After Savarkar, BJP may propose Bharat Ratna for Godse: D. Raja
Slamming the Maharashtra BJP for mooting Bharat Ratna award for V.D. Savarkar, Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja said the ruling party may even propose the honour for Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse.
The election manifesto of Maharashtra BJP, released on October 15 said the party will ask the NDA government at the Centre to confer India’s highest civilian award on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar.
“This is biggest irony of our times that while we are all celebrating the birth centenary of Gandhi ji , the BJP is seeking Bharat Ratna to Savarkar, who was an accused in his assassination case,” Mr. Raja told PTI in Mumbai.
“The day may not be far off for BJP to demand Bharat Ratna to Gandhi ji ’s assassin Nathuram Godse. This is part of their agenda,” the CPI leader said.
CPI is contesting 16 of the 288 seats in the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Mr. Raja said. “Our primary objective is to defeat the BJP and it alllies,” he added.
“We will support CPI(M) and other Opposition parties in other seats and ask people to vote against the BJP,” he said.
Mr. Raja said during the Maharashtra poll campaign, BJP president Amit Shah and other senior leaders of the ruling party are speaking on issues like abrogation of Article 370 but keeping mum on core issues like farmers’ distress, the PMC Bank scam and job losses.
Harsh measures will alienate people, delay restoration of normalcy in Kashmir: NC
The National Conference (NC) condemned the arrest of party president Farooq Abdullah’s sister and daughter during a protest in Srinagar, saying such measures would further alienate the people and delay restoration of normalcy in the valley.
It sought the immediate revocation of detention of political leaders and common citizens, including Mr. Abdullah’s kin.
The police on October 15 arrested half-a-dozen women activists during a march to protest the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories.
Mr. Abdullah’s sister Suraiya and his daughter Safiya, who were leading a group of women activists, were first detained and later arrested by the police.
The NC said such harsh measures would further alienate the people and delay restoration of normalcy in Kashmir, which was reeling under “fear psychosis and a sense of insecurity” among the people.
“Being kin of former Chief Ministers should not entail political victimisation, leading to curtailment of liberty and freedom of movement and speech,” senior NC leaders said in a joint statement, issued from party headquarters Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here.
The National Conference leaders expressed regret over the continued detention of political leaders and common citizens, saying the situation had touched the lowest depths and even the liberty of relatives of those in public life was under severe threat.
“The detention of Suraiya Mattoo and Safiya Abdullah Khan, respectively sister and daughter of Abdullah and the aunt and sister of Omar Abdullah, reflect the sad state of affairs the State is in for the past over 70 days,” the statement said.
Narayan Rane joins BJP, merges his party with
Narayan Rane
Ending days of speculation, Rajya Sabha member and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane on Tuesday formally entered the ruling the BJP while merging his party, the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha (MSP), with the saffron party.
Mr. Rane, along with his elder son, former MP and Congress member Nilesh Rane, and other party workers formally joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at an election rally for Mr. Rane’s younger son – Nitesh Rane, who is the BJP’s candidate for the Kankavli Assembly segment in Sindhudurg district in the Konkan.
Won’t allow Bharat to become ‘Hindu Rashtra’: Owaisi
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi addressing a public meeting in Kalaburagi on Thursday night.
Hitting out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his Hindu Rashtra remark, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has said Bharat is “not a Hindu Rashtra” and they will also not let it become so.
Addressing an election rally on Monday night in Kalyan town of Maharashtra’s Thane district for party candidate Aiaz Moulavi, Mr. Owaisi said a section of society wants to paint the entire country in one colour, but “we see Hindustan in multiple colours, it is the beauty of Hindustan“.
Alleging that the Shiv Sena was against the green colour, he said, “Change your spectacles and you will see the green colour in the national flag also.”
He said India is unique because of its secularism and pluralism. "There is no other country in the world as Bharat and we are proud of it."
“I want to tell those in the RSS that we are not living here on your sympathy. If you want to measure the index of my happiness or sorrow, you and we should see what the Constitution has given to us,” Mr. Owaisi said. - PTI
Congress spreading rumours over Article 370: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused Congress leaders of spreading rumours over Article 370 in India and the world.
While addressing a rally at Charkhi Dadri in poll-bound Haryana, Mr. Modi said the people of the state have decided to put their stamp on the clean and transparent administration of the BJP government and bring it back to power.
“People of Haryana have decided to bring BJP back to power,” Mr. Modi said.
Article 370 abrogation decisive battle for peace in Kashmir, says Amit Shah
Home Minister Amit Shah. File photo
The abrogation of Article 370 provisions is a “decisive battle” waged by the Narendra Modi government to end years of proxy war and terrorism from Pakistan and the step will bring ever-lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.
Attending the 35th Raising Day celebrations of the counter-terror force NSG as the chief guest in Gurgaon, Mr. Shah said the recent decision to repeal special provisions in J and K will help to “completely eradicate” the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism from the Kashmir Valley.
He said his government is firm on the policy of “zero tolerance” on terrorism and the National Security Guard (NSG) is an important instrument to achieve this goal.
“I believe that with the abrogation of Article 370 by PM Narendra Modi, we have initiated a decisive battle against years of proxy war and terror acts perpetrated by our neighbour (Pakistan) and this step will ensure ever-lasting peace in Kashmir and the region,” Mr. Shah said at the NSG garrison in Manesar.
NCP MLC, ex-MLA join BJP ahead of Maharashtra polls
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLC Ramrao Wadkute and former party MLA Bappu Pathare joined the BJP on Tuesday, ahead of the next week’s Maharashtra Assembly polls.
Wadkute, a prominent Dhangar (shepherd) community leader from Marathwada region, was appointed member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in June 2014 from the governor’s quota.
He submitted his resignation on Monday evening to Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar who immediately accepted it.
Pathare is a former MLA from Pune.
Both Wadkute and Pathare were inducted into the BJP in Mumbai on Tuesday in the presence of the party’s working president J.P. Nadda.
RSS must be banned, says Akal Takht chief priest
Giani Harpreet Singh, chief priest of the highest Sikh temporal seat – the Akal Takht – has said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be banned because the way it was working, it would divide the nation.
Mr. Singh was taking to journalists in Amritsar, where he said that the remarks made by RSS leaders were not in the interest of the country.
Adityanath takes a swipe at rebels within BJP
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Hitting out at rebels within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday warned disgruntled candidates that the BJP had no place for “opportunists” within party ranks.
“I want to tell those who are fighting polls against the party today not to indulge in such selfish politics,” Mr. Adityanath said at an election meeting in Lonavala while campaigning for sitting BJP MLA from Maval, Sanjay ‘Bala’ Bhegade.
Opposition tried to scuttle Rafale deal: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress and other opposition parties of making all-out efforts to ensure that the agreement for Rafale jet fighters was cancelled and did not want the new fighters to come to India.
Mr. Modi, who was addressing an election rally at Ballabgarh in Haryana’s Faridabad ahead of the Assembly polls, said, “...during the Lok Sabha election, they [Opposition parties] made their best attempts to ensure that the deal of Rafale plane gets cancelled... they didn’t want that new fighter plane should come to India, but I am happy that despite their attempts, the first fighter plane has been handed over to India.”
People can’t be fooled for long, says Rahul Gandhi
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the situation of unemployment in the country was going to worsen in the next six months due to the prevailing economic slowdown and the people could not be fooled for long.
Addressing an election rally at Marora village in Haryana, Mr. Gandhi said the youth were losing jobs due to the shutting down of industries and factories and the big industrialists in private had admitted to him that the economy was devastated. He said the truth would come out soon. The unemployment rate was the highest in the country over the past 40 years, said the senior Congress leader.
Modi-Shah rallies will have no impact in Satara, says Chavan
Claiming that the rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would have no impact on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) fortunes in the crucial Satara Lok Sabha by-election, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said the BJP’s candidate, Udayanraje Bhosale, would lose the bypoll by a margin of more than two lakh votes.
“Had I contested the Satara by-election, I would have won by a margin of more than two lakh votes, and I am confident that the current candidate — the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil — will defeat Mr. Bhosale by that same margin,” Mr. Chavan said.
(With inputs from our Correspondents and agencies)
Published - October 15, 2019 09:54 am IST
