This story is breaking live right now, so request LI to post it quickly and update it live. Here is the news coverage as of 30 October, 1:45 pm IST.

- Apart from Mamata, 3 other TMC ministers were invited

- ABP Ananda and Republic Bangla have uploaded her entire speech, which was loaded with political points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2MLT58pkV8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qi663PP_Yc

- Both channels are reporting live that Mamata made a number of political points in the speech and focusing on those remarks (not sure if political speeches have been made before at NLU convocations, especially in the presence of SC judges and a visiting foreign Chief Justice).

- One Bengali news website is giving this headline for Mamata's speech: মানুষকে অযথা হেনস্থা করা হচ্ছে, মিডিয়া ট্রায়াল নিয়ে সরব মুখ্যমন্ত্রী.
https://najarbandi.in/mamata-banerjee-say-media-trail-is-public-harrasment/

It translates to "People are being harassed and a media trial is taking place, says Mamata". It is widely believed that these remarks refer to the recent ED raids in Bengal and arrest of top TMC leaders on corruption charges, including Partha Chatterjee. Mamata has been very critical of the media coverage of these cases.

- Various Bengali channels reporting a political backlash after Mamata's speech. I can't link the videos right now as they are live feeds, but I just saw that Republic Bangla interviewed Adhir Chowdhury (Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha) and Advocate Priyanka Tibrewal (national spokesperson BJP). They are both questioning how Mamata is speaking at a law university about the rule of law given the state of affairs in Bengal.

More updates to come. Stay tuned.

Update #1 (2 pm, 30 October) to my original post "Mamata Banerjee attend NUJS Convocation: Political takes centre-stage"

- Zee Bangla has interviewed Bikash Bhattacharya (CPM MP and Senior Advocate), Pradip Bhattacharya (Congress Rajya Sabha MP) and Dilip Ghosh, BJP MP and National BJP Vice President (video below) and asked them for their opinion on Mamata's speech at NUJS, and her comments on "media trial".

- Translation of Bikash Bhattacharya's comments from Bengali to English: "She is trying to curry favour in the presence of judges as her party is faced with corruption cases. She doesn't know what the term 'media trial' even means. There is no media trial inn Bengal. All the accused TMC leaders have gone to court and the media is merely reporting what is in the public domain. Even during the Saradha scam she alleged trial by media and went to the Supreme Court, which rejected her claims. She is scared that courts are opening her mask and shown her true face of corruption. She is talking nonsense."

- Translation of Pradip Bhattacharya's comments from Bengali to English: "A terrible atmosphere has been created in Bengal. It is shocking that the CM is talking about rule of law after what is happening in Bengal. I am happy that courts are giving justice to victims of TMC misrule. I do not support media trials but no one can challenge the facts brought out by the ED and CBI. Even the SC has rejected their claims. So how can the CM claim there is a media trial?"

- Translation of Dilip Ghosh's comments from Bengali to English: "How can we give importance to a speech by a person who doesn't follow democracy and rule of law, and whose leaders are in jail? Who doesn't follow the constitution?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjQ-56AqVBg

Update #2 (2:10 pm, 30 October) to my original post "Mamata Banerjee attends NUJS Convocation: Political takes centre-stage"

- Now Aaj Tak Bangla has uploaded the speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-ZnBnKetw8

- Press Trust of India has given this headline: "Powers being seized by a section: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at NUJS convocation"

https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/1586636050377887746

Update 3 of my post titled "Mamata Banerjee attends NUJS convocation: Politics takes centre-stage"

Update #3, 30 October, 3:20 PM

- Republic Bangla has now uploaded their interviews with Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Lok Sabha Adhir Chowdhury + Senior Advocate and CPIM Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Bhattacharya + Advocate and BJP national spokesperson Priyanka Tibrewal, for their reaction to Mamata's speech.

Bikash Bhattacharya has said (translated to English):

"In the past, the media in Bengal sang praises of Mamata. Now they are highlighting her corruption and misrule, so she is upset. She does not now what a 'media trial' means. The primary job of the media is to highlight the deeds of the corrupt. In Bengal, we are merely seeing reporting of facts, but even that had made Mamata fearful. This is nothing new. When the Saradha scam case was happening in the Supreme Court then too she had requested for a court order restraining the media from covering the case, which the court denied. Another important point: she is effectively using a platform at a a public university to make veiled threats to the judiciary, which is wrong."

Adhir Chowdhury has said (translated to English):

- "Mamata cannot try and dictate matters to the judiciary. She is trying to put pressure on courts. Today in West Bengal the ordinary person will not get justice from the ruling party, so that's why they are constantly going to courts."

Priyanka Tibrewal has said (translated to English):

"The media was good in he eyes when it was on her side. Now that the media is covering misrule, corruption and political murders in Bengal it has suddenly become bad in her eyes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJNZOOMTY1o

- Also, ABP Ananda and TV 9 Bangla have uploaded excerpts of her speech where she has made political points:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo8Oym00rtU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jict94Uph-M

https://www.anandabazar.com/video/cm-mamata-banerjee-appeals-to-save-democracy-and-federal-structure-of-india-dgtl/cid/1380540

[Bengali newspaper but language of the video is in English-Hindi]

Good news: All the newspapers in Kolkata have news of the NUJS convo on their front page today. Many national dailies featured it too. NDTV.com had it own they front page for a while.

Bad news: Not a SINGLE media report discusses NUJS placements, LLM admissions etc. They just discuss Mamata's political speech and the criticism by other parties of the speech.

Worse news: The impression given is that NUJS is a TMC outpost like other state colleges . Opposition leaders are questioning why she was invited and how she was allowed to use the platform of NUJS to make political points. Note also that the Union Law Minister, AG, SG, ASG etc were not invited. Why not, if other NLUs can do so??? And, of course, the Governor (now VP of India) was previously uninvited from NUJS, even as other NLUs are laying out the red carpet for him. A terrible PR disaster for the college.

Worst news of all: Mamata did not announce any incentive for NUJS, like a new plot of land or a grant. She just used the opportunity to make a speech like she does at rallies.

Thus, in the end, it was a HUGE mistake to invite her. She has done nothing to help the college (quite the opposite) and disrespected the Hon'ble judges by speaking so aggressively. She has also brought down the dignity of NUJS by making such a political speech.

The admin has acted in a manner unbecoming of an NLU by being so partisan and the SJA has neglected its duty by acquiescing to it. The VC must resign. Let him contest elections on a TMC ticket if he is so keen to butter her up. The SJA president must go too, unless the SJA is willing to give a statement criticising Mamata's speech.

Print media coverage below. Even Bar & Bench has chosen to highlight her political speech rather than speak about NUJS placements of the graduating batch! An utter embarrassment for NUJS! What impression will Justice Lalit and the CJ of Bangladesh leave with?

https://www.barandbench.com/news/save-country-from-transforming-into-presidential-system-west-bengal-cm-mamata-banerjee-to-judiciary

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/powers-being-seized-by-a-section-may-lead-to-presidential-form-of-govt-mamata-banerjee/article66073422.ece

https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/judiciary-place-of-worship-for-us-says-mamata-banerjee/cid/1895166

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/at-a-convocation-ceremony-mamata-asks-where-is-democracy-then-makes-a-request-to-cji-lalit-101667123796940.html

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/we-may-see-presidential-govt-federal-collapse-west-bengal-cm-mamata-banerjee/articleshow/95189288.cms

Now pro-BJP magazine Swarajya has published a piece on it. Has NUJS ever got such publicity?? 🤣

Quote:

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is notorious for her often outrageous utterances, and the short shrift she gives to propriety and decorum.

And by often throwing all civility and correctness to the wind, she has crossed the red line many times.

She did so again during her address at the fourteenth annual convocation of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata on Sunday (30 October).

https://swarajyamag.com/politics/banerjee-crossed-the-line-once-again-this-time-with-an-outrageous-statement-before-top-indian-and-foreign-judiciary

since everyone is only criticizing Mamata didi here, let me share an alternative perspective from an alumnus https://twitter.com/law_ninja/status/1587371183955402754?s=20&t=f9DHNuzrJYIhr8Nj_IARWQ

Buddy, he is not supporting Mamata but merely saying that trial by media is a bad thing. This applied 1 million percent in the case of the Wire, whose coverage on Meta was FAKE NEWS, so much so that the Wire itself has filed a criminal case against Devise Kumar alleging cheating and fraud.

Er.. this is Ramnuj from LawSikho, who is a right-winger. He is retweeting this post saying the Wire should be shut down.

https://twitter.com/Mohansinha/status/1587307823490568192

Err that tweet you quoted is by a leftist journalist. The Wire basically resorted to outright fabrication of evidence and gaslighting until they were checkmated. They have shown they are a propaganda website that care more about Convenient narratives and will do anything to manufacture those narratives. Every journalist on all sides of politics has criticised the wire. They will also naturally face the consequences of fraud committed and defamation caused. This is not a right wing issue.

If it's not a 'right wing' issue, out of interest, how come the 'right wing' seems more excited about the issue than the other wings?

You may or may not be a fan of the wire, but the truth seems to be that the Wire made several mistakes and were allegedly duped in these stories. But then again, most publications do make mistakes at some point or other, and many don't even do a mea culpa after. Claiming that the entire site is therefore 'propaganda', even if the vast majority of their reporting still stands (and happens to be one of the few criticising the government), therefore seems disingenuous.

Abbe bhakt! She said nothing. She spoke about media trial. What law did you study at nujs in 5 years? Isn't that wrong? And you are making assumptions linking it to something she did not say. Obviously justice is important and courts need to be impartial! Only a ▮▮▮ like you will find wrong in her statements.

An NLU formed under the state government legislation has invited the CM to its convocation, where she has spoken about things that actually have a bearing on law. Those who are having a problem with that can go to GNLU and listen to Kejru wax rhapsodies about using ganesh picture on currency. In fact, people having a problem with that can stay out of Bengal altogether. Would love to get rid of them. The powerless anon posturing at LI is comical as well as tragic.