Bharatiya Janta Party’s MLA and firebrand Hindu Leader Raja Singh, on Monday, stopped a truck, carrying over 57 cows and calves, at Shamirpet region of Telangana along with Gau Rakshaks. The truck according to MLA was transporting cows and calves to slaughterhouses. Raja Singh is BJP’s only lawmaker in Telangana assembly, who in past too, has been seen taking a tough stand on Gau Raksha or Cow Protection.
In the video uploaded on Facebook, Raja Singh and his companions can be seen stopping a truck and climbing on the top of it. In the video, cows and calves can be seen loaded in the truck, covered by sides but open on above. Raja Singh inquires about the truck from two men sitting in the truck. MLA later handed over the cows to Cow Shelter and also registered a case.
According to a police official, the cows were transported in the lorry from Odisha. It is still not ascertained, whether the cows were getting transported to slaughterhouses or not.
“We got a tip about this truck transporting cows to a slaughterhouse. So, I along with police officials and Gau Rakshaks chased the truck. We counted the number of cows and calves to 57. Then we registered a complaint at Sharimpat police station, and 6 people have been arrested” Raja Singh gave the details about the incident in the video. He added that cow slaughtering is not a mere Telangana’s issue, but a national issue too. He appealed to Gau Rakshaks to undertake legal and peaceful way to prevent slaughtering of cows than indulging in violence.
Last year, Raja Singh had resigned from BJP and as an MLA to “commit himself” to Gauraksha. He had said that for him, Dharma and Gau-Raksha (cow protection) is more important than Politics. He had also stated that the government of Telangana is a ‘Gau-hatyari sarkar’ (cow-killer government). He also had accused the Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekhar Rao, of planning to organize the slaughter of scores of cattle on Eid to get Muslims to vote for his party.
He was re-elected from Goshamahal Assembly, during the last year’s assembly elections. He had hit headlines recently when he had declared that he will not take oath in front of pro-tem Speaker of the Telangana assembly Mumtaz Ahmed Khan belonging to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen or AIMIM.
“I will not take oath in front of a person, whose party wants to finish the Hindu community, wage war in the country and refuse to chant Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jay” He had said. He had also accused CM KC Rao of colluding with AIMIM.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s entry into active politics is anything but unprecedented. Every Indian knew that sooner or later she would take the plunge, not just because she would regularly campaign in her mother and brother’s constituencies i.e. Raebareli and Amethi respectively, but also because even without holding any official position, she was a part of most key decision making including the selection of Chief Minister for recently concluded Vidhan Sabha elections at Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
However, she has never been dragged into matters concerning her husband or asked questions related to the abysmal performance of the Congress party. She was spared from the wrath of political competition because she was not an ‘active’ politician or an office bearer of the Congress Party. She was not held accountable for the dismal performance of her party or repeated charges of nepotism primarily because ‘technically’ she was not a beneficiary of the political outfit.
On January 23 2019, after the Congress Party announced her as the Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East), things changed. She is no more just the sister of Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi or daughter of Former Prime Minister, Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi. She is now an official representative of the grand old party. I assumed she is now obliged to be answerable and accountable to the electorate. Since the Indian Constitution gives me the right to freedom of expression and the democratic values of this land allow me to question the status quo, I just did that. I merely exercised this right when I asked the freshly appointed office bearer, five innocuous questions in a short video.
My questions contoured largely alleged corruption charges on her husband, charges of nepotism and the kind of changes an electorate can expect with her advent into the party. Little did I know that courtiers of the para-dropped politician would get unsettled by my curiosity? I was asked by certain cadre members and functionaries to ‘watch my words’ as no one is allowed to question the ‘family’. Certain sections of the media called my questions bad in taste because the person in question was ‘Priyanka Gandhi’, who exudes the charisma and dynamism of Indira Gandhi.
But does that make Priyanka Gandhi Vadra beyond rectitude? Moreover, if there are efforts to curb someone like me who has zero political influence, imagine the extent of duress on those voices that have the potential to change opinions by virtue of their words.
Freedom of Expression is not for all
I have questioned leaders across the political spectrum on a myriad of issues, through my opinion pieces in print media, social media, and on national television and I say this with complete responsibility that I have never been warned of the impending consequences. It is possible that I was, as I mentioned earlier, a speck in the larger scheme of things to be noticed. It is also possible that those, whom I questioned, believed that I had the right to question them.
Sadly, the same doesn’t seem to be true when it comes to the first family in the Congress party.
It is outright comical that a party that struts around as the self-proclaimed custodian of freedom of expression has little appreciation for the concept, leave alone practising it. Implicit immunization of the first family from accountability reeks of deep-seated feudalism that has plagued the grand old party for over a century. It wouldn’t be incorrect to assume that I wouldn’t have come under the radar had I questioned the Party and not a family member.
Intolerance Trumps
Does anyone remember the deluge of awards that made their way back on account of the ‘growing intolerance’ under the elected government of the day, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The brigade is obviously oblivious to the simmering intolerance in the Opposition. Their urge to preserve tolerance as a virtue is aroused only when it suits them because I do not see them returning any awards to express anguish against the growing political intolerance in West Bengal or even Madhya Pradesh.
How is it okay for students in JNU to raise potentially inflammatory slogans and not safe for me to ask questions to a politician? Since when did it become unsafe to raise questions to the Congress Party?
How is it responsible politics when an elected representative and President of the Principal opposition party Shri Rahul Gandhi to make declarative statements like ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ and alleges the Prime Minister with unsubstantiated charges but uncomfortable when a private tax-paying citizen merely questions a politician?
I have asked very basic questions and I am sure I will receive answers in due course of time. I wish her great luck and success in her new innings. Meanwhile, I leave a question for all readers: How can Priyanka Gandhi Vadra be touted as Indira 2.0 and yet expected to be treated with kid gloves. Both cannot exist together.
The male to female ratio in India has been a matter of concern for a very long time. The number of girl children being born, or surviving after birth has been traditionally less compared to boys. From female infanticide to poor nutrition provided to the girl child, various factors have contributed to this skewed sex ratio.
Traditionally, the north Indian states have been under the scanner for skewed sex ratio, due to rampant sex determination tests and abortion of female foeticide prevalent in those states. It is generally assumed that the sex ratio is better in the southern states compared to states like Punjab and Haryana due to these reasons.
But the data collated by the Registrar General of India using birth and death registrations across the country shows that South Indian states also have worrying sex ratio, and the decline in the ratio in some of the southern states is among the highest.
State wise sex ration at birth
The data shows that the sex ratio at birth in Andhra Pradesh was 974 girls for 1000 boys in 2007, which has come down to 806 in the year 2016, a huge decline of 168 points. The state now shares the place of lowest sext ration in the country with Rajasthan. The ratio was 1004 for Karnataka in 2007, but it has come down by 108 points to 896 in 2016. Tamil Nadu also has seen a decline of 95 points from 935 to 840 during the same period. Only Kerala sees a reverse of this trend, where the sex ratio improved marginally by 10 points from 944 to 954 during the 2007-2016 period.
The ratio remained stable for Haryana during the decade, which was 860 in 2007 and 865 in 2016, while Punjab an improvement from 820 to 857. The ratio in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh remained mostly stable, with marginal improvement in the number of girl children born.
State wise sex ratio at birth from 2007 to 2016
The numbers show that while northern states have been vilified for its bad sex ratio earlier, implying the southern states are better in this regard, the reverse was happening on the ground. While the northern states have almost arrested the decline in the ratio, southern states have seen the largest decline in the ratio in a decade. This decline was so large that it cancelled the improvement made in several other states, and the national ratio came down from 903 to 877 during the same period.
This data proves that the gender ratio is not depended on geography and regional issues, as often assumed. This is a much bigger problem that affects most of the country, not just selected states or regions. Therefore, to label it as a regional problem is actually self-defeating and detrimental to society, as it leads to a wrong analysis of the problem. The country needs to work towards fixing systemic issues engraved in the society, not name calling based on region as the problem is no longer a region specific.
Born on 3rd June 1930, George Fernandes, passed away earlier today leaving an irreplaceable void in the Indian political landscape. A lifelong socialist, Fernandes had stood up against the Gandhis, even after the Emergency was lifted.
Early life
Eldest amongst his five siblings, Fernandes had set out to become a priest but later in 1949 moved to Mumbai in search of a job. In Mumbai, he met Rammanohar Lohia, the socialist leader, who had a huge influence on Fernandes. He later joined the socialist trade union movement and fought for rights of labourers in small scale service industries. He was a member of the Bombay Municipal Corporation from 1961 to 1968.
In 1967, General Elections, Fernandes fought and won on the Samyukta Socialist Party ticket for the Bombay South constituency against seasoned Congress leader S. K. Patil.
1974 All India Railway strike
In 1974, as President of All India Railwaymen’s Federation, Fernandes led the strike bringing the country to a standstill. Unaddressed grievances for over two decades led to the protests where as many as 30,000 trade unionists were detained. While the strike was called off on 27th May 1974, it had sowed the seeds of insecurity in the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who later on went to impose nationwide Emergency in 1975.
Emergency and Baroda Dynamite Case
Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency on 25th June 1975, suspending all fundamental rights. Fernandes was amongst those who opposed the blatant misuse of power and a warrant was issued in his name. He later went underground to escape arrest and prosecution. His brother, Lawrence Fernandes was arrested and tortured by Police to find out George’s whereabouts.
In July 1975, George Fernandes arrived in Vadodara (then Baroda), where he met journalists who were opposing the Emergency. Viren Shah, an industrialist, helped them procure dynamite which was supposed to be used to blow up government toilets and cause explosions near the venue of public meetings held by Indira Gandhi, without killing or harming anyone. A plan was hatched to blow up a dias days before Indira Gandhi was to address a meeting in Varanasi. This got to be known as the Baroda Dynamite Case.
George Fernandes’ iconic image from Emergency days
The CBI charged Fernandes and others of smuggling dynamite and blowing up government establishments. They were also charged with waging a war against the state to overthrow the government. They were arrested in June 1976 and kept in Tihar jail, Delhi.
Fernandes was one of the few leaders who resisted the Emergency and did not ally with the Gandhis and Congress after the Emergency was lifted, unlike Lalu Yadav and others.
1977 elections
After the Emergency was lifted in 1977, elections were held on 21st March 1977 where the Janata Party defeated Indira Gandhi. Fernandes had fought and won from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, by over 3 lakh votes while he was lodged in jail under the trial in Baroda Dynamite Case. The case against him was eventually withdrawn by the Janata Party. He was also made the Union Minister for Industries.
Defence Minister
Fernandes was the Defence Minister during the 1998-2004 NDA government and it was during his tenure that the Kargil War broke out between India and Pakistan in 1999. He was also the Defence Minister when India conducted the nuclear tests at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan in 1998. While he earlier opposed nuclear disarmament, he endorsed the NDA government’s decision to test nuclear bombs.
2002 Gujarat riots
As a Defence Minister when the riots broke out in Gujarat after a train returning from Ayodhya was set on fire, Fernandes was in Ahmedabad on 1st March 2002 at 1 am, a day after the riots broke out, overseeing the arrangements. However, a lot of misinformation regarding the same has been spread. In his book ‘The Sarkari Musalman’, Lt. General (Retd.) Zameeruddin Shah, who is also actor Naseeruddin Shah‘s brother, had lied about army deployment in wake of 2002 riots.
Abusive troll and delusional journalist Swati Chaturvedi was also caught lying about an imaginary interview of Fernandes which never took place. Chaturvedi had claimed that an “angry and agitated” George Fernandes had told her (presumably in an interview) that he felt like sending tanks to Gujarat in 2002. The claim suggested that George Fernandes believed that Narendra Modi was not taking enough steps to control the riots and that he felt helpless as a cabinet minister – an indictment of both the state government led by Narendra Modi as well as the central government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
However, Samata Party’s Jaya Jaitly had later clarified that Fernandes was never angry or upset with Narendra Modi and thus the interview Chaturvedi talked about was probably made up and he never talked to her.
Coffin scandal
In 2002, Fernandes was accused of purchasing 500 poor quality aluminium caskets from the United States at 13 times the price to transport the bodies of slain Kargil soldiers. The Supreme Court eventually dismissed the investigation saying that there was no scam. The CBI found no evidence of any wrongdoing. The Comptroller and Auditor General, in a report, had alleged that ministers including Defence Minister Fernandes and others filled their pockets by making purchases at exorbitant rates in the name of slain soldiers. Congress milked the ‘scam’ which never was which came up with the ‘kafan chor’ call. A controversy which had stemmed from a clerical error eventually played a pivotal role in the BJP and NDA losing 2004 General Elections.
Today morning, George Fernandes breathed his last following a prolonged illness. Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and had recently even contacted swine flu. With him, India has lost one of the loudest voices for the poor and marginalised.
On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit yet another political low after he sought votes for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the name of children asking parents to chose between their children or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the reports, Delhi CM Kejriwal while addressing school students and parents in Delhi asked parents to chose between their love for children or PM Modi saying that they should vote for the party which had built schools for their children. Shockingly, Arvind Kejriwal chose to drag school children into politics to urge people to not to vote for BJP.
“If you love your children, vote for those who are working for your children and if you don’t love your children, then go and vote for Modiji. Modiji has not built even a single classroom or a school. You have to choose between love for nation or love for Modi,” Kejriwal added
Addressing children and parents at the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya at New Friends Colony, Kejriwal asked the students present at the event to thank their parents for voting the AAP to power in the Delhi Assembly elections. He further requested the parents to vote AAP to power in all seven seats and claimed that BJP which had won all the seven seats in the last Lok Sabha elections stalled Delhi government’s work.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia repeating Kejriwal’s statements said, “Someone told me that they will vote for Modi in the election, because ‘Woh achhe lagte hain, I told them that if you love your children, vote for those who are building schools for them. So I’m telling all parents, and asking all children here to go home and ask their parents whether they love you or not. If they say that they love you, tell them to vote for those who are building schools for us.”
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari reacting sharply to Arvind Kejriwal’s desperation to use children to garner votes, called Kejriwal a “habitual liar and said that the Chief Minister was stooping to “low levels and blame game” to shield his own failures.
Vijender Gupta, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly also slammed Kejriwal for using a school event to run his election campaign.
कुछ तो शर्म करो केजरीवाल,
स्कूली बच्चों से वोट माँगकर उन्हें तो भ्रमित मत करो।
अपनी घटिया राजनीति का छोटे-छोटे स्कूली बच्चों को तो शिकार मत बनाओ !
On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had declared his verdict on the patriotism of people who support PM Modi. Posting a tweet, Kejriwal had claimed that people who support PM Modi cannot be patriots and patriots can never be supporters of PM Modi.
During a recent event, Kejriwal had announced that he will go to any extent to defeat PM Modi and Amit Shah. Arvind Kejriwal indulging in appeasement politics had announced a salary hike for Imams of Delhi mosques, from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000. The salary of the helpers would be increased from Rs 9,000 per month to Rs 16,000 per month.
Days after Chaitra Teresa John, the DCP, Law and Order in Kerala police was hounded by the states CPIM government for raiding a party office in Thiruvananthapuram, she has been given a clean chit in the report filed by ADGP Manoj Abraham.
According to reports, the inquiry report filed by ADGP Abraham states that Chaitra’s actions were not illegal.
#NewsAlert – Days after the removal of DCP Chaitra Teresa John, ADG Manoj Abraham who was probing her actions, submitted a report to Kerala DGP Loknath Behera giving John a clean-chit. @PradeepPillai with detailed inputs. pic.twitter.com/sYqRIwQsDM
The inquiry report filed by ADGP Abraham to DGP Loknath Behera reportedly states that no action is needed against the woman officer. The inquiry report mentions that DCP Chaitra had followed all required protocols before conducting the operation.
Chaitra Teresa John had a temporary charge as DCP, Law and Order when she had raided the CPIM district committee office to arrest the DYFI workers who had pelted stones at the Medical College police station the previous night.
DCP Chaitra John in her search report submitted to the magistrate has stated that she had credible information, including evidence from a culprit’s phone conversation that the DYFI workers were inside the district committee office.
Chaitra had raided the CPIM district committee office on the night of 24 January to arrest the accused DYFI workers. The nine workers had attacked and pelted stones at the Medical College police station after they were not allowed to meet to other DYFI workers who were booked under the POCSO Act.
Chaitra’s action had invited the wrath of the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan himself. Vijayan’s office had ordered the immediate removal of Chaitra from her post and she was sent back to her original post at the women’s cell.
Anavoor Ngappan, the district secretary of the CPIM had gone ahead to state that the raid was a conspiracy to defame the government during the assembly session and Chaitra had done it to get media attention.
The government’s seemingly vindictive action on a police officer had attracted much criticism from the political opposition as well as media and the public. Replying to the questions by the opposition leaders in the assembly, CM Vijayan had stated that his government would not approve of any action intended to undermine the independent functioning of the political parties.
As per a report, Chaitra has been in the government’s crosshairs after she took a strong stand against eight state government employees belonging to a left union who had vandalised an SBI branch during the strikes on January 9th.
In a massive development in the ever-burning Ram Janmabhoomi issue, the Modi government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to release the excess land around Ram Janmabhoomi.
According to sources, except the approximate 0.313-acre land which is ‘disputed’, the remaining 67-acre land which was acquired can be returned to the owners and it is the 67-acre land or so that the Modi government has sought to acquire through the petition.
Centre moves Supreme Court seeking permission for release of excess vacant land acquired around Ayodhya disputed site and be handed over to Ramjanambhoomi Nyas. Centre seeks direction to release 67 acres acquired land out of which 0.313 acres is disputed land. pic.twitter.com/1rAho51bUJ
The Modi government has said in its petition that Ram Janambhumi Nyas sought the return of excess land acquired in 1991 to original owners. The petition said that the Supreme Court in Ismail Faruqui judgment had the said government could consider returning 67-odd acres of acquired land surrounding the ‘disputed’ land after Allahabad High Court judgment on civil suits.
Recently, Prime Minister Modi, in an interview to Smita Prakash of ANI had made his intent to build the Ram Mandir clear by asserting that a move to bring in an ordinance would happen only after the Supreme Court takes its decision, hinting, that if the decision is adverse, the Modi government is probably going to overturn the verdict.
However, the Supreme Court has been more than slow in hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi case. Recently, the January 29th hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi matter was delayed further because of the non-availability of Justice S A Bobde.
This is the second the time hearing in the long-delayed case has been postponed in this month. On January 8, CJI Ranjan Gogoi had formed the 5-judge bench for the case which included Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, UU Lalit and D Y Chandrachud apart from the CJI. But when the hearing started before the bench on January 10, Justice UU Lalit recused himself from the case. He had done so because advocate Rajiv Dhawan, who represents the Muslim side in the case, pointed it out that Justice Lalit had represented former UP CM Kalyan Singh, in contempt of court case twenty-four years ago. Although that case was not directly linked to the Ayodhya case, Justice Lalit had decided to recuse himself. Therefore, the hearing was adjourned till January 29.
In the meanwhile, Justice N V Ramana had also withdrawn from the case citing personal reasons. Ahead of the scheduled hearing, the CJI had reconstituted the bench on 25th, including Justices Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer in the bench to fill the two vacancies.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury while addressing a joint rally of the CEI and the CPI in Ludhiana said that his party will not accept Mamata Banerjee as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandan, reports Amar Ujala. Yechury said who will be the Prime Minister will be decided after the elections.
Although CPI(M) and TMC are part of the Mahagathbandan out of compulsion to prevent BJP coming back to power, they are bitter enemies in the state of West Bengal. In 2011, Mamata Banerjee had grabbed power in the state, ending the 34-year long rule of CPI(M) government in the state. Therefore, the communists can’t back Mamata Banerjee as the alliance candidate for the post of Prime Minister, even though none of the CPI(M) leaders is eyeing the post themselves like leaders of other parties in the grand alliance.
The proposed Mahagathbandhan, a bunch of leaders with personal ambitions, is finding it difficult to agree on the name of its Prime Ministerial candidate. While some leaders want this decision to be made after the elections, there are others who have already proposed some names with some proposing their own names.
Last year DMK President M K Stalin had endorsed the name of Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the PM candidate. Even Rahul Gandhi himself had expressed the desire to be the PM candidate if other opposition parties agree to it. Raising serious objections on the name of Rahul Gandhi as the PM candidate, the Trinamool Congress had said that the decision will be taken after the 2019 General election results are out. However, Mamata Banerjee has not shied away from expressing her own intentions to be the PM candidate.
Next in the line to reject Rahul Gandhi’s name was NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who had also expressed ‘happiness’ over Rahul Gandhi not being in the race for the post of Prime Minister. Joining the cacophony was the Bahujan Samaj Party which, while projecting its supremo Mayawati as the PM candidate, came out with a unique reason to oppose the candidature of Rahul Gandhi for PM’s post. The Party said that Rahul Gandhi cannot be the Prime Minister as his mother is of foreign origin.
Recently Samajwadi Party was seen putting up posters of Akhilesh Yadav as the PM candidate in Lucknow. The posters read, “We trust in Akhilesh- The country needs a new PM”. The latest joining the band of aspirants is former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha who when asked about who in his view was the closest person to have the abilities to be the PM, said that the closest was him.
The race for the PM candidate does not seem to end and is rather being joined by a new aspirant with each passing day.
Minister of Information of Pakistan Fawad Chaudhary has said that Pakistan will resume talks with India only after the results of 2019 General elections are out as it is “useless” to talk to the current government, reports Gulf News.
“It is useless to talk to them (India) now unless there is some stability. We will move forward once the new government is formed after the elections. We have delayed our efforts to hold talks with India because we do not expect any big decision from the present Indian leadership,” Chaudhary said.
When asked about which Indian leader would suit Pakistan when it comes to peace talks, the Minister refused to take any name and said that it does not matter for Pakistan. “We will respect any Indian leader and the party elected by the Indian people. And, we would like to move forward to hold dialogue with whosoever comes into power in India,” the Minister added.
The Minister said that it is not suitable to hold talks right now as there is no stability in Indian politics due to upcoming General elections.
Similar remarks were made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan last year when he said that Pakistan will resume peace talks with India after 2019 General elections as there is currently an “anti-Pakistan rhetoric” in India. These remarks coming from Pakistan are being viewed as an expectation from the other side of the border of a change of government in India.
The mutual appreciation of the Congress Party and Pakistan is an open secret now. Congress President Rahul Gandhi has already received support from the neighbouring country. Congress has also responded to the affection it often receives from Pakistan. Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had even blamed India for stopping dialogue between the two countries. Congress was also seen promoting a “Modi hatao desh bachao” advertisement in Pakistan.
In the hustle and bustle of the day, it is only natural to miss some of the biggest developments that impact the nation. The OpIndia Evening Dispatch will catch you up on the day’s event even if you have been busy thus far.
Here is what made it to news today:
1. Schoolchildren attacked with swords during R-Day celebrations in MP, Imtiyaz and Zakir among others booked
School children were attacked and violence has been reported from the Khujner town in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district. According to reports, during the Republic Day celebrations, one group of people were opposed to the songs being played during the festivities.
As per reports, one group of people have alleged that the other group had objected to the patriotic songs being played and started anti-national sloganeering. While the other group has stated that the violence was started due to a minor dispute. Eye witness accounts allegedly state that the first group had started anti-national slogans and had attacked the schoolchildren which created a stampede-like situation in the venue.
2. Fact-check: The Print and The Telegraph spread dangerous lies about Polio vaccine in India
Twitter user exposes the lies of The Print and The Telegraph regarding polio vaccine. They have claimed that India is facing shortage of polio vaccine due to lack of fund, and it is seeking funds from GAVI for purchasing the vaccine. Both of which are false claims.
3. Congress supports ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’, invites sedition accused Kanhaiya Kumar for an event remembering Mahatma Gandhi
As reported by Times Now, for an event ‘Remembering Mahatma Gandhi’ on his death anniversary, the minority department of Congress has extended an invitation to Kanhaiya Kumar as a speaker. Congress is reportedly of the firm view that charge-sheet has been dismissed by the Delhi court and has not accepted the charge-sheet ‘owing to loopholes’. Since there are no substantive charges against Kanhaiya Kumar he has been invited to the event.
4. Bharat Ratna: Mallikarjun Kharge booked for his remarks on Bhupen Hazarika which hurt sentiments of Assamese people
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge is in a soup for slamming the government for not conferring the Bharat Ratna on the spiritual leader Shivakumar Swami, who passed away recently and instead ‘choosing a singer’ Bhupen Hazarika and ‘man who propagated RSS ideology’ Nanaji Deshmukh for the honour. Raju Mahanta, an RTI activist, has filed a complaint alleging that Kharge has hurt the sentiments of Assamese people. A case has been filed at Morigaon Police Station.
Mahanta felt that the comments passed by Kharge were objectionable and he should apologise for the same.
5. PM Modi and Nitish Kumar to kickstart 2019 campaign in Bihar with March 3 mega rally
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will jointly address a public rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to kickstart the election campaign for General elections in the state. In what is said to be a “mother of rallies”, will also witness the presence of other NDA partners like Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
According to reports, the date of March 3 has been chosen mutually by NDA partners, because the announcement of election dates will also happen concurrently.
6. ED seizes property worth Rs 238 crores of TMC MP in connection with a ponzi scheme case
As per reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized TMC MP KD Singh’s property worth Rs. 238 crores in connection with a Ponzi scheme case. The properties include a resort in Kufri and a showroom in Chandigarh apart from properties in Haryana as well.
The ED’s probe is connected to a case it had filed in September 2016, against Singh’s firm Ms Alchemist Infra Realty Limited under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after taking cognizance of a charge sheet filed by SEBI against the company, its directors and others.
7. I am ready to step down, they (Congress MLAs) are crossing the line: Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy
The Congress-JD(S) unholy alliance in Karnataka seems to be on the verge of a break up as Chief Minister Kumaraswamy today said that he is ready to step down since Congress MLAs consider only former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah as their chief minister.
Congress tried to pacify cry-baby Kumaraswamy by sending show cause notice to MLA who spoke against the CM.
8. Siddaramaiah outrages the modesty of Jameela who was questioning him, Congress leaders defend him
In a despicable instance of outraging a woman’s modesty, former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior leader the Congress party snatched at the dupatta of a woman, pulling it away from her body, in an attempt to intimidate her.
At the event in Mysuru, the woman in the video was trying to register a complaint with former CM Siddaramaiah regarding the absence of his son Yathindra, an MLA of Varuna constituency. The woman complained that she was unable to reach Yathindra which angered Siddaramaiah. He reacted by getting aggressive and berating the woman suggesting that the complaint made it seem as if his son had committed a great crime.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has written to Karnataka DGP Neelmani Raju asking for an investigation into the incident.
9. Tulsi Gabbard, first Hindu to run for US president, slams media for maligning her for her religion
The presidential aspirant, Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat representative from Hawaii, who was the first Hindu to enter the US Congress in 2012 has claimed that she has been made a ‘victim of religious bigotry’ as some media outlets have targeted her over her Hindu name and accused her supporters, who have Hindu names, of being ‘Hindu nationalists’.
Gabbard in her op-ed written for a local publication, the Religious News Services, described the campaign against her and her supporters and donors as “profiling and targeting of Hindu Americans and ascribing to them motives without any basis”.
