“This Beatles tribute seems to have caused quite a stir,” he agreed.

He revealed that the day’s new mail had been forwarded to Windsor (where the Queen was based for Ascot week) and added: ‘There may be more to that.’

Across the pond, the New York Daily News was more optimistic, proclaiming “LIZ HONORS THE BEATLES.” YES YES YES.’

Four days after the announcement, the Band of the Irish Guards performed a rendition of: ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ during Changing the Guard.

Beatlemania reached a new peak on October 26 when the Fab Four received their medals from Her Majesty herself in the State Ballroom of Buckingham Palace.

If she had looked out from behind one of the gauze curtains on the Eastern Front, she would have seen a police officer climbing the palace balustrade to seize a number of agile and determined girls, some as young as 14 years old.

On the ground, their colleagues tried to hold back a tsunami of screaming teenagers in the days before the shatter barrier.

At the palace, the group admitted to feeling nerves, although years later the surviving Beatles quashed the urban myth that John had smoked weed in the palace toilets for Dutch courage.

The ceremony was short-lived, because instead of processing them one after the other, they stood in a row before the queen and looked neat. Their celebrated joke tops had been cut by their hairdresser.

She asked Paul one of her more time-honored questions: “How long have you been together now?” only to receive the response, ‘Oh, for many years. “Forty years” came in for Ringo, who was then asked, “Are you the one who started it all?” whereupon he told her, “I was the last to join him—the little fellow.”

After bowing in unison, they made their way to the waiting press, where they enthusiastically said, “She’s amazing. She was so very sweet and made us all feel completely at ease.’

On an earlier occasion they had been asked what they thought of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, the man who had struck the gongs and now found himself at the heart of the storm. (It had not gone unnoticed that Wilson’s constituency of Huyton was on the outskirts of Liverpool.)

“Oh, he’s a good boy,” George Harrison confirmed.

“Did they earn their awards?” (the question on everyone’s lips).

For George it was a no-brainer: “The Queen must have thought that, otherwise she wouldn’t have given them to us.” And finally: ‘What can you achieve now?’ Ringo had a clear idea: “All I want is to be a duke,” he told the 150 reporters.

Four years later it wasn’t Disgusting that Tunbridge Wells returned an MBE to the Queen, but John Lennon himself.

His driver, Mr Les Anthony, delivered the medal to Buckingham Palace with a handwritten note to the Queen stating:

‘I am returning this MBE. I protest against British involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra affair, against our support for America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey [the song he composed for the Plastic Ono Bond] sliding down the charts.’

He signed it ‘With Love, John.’ He also later revealed that he had not told the other Beatles.

One person clearly unimpressed by his action was his beloved Aunt Mimi, who proudly displayed the honor above her TV set.

She told a reporter: ‘I share John’s views on British involvement in the Nigerian war, but I do not agree that this is the way to register a protest. If I had known what he wanted to do with it. I wouldn’t have given him his MBE. This is all very strange for John.’

John’s untimely death in 1980 robbed him of the opportunity for other awards.

By the 1990s, popular musicians began to be honored with knighthoods or dameshoods, including Cliff Richard and Shirley Bassey.

In 1997 it was Paul McCartney who knelt before the Queen for a KBE – a knighthood

Somewhat callously, George Harrison was not offered the OBE until three years later and it was not until half a century after receiving the MBE that Ringo Starr (billed by his birth name Richard Starkey), was knighted by Prince William in 2018. .

Afterwards he told reporters that he had recently had dinner with the other surviving Beatle “and we both laughed about where we came from, and we ended up in the palace and it’s now Sir Paul and Sir Richard.”