Taking potshots at the Congres President Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Modi while addressing the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha, recounted various antics the former had done over the last five years.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s bizarre hug-and-wink drama, PM Modi said, “Pehli baar is sadan mein aane par hi mujhe pata chala ki gale milna aur gale padna mein kya antar hota hai.” [First time after coming to the Parliament, I got to know the difference between ‘gale lagna‘ (hugging) and ‘gale padna‘ (throw oneself on).] He further added, “Is sadan mein pehli baar aankhon ki gustakhiyan wala khel bhi hua” (For the first time, this Parliament saw the ‘aankhon ki gustakhiyan’ scenes being played live too.)
*winks*
Mocking Rahul Gandhi on his ‘there will be an earthquake in this Parliament’ statement, PM Modi said, “Some days they flew the planes (referring to the ruckus over Rafale deal when Congress MPs flew paper planes in the Parliament) but the place and respect of democracy and this temple of democracy are so high that these things didn’t affect it.”
PM Modi then enlisted the various achievements of the five years of his government’s term before thanking the Parliament for the lessons he has learnt.
Delivering his last address to the current Lok Sabha on its last day in session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a very interesting revelation. Describing his first days in Lok Sabha, he said that when he entered the Lok Sabha for the first time as a member, he looked at the various things around the seat allocated for the Prime Minister. And to his surprise, he saw three plates were affixed below at the seat of the PM with names of three previous prime ministers who had occupied that place in past in Lok Sabha.
Very Very Important info provided by PM Modi in his speech in Lok Sabha.
Modi is 14th Prime Minister (15th if we count Nanda as well).
There have been 13 PMs before him.
Yet, on the plate below the PM’s chair in Lok Sabha, there are names of just 3.
There were 13 prime ministers before him, but the plates at the seat of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha have the names of only three of them, Modi added. “Why this might have happened, what must have been the logic behind the same, great intellectuals with liberal thoughts who advise us daily will surely think about it, and sometimes enlighten us”, Narendra Modi added. The prime minister didn’t tell which three names were there, leaving people to guess.
After the revelation by the prime minister, a guessing game started on social media, and most people thought it was an easy guess. As most schemes in the country were named after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi during the long duration of Congress rule, many people assumed that three plates must have contained the names of these three former prime ministers from the Nehru-Gandhi family.
But MP from Odisha and BJD’s chief whip in Lok Sabha Tathagata Satpathy decided to break the suspense. He clicked a photograph of the plates that Modi had referred to in his speech and posted the image of the same on Twitter.
The three plates the PM’s chair in Lok Sabha
As can be seen above, the three metal plates mention Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi, mentioning from which date to which date the former prime ministers occupied the seat. Thus the plates belong to the first three prime ministers of India. If the practice was continued, the next plate would have mentioned the name of Morarji Desai, the first non-Congress prime minister of the Republic of India.
Today was the last day of the budget session and the conclusion of the 16th Lok Sabha ahead of the 2019 general elections. While the 13-day Budget session was almost a washout in the Rajya Sabha as Opposition parties stalled proceedings daily over issues ranging from Rafale fighter jet deal to Citizenship Bill, the Lok Sabha saw an undisturbed session.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the house, remembered that in 2014 he was among the parliamentarians who were in parliament for the first time. Narendra Modi began his speech by remembering when BJP formed the government in 2014, the country after three decades saw a government being formed with a complete majority.
Before talking about other things, Modi applauded the speaker Sumitra Mahajan for conducting at least 8 sessions of the Lok Sabha, that saw 100 per cent performance.
The 16th Lok Sabha would be remembered because this is the first time that there are so many women ministers in the cabinet, affirmed Modi. While confirming that his cabinet has 44 women ministers which have been by far, the highest in terms of numbers, he applauded the work, participation and level of confidence the women ministers in his cabinet have done and shown in these years.
Modi said that this was the first time in India’s democratic history that the defence portfolio and the ministry of external affairs were being handled by women and it was the first time that India ever saw a woman on the Lok Sabha speaker chair and as the Lok Sabha security general, which Modi said is extremely praiseworthy and something to be proud of.
PM Modi said that he is proud that in the last five years India has become the world’s 6th largest economy and is in the process of becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy soon. He gave credit to all the members of the party who have worked relentlessly over the years to achieve this accomplishment.
Today India is full self-confidence which is important for any country to grow and fight any odd, said Modi.
PM Modi proceeded to specify the country’s attainments in the last five years.
India has made its space in the digital world.
The world is discussing global warming and India made an effort in the form of the International Solar Alliance to mitigate this menace. The maximum number of the satellite was launched during these five years.
India is increasingly becoming self-dependent. Make in India is one such initiative taken by the government, said Modi.
A new aspect has emerged in the way India deals with foreign relations. The world recognises a government formed with full majority, and the world recognises such leaders who have a full mandate. Modi applauded and credited all these accomplishments to the citizens of India who unanimously in 2014 brought BJP to power.
India was recognised and heard in several foreign states.
Bangladesh’s land dispute issue was resolved by this cabinet in the Lok Sabha, which was itself a very big accomplishment, stressed Modi and thanked everyone responsible for this attainment.
This is about how we are very sensitive about human rights, said Modi. Whether it’s about the earthquake in Nepal, the water crisis in the Maldives or similar issues with our neighbouring countries. India has played an important role when it comes to exhibiting its benevolence, which has been recognised throughout the world.
Modi further said that India has made a substantial place for itself in the world. He acquainted the house with the fact that, in a first, the resolution on the importance of Yoga was passed in the United Nation (UN) with a maximum majority, which in itself is a great achievement for the country. Modi added that not only in the UN but the various country’s throughout the world celebrated 125th Baba Ambedkar’s birth anniversary and 150th Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, which is also is a major recognition for India.
Modi said that approximately 219 bills were introduced in Lok Sabha during these 5 years of Modi Government, out of which 203 bills were passed.
It is this Lok Sabha that passed the GST. The GST process revealed the spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship. This Lok Sabha, during BJP’s tenure, passed the strict black money act which helped the government to bring back the black money stacked abroad, laws against benami property, IBC law, Fugitive offenders act were passed here, he specified.
These strong laws against corruption, which the other political parties could not dare to introduce, were formulated by the BJP government and Modi expressed his heartfelt gratitude towards Lok Sabha and the speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, without whose support and guidance implementing such tough and stringent laws would not have been possible, said Modi.
It is this house which passed the Aadhar bill. The Aadhar Bill, he said, is in itself a major achievement and it has got recognition from the entire world who have been praising this major breakthrough.
The 10 percent reservation for poor, which is a big boost in the country’s development, was also passed in the Lok Sabha, and it was worth acclamation, the prime minister added. Similarly, bills regarding the OBC act or the SC-ST act or the maternity benefits were applaudable.
Modi said that his government had extended the maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, which in itself is a big achievement and projects India as a country with a progressive mindset, he affirmed.
Over 1400 redundant laws were done away with, Modi informed the house.
Modi spoke about the small tiffs and arguments which preceded in the House between oppositions and as a member of the house and a member of the ruling party, Modi sought forgiveness.
In an enthralling tone, Modi used the Jain ritual, ‘Micchami Dukkaḍaṃ’, an ancient Indian phrase, which is translated from Prakrit to literally mean “may all the evil that has been done be fruitless,” practised on Samvatsari – the last day of Paryushan, to seek forgiveness on behalf of his party members, for any misconceptions or mistakes or inappropriate words used in the heat of the argument in the last five years in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sessions.
There have been confrontations with Mallikarjun Kharge. I wish he was not having a bad throat today. Conversations with him helped me stir my thought process, for which I deeply thank him, said Modi.
Modi thanked Samajwadi Party patriarch, Mulayam Singh, with folded hands, who wished Narendra Modi a second term as the Prime Minister.
While concluding his speech Modi unleashed his wit and took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi saying, “Also, this is the first time when I realised the difference between an embrace and people trying to be clingy (gale lagna aur gale padna). Also, the “Ankhon ki gustakhiyan“ ( referring to Rahul Gandhi’s famous wink during the Lok Sabha sessions) had amused the foreign media too, said Modi.
He ended by thanking everyone in the House, the staff members who worked relentlessly over the years and wished well for all the political party’s who are heading for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Following the flak against the online mobile game PUBG, now a popular media app called TikTok in under the scanner for creating ‘law and order problem’ as alleged by Nagapattinam MLA Thamimun Ansari. Ansari has requested the Tamil Nadu government to ban the app as according to him many obscene activities are taking place on it. “I raised an issue forwarded to me by community welfare workers that the mobile application was acting as a platform for heated debates inimical to law and order, and sharing of sexually-explicit material. The minister supported my charge and promised to take steps to ban the application in Tamil Nadu,” said Ansari.
Responding to Ansari’s request made in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly, IT Minister of Tamil Nadu N Manikandan told the legislative assembly that the State government will approach the Central government seeking a ban on the Chinese app just like how it got the Blue Whale Challenge and the Momo Challenge banned last year.
The app, created by a Chinese Internet technology company Bytedance, allows the creation of short videos which can be lip-synced with any of the existing soundtracks. Recently the app has faced attack after several incidents of death, morphed pictures of girls and even flesh trade were reported.
Meanwhile, Tik Tok has issued a statement claiming that safety and the positive in-app environment was their priority. “We have robust measures to protect users against misuse, including easy reporting mechanisms that enable users and law enforcement to report content that violates our terms of use and community guidelines”, the statement read. The company is in the process of hiring a nodal officer in India.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav today in Lok Sabha wished for Narendra Modi’s victory as Prime Minister for the second term in upcoming 2019 elections. While it is Indian tradition to wish the adversary luck before the competition, one does not wish for the opponent’s victory.
For Mulayam Singh Yadav to say it in as many words, even as his own son, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been eying the post, is a specific political statement in itself. Akhilesh has befriended Mayawati, once a bitter rival to Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son, and have gotten into a pre-poll alliance for sharing seats. Interestingly, Mayawati and Akhilesh have left Congress out of their alliance.
While his supporters say it was in good humour, looking at the expressions of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was sitting next to him when he rooted for Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, it was quite clear that he had touched a raw nerve there.
#WATCH Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lok Sabha, says, “PM ko badhaai dena chahta hun ki PM ne sabko saath lekar chalne ka pura prayas kiya. Main chahta hun, meri kamna hai ki saare sadsya phir se jeet kar aayen aur aap (PM) dobara pradhan mantri banein.” pic.twitter.com/j6Bnj9Kr3p
Later, when his turn came to speak in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Modi thanked Mulayam Singh Yadav for giving his blessings.
Does this mean that given a choice between Narendra Modi and the dozens of others who are contending for the PM’s post including Congress President Rahul Gandhi and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee as well as his own son Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh would rather see Modi as Prime Minister? Does Netaji think that ‘UP ke Ladke’ are not fit to be the Prime Minister of India?
Coming out of the parliament, when Mulayam Singh Yadav was asked why does he wish that Narendra Modi should come back, the politician in him said that he was being courteous. Samajwadi Party is also maintaining that this was just a political courtesy.
But then, Mulayam Singh Yadav is a seasoned politician and a mass leader. His message today went out to the people of Uttar Pradesh, the one state which could be the game-changer in upcoming elections. Whether Mulayam Singh Yadav’s endorsement helps Modi or not is a different thing. However, it shall be interesting to see how this statement affects the future of ‘United Opposition’.
And where exactly does it now leave Congress and Rahul Gandhi?
An FIR under the clause of IPC section 124A pertaining to sedition has been lodged against the 14 Aligarh Muslim University students including the AMU Student Union president Salman Imtiaz. The police had also pressed charges of vandalism and hurting the religious sentiments of people against these AMU hoodlums.
An FIR has been filed against 14 AMU students. The FIR also names AMU student Union President Salman Imtiaz. The students have been booked for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans. More details by @tusharswaruppic.twitter.com/u9utCi2ewp
BJP Yuva Morcha’s Mukesh Lodha, who is the principal complainant against the AMU miscreants, has alleged that some AMU students including the AMU Student union President swarmed near his car and started threatening him with vile threats. He also stated that the mob had set ablaze many vehicles, and anti-India, pro-Pakistan slogans were raised by the violent mob, after which he proceeded to file a sedition case against the miscreants.
The Aligarh Police has stated that Section 307 and Section 153 have been invoked against the lumpen elements of the AMU for hurting the religious sentiments of a certain community and indulging in violent intimidation and vandalism. The police have also requested the AMU administration to rusticate 56 enrolled students who have criminal cases against them. It is also in the process of securing a non-bailable warrant against these 56 students.
A complaint has also been lodged against the AMU students under Section 307 and Section 153 after the harassed Republic TV crew approached police for an incident that occurred a day before.
Several students of AMU had intimidated Republic TV crew including a female journalist who were present in the university campus. The mob had threatened the female crew members by giving out a clarion call to not spare the women at any cost. Their cameras and equipment were stolen and destroyed by the mob just because they were from Republic TV. A human chain was also formed by the AMU students in an effort to stop the Republic TV crew from escaping the AMU campus. The crew somehow managed to push through the human chain and jolted out of the campus.
The Wire had tried a futile attempt to gloss over the AMU hooliganism by fabricating a false story about the incident and branding Republic TV members as provocateurs. However, the latest incident of pro-Pakistan slogans being raised in the AMU once again corroborates the rot that is festering the AMU.
On February 10, Swati Goel Sharma, a journalist with Swarajya, shared pictures of an illegal slaughterhouse in Mantola locality in Agra. She had said that the slaughterhouse was located in a residential area. Goel said that she was stopped from taking more pictures by the local residents as it would “endanger” her life.
This is an illegal slaughterhouse bang in the middle of the residential colony in Mantola. I managed to take two photos but residents stopped me from clicking more pics. They said it would endanger my life
Taking cognizance of her tweet, Agra Police responded two days later that the illegal slaughterhouse has been sealed. In addition, seven people have been booked under various sections of the IPC and sent to jail.
आज प्रशासन व @agrapolice की संयुक्त कार्यवाही में उक्त परिसर को सील कर दिया गया व थाना मंटोला पर अ0स0 07/19 धारा 11 पशु क्रूरता निवारण अधि0, धारा 63 खाद्य सुरक्षा एवं मानक अधि0, धारा 15 पर्यावरण संरक्षण अधि0 एवं धारा 4/25 शस्त्र अधि0 पंजीकृत कर 7 व्यक्तियों को जेल भेजा गया है।
The tweet was posted in a thread where Sharma was discussing her recent Ground Report from Agra’s Mantola. Sharma had reported how Hindus, who are in the minority in the area, “lack in resources and live in fear.”
In the detailed report, Sharma says that communal flare-ups are extremely frequent in the area. The latest communal flare-up in the area, which is the subject of Sharma’s report, could lead to an exodus of Hindus from the locality.
In her report, Sharma states, “A closer look at the situation in Mantola throws up a case study in changing demographics of an area. It also shows that what we commonly understand of majority-minority equations for the country as a whole may not be true for individual states, villages and even tiny localities.”
Former Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has dropped a bombshell ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after he expressed his wished to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi return back to power once again.
According to the reports, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav while addressing the Parliament extended his support to Prime Minister Modi and wished him to return back to power as country’s Prime Minister again. This comes at a time when Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh Yadav has been attempting hard to forge an alliance with the other smaller parties to defeat the incumbent BJP.
Hope @narendramodi returns as PM: SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lok Sabha
“PM ko badhaai dena chahta hun ki PM ne sabko saath lekar chalne ki koshish ki hai. Main kehna chahta hun ki saare sadaysa phir se jeet kar aayen, aur aap (PM) dobara pradhan mantri banein [I want to thank PM Modi for taking everyone into consensus. I wish that every member of the house and especially you (PM Modi) return to being Prime Minister again],” said Mulayam Singh Yadav, a veteran in Indian politics.
“Meri kaamna hai ki pradhaanmantri ji aap phirse pradhaanmantri banein. Mera anubhav hai ki main jab bhi aap se mila, aapne turant mera kaam kiya [I wish that PM Modi, you should become the prime minister again. I have experienced that whenever I met you, you got my work done instantly],” said Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Akhilesh Yadav, who is the current chief of the Samajwadi Party (SP) has already joined hands with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) to contest against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP in the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general elections.
Interestingly, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was seen perplexed, who was seated next to the Mulayam Singh when he expressed his gratitude towards Prime Minister Modi.
In a shocking incident, party workers of Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal (Secular) have resorted to a deadly stone pelting against a BJP leader in Hassan district of Karnataka causing serious head injuries.
The grave incident took place when a group of JD(S) party workers, who were protesting against the Hassan BJP MLA Preetham Gowda at his residence, resorted to stone pelting towards the BJP leaders and other party workers present at the spot, seriously injuring Rahul Kini, state executive committee member of BJP Yuva Morcha.
Previously, an unauthenticated audio tape allegedly featuring MLA Preetham Gowda had gone viral, in which a person claiming to be Preetham Gowda had criticised former Prime Minister HD Devegowda leading to the violent protests against the BJP leaders in the Hassan.
The injured BJP leader has suffered a life-threatening blow on his head and has been admitted in the Chamarajendra District Hospital, Hassan.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa has expressed shock against the vandalism of the Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy led JD(S) workers and held him responsible for the attack on the BJP leader in Hassan. He further added that the senior party leaders will be heading to the Hassan to hold a protest march in the next couple of days. The BJP is also mulling to declare a district bandh in Hassan to protest against the incident tomorrow.
Preetham Gowda, a first time MLA had created history after he had defeated JDS in its fortress, Hassan. The BJP’s inroads into the JDS bastion had unnerved former Prime Minister HD Devegowda and his son HD Revanna, the de-facto head of the JDS.
The Meerut Development Authority (MDA) on Tuesday sealed the machinery in the slaughterhouse owned by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Yakub Qureshi following the cancellation of the stay order prohibiting action by the authorities in relation to the slaughterhouse in the first week of February.
The map of the Al Faheem Meatex Pvt Ltd meat factory was not sanctioned by the authorities. Parts of the land on which the slaughterhouse is built falls under non-compoundable area. Earlier the administration had stayed the sealing of the slaughterhouse by the MDA. However, when the factory operator could not provide the evidence to prove that the order of the MDA to seal the factory was wrong, the stay order was canceled.
Qureshi, who has been announced as the BSP’s Lok Sabha in-charge for the Meerut-Hapur seat, had sought a stay order on the sealing from the High Court but could not get it. The MDA officials accompanied by police reached the slaughterhouse on Tuesday to seal the green belt area of the slaughterhouse and heavy security was deployed to avoid any unpleasant situation.
However, according to some reports, the authorities did a mere formality in sealing the illegal area as only a small portion was sealed. Also, the MDA team was not allowed to enter the premises initially and was later allowed inside the slaughterhouse after much struggle. The whole proceeding took only 20 minutes after which the police returned.
It is notable here that Qureshi was in the news in 2006 when he had announced a bounty of Rs 51 lakhs on the head of a Danish cartoonist for making allegedly ‘anti-Islamic’ cartoons. Qureshi was the minister of ‘Muslim Affairs’ in the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government. He had switched to BSP later.
Parts of the slaughterhouse is built on agricultural land and therefore industrial use of the land cannot be allowed. “He has applied for the change of land use too. But it is under process and we cannot sanction construction here until the formalities are completed,” said Secretary MDA, Rajeev Kumar.
