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From Grooming Jihad to his Sanghi roots and CM prospects: Here is what metro man E Sreedharan said after deciding to join BJP

One of India’s greatest engineers E Sreedharan, fondly known as ‘Metro man’, is all set to join the BJP during the Rath Yatra in Kerala. Dr E Sreedharan, who is instrumental in envisioning and designing the country’s modern railway infrastructure, may also contest the upcoming Kerala assembly elections as a BJP candidate.

Nearly a day after expressing his wish to join the BJP, Sreedharan has also revealed interesting details about his past association with the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his yesteryears. Disclosing his decades-old association with RSS, Dr Sreedharan said that he is a Swayamsevak from his school days, and Sangh had laid all the foundational values in this life.

Speaking to NDTV, technocrat E Sreedharan said that he has lost faith in all other political parties and decided to join BJP due to its progressive outlook. The Padma Vibhushan awardee engineer also heaped praises on PM Modi and former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.

“I got great admiration for PM Modi personally but, that alone is not the thing. I have a good rapport with (Atal) Vajpayee, who was the previous prime minister. Very good rapport with him in fact, he only opened the first section of Delhi Metro.. and his conduct, the way he was behaving was very impressive to me,” said E Sreedharan, speaking to NDTV.

Love Jihad is real, Hindus are tricked in a marriage, says technocrat Sreedharan

One of the major highlights of Dr Sreedharan’s interview was his unequivocal opposition to the menace of “love jihad”. Love Jihad is the barbaric act often carried out by Muslims to forcefully convert the non-Hindus, especially Hindus, by trapping them through marriage because he had seen in Kerala that Hindu girls were tricked into marriage. 

Responding to NDTV’s question on the menace of “love jihad”, Dr Sreedharan said, “Love Jihad, yes, I see what is happened in Kerala. How Hindus are being tricked in a marriage and how they suffer… not only Hindus, Muslim, the Christian girls are being tricked in a marriage. Now that sort of a thing I certainly will oppose.”

His comments against ‘Grooming Jihad’ comes amidst the rising instance of religious conversion carried out by Muslims through ways of fraud, coercion or marriage.

‘BJP is party of nation lovers, I don’t like people eating beef’: Dr Sreedharan

Dr Sreedharan also spoke about the controversy surrounding beef in the state of Kerala. “Personally, I am a very, very strict vegetarian. I don’t even eat eggs, so, certainly, I don’t like anybody eating meat. That is certain…” he said, in response to a question on beef-eating in Kerala and the BJP’s campaign against cow meat.

The former chief of Delhi Metro also said that it was wrong to portray BJP as a communal party today in the country. Dr Sreedharan asserted that BJP was a party of nation lover and not a communal party.

“I have got such a long association with people in BJP – it is not a communal party at all. It is a party consisting of nation lovers and who accept that all parties, all communities are alike as far as they’re concerned. That is the attitude of the Modi government. I can see the way he speaks, I have never seen him at any time attacking any religion. This religious bias in an unnecessarily taunt on BJP and very unjust, according to me,” the former technocrat added.

The 88-year-old technocrat said that his aim was to bring the party into power in Kerala and added that he was open to the chief ministership. He also said the focus would be on developing infrastructure if the BJP emerges victorious in the assembly polls, likely to be held in April-May this year.

TIME hails Bhim Army chief, who called women wh*res and prostitutes, as a top 100 emerging leader

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TIME, on Wednesday, released 2021 TIME100 Next, an expansion of TIME’s flagship TIME100 franchise of the most influential people in the world. The list highlights 100 emerging leaders who, as per TIME, are shaping the future. Interestingly, the list mentions the name of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad.

Azad is mentioned with the likes the UK’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, Twitter’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta, doctor and Executive Director of non-profit GET US PPE Shikha Gupta and founder of non-profit Upsolve Rohan Pavuluri.

Speaking on the list, Editorial Director of TIME100 Dan Macsai said, “Everyone on the list is poised to make history. And, in fact, many already have”.

Azad spearheaded a campaign for justice in Hathras case, says his TIME profile

Chandrashekhar Azad’s TIME profile describes him as the leader of the Bhim Army, which runs schools to help Dalits escape poverty through education and also “practices a distinct brand of assertiveness, sweeping into villages on loud motorbikes to protect victims of caste-based violence and organising provocative demonstrations against discrimination”.

It further says Azad and Bhim Army also “spearheaded a campaign for justice” in Uttar Pradesh when the “investigation of the fatal gang-rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman, allegedly perpetrated by four dominant-caste men” was delayed by the police.

The profile mentions that Azad “also lent his support to several other progressive movements, including recently to farmers protesting against corporate agricultural reforms”. Describing his “aura”, his TIME profile mentions how “Aazad’s luxuriant moustache…is a form of resistance”.

How Bhim Army interfered with the investigation in Hathras Case

Azad’s Bhim Army was accused of interfering in the investigation of the Hathras case after three of their men were reportedly found living with the family of the victim claiming to be their relatives. As per reports, three persons of Bhim Army including a woman from Madhya Pradesh had lived with the victim’s family pretending to be their relatives. Azad alias ‘Ravan’ had reportedly met the victim on September 27, two days before she succumbed to her injuries and the matter was politicised.

The three Bhim Army workers were actively giving media statements and targeting the state government and the administration. The police grew suspicious after it was decided that police protection would be provided to each member of the victim’s family and the police started inquiring about the immediate family members. That’s when the Bhim Army workers reportedly slipped away silently.

When Chandrashekhar Azad’s abusive tweets went viral on Twitter

In June last year, a compilation of screenshots of Azad’s abusive tweets from the past had gone viral on Twitter. Most of the tweets dated back to 2018 wherein Azad used extremely derogatory and cheap Hindi slangs to insult women with a different ideological bent.

In almost all his tweets, the Bhim Army chief called all the women who supported Prime Minister Modi as “Dallas” (pimps) and “prostitutes” accusing them of selling their bodies to BJP leaders. The National Commission for Women had taken cognisance of Azad’s abusive tweets.

In the same month last year, Azad was also accused of donating blood at AIIMS-Delhi without informing the doctors about his alleged blood disease that made him unfit to donate blood. Neither Azad nor did his physician Dr. Harjit Singh Bhatti, who accompanied him to the AIIMS, reveal his medical condition before donating the blood. Later on, it was revealed that Azad was suffering from polycythemia vera, a blood disorder.

Last year, TIME had included the name of a 82-year-old anti-CAA protestor named Bilkis in its list of ‘100 Most Influential People of 2020’.

‘I don’t shake a**, I break bones’: Kangana Ranaut hits out at MP Congress leader for calling her ‘naachne-gaane wali’

Sukhdev Panse, former minister in the previous Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, made a sexist barb against actor Kangana Ranaut, calling her a ‘naachne gaane waali’. The video of the Congress leader making derisively misogynistic remarks against Kangana has been doing the rounds on the internet.

“Gambling and betting are openly going on unabated, but no police action is being taken against it. But, when our party workers protested peacefully against a naachne-gaane waali woman like Kangana Ranaut for her insulting remarks about our farmers, the police lathi-charged them,” Panse said at the Betul District Collectorate to register his complaint about recent police action on Congress workers protesting against Kangana Ranaut.

He also added, as a thinly veiled threat, that the police should not act as a puppet of Kangana as governments keep changing.

“The police should not act as a puppet of Kangana as governments keep changing. There should be a fair investigation of the police’s action against the Congress workers and no action should be taken against our party workers till the probe is complete,” Panse said.

Kangana Ranaut hits back at the Congress leader for his sexist remarks

Panse’s remarks did not sit well with the National Award winner actor, who was quick to respond to the sexist barbs. The actor mentioned three actors—Deepika, Katrina and Alia—to allege that she is the only one who dared to refuse to item numbers and turned down movies starring popular heroes.

Slamming the Congress leader, Kangana tweeted, “Whoever this fool is does he know I am no Deepika Katrina or Alia…. I am the only one who refused to do item numbers, refused to do big hero ( Khan /Kumar) films which made entire Bullywoodiya gang men +women against me. I am a Rajput woman I don’t shake ass I break bones.”

Congress workers lathi-charged for creating ruckus on the sets of Kangana’s upcoming movie

The comment from the Congress leader comes after party workers were baton-charged by the police for trying to halt the shoot of the actor’s upcoming spy thriller Dhaakad.

About 250 Congress workers launched a protest at Sarni, where Kangana was shooting for her upcoming movie. The workers wanted Kangana to apologise for her tweets against farmers.

In response, Kangana tweeted: “Police protection has been increased around me as Congress workers in MP held a protest to stop my shoot. Congress MLAs are saying they are protesting on behalf of farmers. Which farmer gave them such power of attorney? Why can’t they protest for themselves?”

Solar-Heated Military Tents- Innovator Sonam Wangchuk offers another innovation to help Indian Armed Forces in high altitude areas

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Over the years, acclimatisation and access to electricity to power tents at higher altitudes have been critical priorities for the Indian Armed Forces, especially in the Northern borders. The lack of access to electricity for years has forced them to turn to other heating solutions like burning diesel, kerosene or firewood. The over-reliance on tents and heating solutions through diesel or firewood has become a major logistics issue for the security establishment, which is now finding new ways to keep the Armed Forces warm and healthy at the higher altitudes.

To their assistance, Sonam Wangchuk – the innovator and engineer, has found yet another brilliant solution to the heating problems at such high altitude areas. After successfully experimenting with solar heated mud hut, Sonam Wangchuk has now come up with another solution that not only does not emit pollution but also provides efficient and warm accommodation to the security personnel deployed at greater heights such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and North-East region.

Taking to Twitter, Sonam Wangchuk, who was an inspiration for the character played by Aamir Khan in the movie Three Idiots, showcased his latest product ‘Solar Heated Military tent’ that are specifically designed for Indian Army personnel deployed at higher altitudes including areas such as Galwan Valley and Siachen Glacier.

Sharing the images of the newly built tents, Sonam Wangchuk said that the tents can keep the temperature steady at around 15 degree celsius even at low temperatures upto -14 degree C. The engineer-turned-innovator said that the new tents will replace tons of polluting kerosene used for heating up older tents in the forward areas along the borders.

In his tweet, Sonam Wangchuk said that one such solar-powered tent can accommodate 10 security personnel and it is fully portable that weighs less than 30 kilograms.

The new eco-friendly solution developed by Sonam Wangchuk is aligned with PM Modi’s vision for Atma Nirbhar Bharat. The new solar-powered tents are extremely efficient and is a perfect solution to address the accommodation issues in such harsh conditions.

It is heartening to see the country’s brilliant minds such as Sonam Wangchuk contributing to Prime Minister Modi’s vision for being a self-reliant country. In fact, the solar-powered tents are not the first such ‘clean energy’ initiatives of Wangchuk. Earlier, he had conceptualised the concept of Ice Stupas – a glacier grafting technique that creates artificial glaciers to store water in winters, to be used in summer.

Recently, he had also designed a pre-fabricated solar heated mud hut for the usage of the Indian Armed Forces at high altitudes. However, his most significant contribution to Ladakh has been the establishment of the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), an institution that has revolutionised the education system in the region.

‘Cow slaughter should be treated at par with murder’: Union Minister Pratap Sarangi writes to Odisha CM after accident of truck carrying cattle illegally

Following the incident of overturning of a truck illegally transporting cattle that resulted in the death of three men and many cattle in Odisha, Union Minister of state for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Pratap Chandra Sarangi urged the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to make the Orissa Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 more stringent.

On Thursday, a truck carrying around 100 cattle was heading towards West Bengal when it overturned on NH-60 near Balasore district. The accident caused the death of around 40 cattle, along with three men. The incident took place when the vehicle was moving towards West Bengal from Bhadrak. The truck hit an SUV on the highway and overturned near Basta bypass square in Jaleswar.

Illegal transporting of cattle rampant in Odisha: Sarangi

In his letter to the Odisha Chief Minister, Sarangi said that illegal transporting of cattle was rampant in the state and this pointed at the leniency in the law enforcement coupled with alleged tacit support from the agencies that are supposed to enforce the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act 1960 and the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Act,1960. “When I was in Kolkata this morning, I heard the news. I have spoken to the top officials in Odisha. I can without any doubts say the cattle were being taken to be slaughtered in abattoirs of Kolkata and Bangladesh”, the Union Minister said.

Punishment under the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act be made at par with murder: Sarangi

The Union Minister demanded that cow slaughter should be treated at par with the offence of murder of a human. He said that the punishment under the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act to be made as stringent as that in case of murder. “This Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 was one of the pioneering legislation in the country under the leadership of late Biju Patnaik. It’s time to make punishment under it more stringent at par with murder”, he wrote in his letter. He demanded that the incident should be investigated and the accused should be given the strictest punishment. “I call upon you to have the said incident investigated and exemplary punishment meted out to the accused”, he added.

Earlier this month, the Odisha police had reportedly rescued 12 cattle from Pathan Mahala under Old Bazar police limits in Bhadrak district while they were being smuggled in a postal parcel container.

Allah knew in 2011 that COVID will come in 2020, that is why graveyards were made before that: Watch bizarre viral video of Dr Jitendra Awhad

Social Media websites are awash with an undated video of Maharashtra Cabinet Minister for Housing Dr Jitendra Awhad in which he is seen declaiming that Allah was prescient to know in 2011 itself that the menace of coronavirus was going to hit the world in 2020 and therefore they (government) had built a graveyard in time.

Speaking at an event, Awhad could be seen gloating that his government had already predicted in 2011 that the scourge of COVID-19 would hit the country in 2020 and had therefore authorised the construction of a graveyard in the region, presumably to accommodate those who would die of the coronavirus.

“Allah knew in 2011 itself that the world would be hit by the deadly coronavirus in 2020 and therefore we had built the graveyard in time,” Awhad could be heard saying to rapturous applause.

It is unclear as to when Dr Jitendra Awhad made the remarks but from the video, it appears that the video is from the recent past and is from an opening ceremony of an NCP office under the jurisdiction of a local corporator Farzana Shakir Sheikh.

Dr Jitendra Awhad tested positive for coronavirus

While Maha Vikas Aghadi minister bragged that Allah knew about the coronavirus outbreak back in 2011 itself, the Minister for Housing also could not elude the wrath of the contagion. Back in April 2020, Awhad was tested positive for the virus and had admitted himself to a private hospital in Thane for a precautionary check-up. Earlier, Awhad was under home quarantine along with 15 members of his family for a week after reports had emerged that some of his security staff tested were positive for the novel coronavirus.

West Bengal: Police arrest one Mohammad Hanif for rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, was living as Ram Kumar for 12 years

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Days after a 9-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Jorabagan in North Kolkata, the police have arrested an accused named Mohammed Hanif. And now it has emerged that he has been living under a Hindu alias for 12 long years, reported The Times of India.

As per reports, the minor girl had accompanied her elder sister from her home in Sovabazar to her maternal uncle’s house on February 3. However, after 5 minutes of her arrival, the victim went outdoors to play with her friends. According to the police, the girl went into another building to play hide and seek. It was then that the accused, who worked as a security guard, lured the victim by offering chips and biriyani.

Lack of background check helped Hanif get the job, says police

The post-mortem report revealed that the girl was murdered between 9 pm and 2 am, although police believe that the incident took place between midnight and 2 am. During the probe, the police nabbed the accused Ram Kumar alias Lombu, and found that it is not his real name and he has been living with a false identity for the past 12 years. It was revealed that his real name is Mohammed Hanif, and he joined the security guard job under the pseudonym of Ram Kumar. He had reportedly made forged documents to substantiate his claims.

When the police did a background check and visited the addresses that he had shared, it was found that the accused was a resident of Deoghar and not Samastipur or Giridih. A police official informed, “Our teams that had visited Jharkhand and Bihar have returned to Kolkata with details of his past and have now decided to question him again. We are waiting for some more details from Deoghar police about his past.”

Forgery charges to be pressed against accused

The cops are now investigating the background details of another accused named Ranvir Tanti aka Raghuvir. He works as a marble cutting technician. According to Joint CP (crime branch) Murlidhar Sharma, Hanif was able to land the job of the security guard due to a lack of preliminary background check. Another police official informed that charges for forgery may be pressed in the chargesheet and that they are investigating whether the crime was planned in advance.

Furniture giant IKEA to invest Rs 5,500 crore in Uttar Pradesh to build its first shopping mall in India, CM Yogi Adityanath welcomes the investment

Ingka Centres, a subsidiary of the Ingka Group that includes IKEA Retail, has decided to invest Rs 5,500 crore for a shopping mall spread across a 48,000 square metre plot in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

According to the reports, the Swedish furniture giant IKEA is all set to open its first retail outlet in Uttar Pradesh. IKEA also said that it was setting up its first shopping centre in India with Rs.5,500 crore investment. It will be the third IKEA outlet in the country, and the first shopping mall in India built by the company, which will have an IKEA store as the anchor store. The existing two outlets, at Hyderabad and Mumbai, as IKEA stores.

IKEA will be building its shopping centre in the next two to three years, reports said. A 48,000-square-metre plot has been acquired in Noida for the project, the company confirmed on Friday. The Noida Authority has already transferred the land located in Sector 51 to IKEA. The authority has received Rs 850 crore from IKEA.

Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said that the IKEA shopping centre will bring in investments to the tune of Rs 5,500 crore and generate employment opportunities for more than 2,000 people. She informed that the entire project will be completed in seven years.

The IKEA group also said that it was unveiling its ‘Meeting Places’ concept, providing a sustainable mixed-use destination that would bring ‘many people’ together for multiple reasons. “Delhi-NCR is one of the most important markets in India and we are happy to announce the first store here,” IKEA India CEO Peter Betzel said in a statement.

The proposed mall in Noida will add to Ingka Centres’ growing list of shopping malls across the world, and will be one of the largest. The company already has 45 shopping centres across Europe, Russia and China. It plans to enter the United States later this year. The shopping centres are separate from the standalone IKEA stores that the company operates across the world.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath welcomes IKEA, says it will prove to be a decisive factor

The announcement was made by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who took to Twitter to congratulate the company and the Noida authorities.

“Heartfelt congratulations to Noida Authority and IKEA for this MoU. I am confident that IKEA’s decision to invest in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, will prove to be a decisive factor in their own investment growth manifold. My best wishes,” the UP Chief Minister said.

Continuing, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “IKEA will build shopping malls, hotels, offices, retail outlets etc., in the Noida area for the common man. With the creation of many jobs in the region, it will prove to be helpful in making ‘Ease of Living’ perfect.”

The CM emphasized that Uttar Pradesh has become a centre of attraction for national and international investors due to its investment-friendly, transparent and systematic policies. The MoU was signed virtually at the CM Yogi Adityanath’s residence in state capital Lucknow.

Along with the shopping centre that will be spread over two multi-storied buildings housing retail, offices and hospitality facilities, Ingka will also build an overhead walkway for the interchange between Noida metro’s Aqua Line and Delhi metro’s Blue Line as part of the deal. The plot is situated between the metro stations of the two corridors, and the interchange will pass through it. The company will also develop a rotary to facilitate traffic movement near the intersection of Vishwakarma Marg and Captain Shashi Kant Marg as well as green belts and a parking lot.

Though the original deal between INGKA Centres and Noida Authority was for 47,834 square metres of land, later the government asked the company to buy an additional 1,902 sqm of land adjacent to the plot, as it would be difficult to provide wide access for this smaller plot. In return, the Noida Authority agreed to offer a plot of land measuring 3,310 sqm for developing “social and support infrastructure”, that will serve both the IKEA centre and Noida residents.

Arvind Kejriwal asks Gujaratis to give AAP a chance in local body polls, Gujaratis give a befitting reply

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Supremo on Saturday appealed to Gujaratis via Twitter to give the party a chance in the local body polls scheduled for Sunday, February 21.

In a tweet, he said, ‘give one chance to AAP, then see how we change Gujarat’. However, Gujarati netizens were not too impressed.

Twitter user Sachin Patel said that in the greed of freebies, he will not let the country be ruined. His vote will be for the BJP as he will vote for the progress of the nation and for better utilisation of the taxes he pays. “My vote for the devotees of Lord Ram,” he tweeted.

Another Twitter user Dipak Trivedi said that Gujaratis don’t want a government that gives freebies but a government that gives employment opportunities. “Delhi people are regretting electing Kejriwal, Gujaratis will not give you such a chance,” he said.

Another Twitter user said that he does not want to turn Gujarat into yet another hotbed of protests the way Delhi has become. “We don’t want to invite fake aandolanjeevis to Gujarat,” he said.

Some Twitter users did not even consider it was worth giving importance to his appeal.

One Twitter user asked him to keep on moving.

Others were just not happy even with the appeal.

One Twitter user said that he would’ve thought of giving a chance earlier. But after seeing how Delhi has changed in past few years, he will not.

Shiv Sena inducts out-on-bail convicted murderers Rahatmulla Khan, Indin Shaikh and Anawar Shaikh into the party: Read details

In a shocking decision that could stoke major controversy, three people convicted for the murder of senior RPI leader Naresh Gaikwad have been inducted into Shiv Sena by senior party leaders on Tuesday.

According to the reports, the three convicts – Rahatmulla Khan alias Papa Khan, Indin Shaikh and Anawar Shaikh have joined Shiv Sena in the presence of party leader MLA Balaji Kinikar and Thane rural president Gopal Landge. All the three accused are currently on parole due to COVID-19. The three convicts have joined the party ahead of Ambernath municipal council election.

Naresh Gaikwad, the Dalit leader from Thane District, was killed in 2000 by six people, including the three Muslim youths who have now joined Shiv Sena. All six accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Dalit leader’s murder case.

Son of the Dalit leader express shock

Naresh Gaikwad’s son Kabir Gaikwad, who is associated with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has expressed his shock over Shiv Sena’s decision to induct three murder convicts into their fold. “I am shocked with Shiv Sena’s decision of allowing the convicts, who killed my father, to join the party,” Gaikwad said.

The deceased leader’s son, expressing disbelief, said that he hoped CM Uddhav Thackeray would ask his party to expel these goons from the Shiv Sena. He also appealed to jail authorities to cancel the parole of the convicts.

A senior Shiv Sena leader from the city, speaking to the Times of India, said the party might lose Dalit votes in the civic election, and added that party senior leaders should think about their decision.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA Balaji Kinikar said to allow these convicts to join the party was the decision of his senior leaders.