The Citizenship Amendment Bill set to be tabled today aims to give citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring Islamic nations of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. While BJP has shown full faith and commitment to the bill, the ‘secular’ parties have been troubled with it simply because it aims to give citizenship to persecuted minorities of Islamic nations, therefore, doesn’t include Muslims. Shiv Sena, having recently turned ‘secular’ has certain issues with the bill as well.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut took to Twitter today to say that illegal intruders should be thrown out and immigrant Hindus should be given citizenship but they should not have voting rights since that would benefit BJP electorally.
Illegal Intruders should be thrown out . immigrant Hindus must be given citizenship,but @AmitShah let’s give rest to allegations of creating vote bank & not give them voting rights,what say ? And yes what about pandits,have they gone back to kashmir after article 370 was removed
He asserted that there have been ‘allegations’ that BJP is giving citizenship to persecuted Hindus to “create vote bank” and to allay these fears, persecuted Hindus from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who seek citizenship of India must not be giving voting rights.
Further, in another insensitive remark, tagging Amit Shah, Sanjay Raut asks if the Kashmiri Pandits have gone back to Kashmir after the removal of Article 370.
This is essentially a hairbrained idea by Sanjay Raut since any Citizen of any country has voting rights. In fact, voting rights is one of the main pillars of citizenship for any individual and is a basic right that comes along with the citizenship of a nation.
While there were reports that Shiv Sena might defy the Congress High Command and support the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the parliament, this tweet by Sanjay Raut show how hollow their ideology is and how hollow their concern for Hindus is.
While Hindus in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are facing the worst sort of persecution, it is unfortunate that the main focus on an erstwhile Hindutva party would be that of BJP accruing electoral benefit rather than giving persecuted Hindus full citizenship of India with honour.
The opposition to CAB has come in many bizarre forms. The most prevalent argument against CAB is that it is anti-Muslim because it doesn’t give citizenship to ‘persecuted Muslims’ from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. What this argument fails to take into consideration is that the bill aims to give citizenship to persecuted minorities of that nation and thus includes Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians. Muslims are not a persecuted “minority” in Islamic nations and hence, it does not make sense to give them citizenship under a bill that aims to protect minorities of Islamic nations.
The counting of votes for the 15 assembly constituencies that went for by-polls in Karnataka are going on and the ruling BJP has won 7 of the 15 seats. Congress has won 2. The BJP, which needed 6 seats to retain the majority, has now attainted it.
As BJP workers and leaders are seen celebrating, Congress leader DK Shivakumar has declared that his party accepts defeat. BJP is leading in another 5 seats and is expected to win 12 seats in total. JDS has scored nil.
It is notable that the 17 MLAs who were earlier disqualified by the former speaker KR Ramesh Kumar in July, were allowed by the Supreme Court to contest in the by-polls. Bypolls were conducted for 15 assembly constituencies as the 2018 election results of 2 seats are being challenged in the Karnataka HC and the verdict is awaited.
The apex court had held the disqualification order but had disagreed on the duration of disqualification and had held that the MLAs will face re-election. The 15 assemblies went into by-polls on December 5.
All MLAs were from Congress and JDS who had later decided to support the BJP. The 15 MLAs were all given BJP tickets.
To retain power in the state, BJP needs to win at least 6 seats out of the 15. Following the disqualification, the strength of the assembly was reduced to 208, where BJP holds the simple majority of 105. It has the support of independent MLA H Nagesh.
The BJP candidates are leading from the Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennurm Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur and the Mahalakshmi Layout seats. Congress is leading in Hunasuru and Shivajinagar constituencies while the JDS is leading in Yeshvanthpura and Krishnarajpete seats. The independent candidate Sharath Kumar Bachegowda is leading from the Hosakote seat.
The Congress and JDS together now hold 101 seats, they will need to win at least 12 seats to get the majority numbers. BS Yediyurappa’s four-month-old government has stated that they are confident of winning the majority.
Karti Chidambaram is a bully. He sends threats via direct messages (DM) on Twitter to those who question the father-son duo on their alleged involvement in INX Media scam. Former State Secretary, ABVP, Prakash Belwade-Patil had tweeted to former Union Minister P Chidambaram and took a dig at the latter restarting his column in a leading newspaper.
Write article about- “How you made money and skilled your son also”
This trick may help others. @supriya_sule Tai also taught us how to make money from Baingan cultivation in 10 acres land.
— Prakash Belwade-Patil प्रकाश बेलवाडे-पाटील (@PrakashBelwade) December 8, 2019
To that, Belwade-Patil replied saying how he should write a book on how he ‘made money’ and ‘skilled his son’ also.
Karti Chidambaram’s threatening message to Belwade-Patil
Speaking to OpIndia, Belwade-Patil said that Karti sent the above message to him after his tweet to his father P Chidambaram.
However, this is not the firs time Karti has resorted to sending abusive and threatening messages to those who disagree with him. Twitter user Madhav had shared screenshots of his DMs where Karti had threatened him in 2016 and said, “I will get you one day. Mark my words.”
@KartiPC had threatened me in DM , It’s my duty to ensure such specimens don’t enter our temple of democracy ( parlianent). He will be defeated in the polls. @HRajaBJPpic.twitter.com/rc0rtnyguP
Mr. Karti PC chose to threaten through DM (Below) instead of responding directly to this tweet or tweets of past. Can not SILENCE our VOICE pic.twitter.com/gxjjZ6ZXVp
His habit of sending threatening DMs to netizens have also made him into some sort of a joke.
Karti Chidambaram. . the one who send a DM to ordinary person like me once when I countered a tweet of his GREAT father, in utter frustration.. asking me : do you need a dictionary? ? https://t.co/JvwhaXGFag
Very nice PM @narendramodi@PChidambaram_IN is a Recounting Minister and Oh now if I say anything against P Chidambaram Son Karti Chidambaram will come in DM and threaten .I am Prathosh all this wont work with Me .God Krishna there try messing Brahmaasthra on all sides waiting. https://t.co/cM26nHi7VO
Likewise I support BJP and Narendra Modiji, what does it mean when I tweet against Karti Chidambaram in INX – Media case and immediately get a DM from Karti himself asking to visit a psychiatrist? Bolo?
Tell me abt this too! ?
Karti Chidambaram is Congress MP From Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu and son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. He is currently facing investigation in a number of cases including money laundering and having undisclosed foreign assets. He has been charged in cases like INX Media case and Aircel Maxis case and is facing probe from the central agencies. His father P Chidambaram has also been facing an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Aircel Maxis case. He was recently released on bail after having spent 106 days in Tihar jail.
Four fire tenders rushed to the spot after another fire broke out in the same building in Anaj Mandi in New Delhi where the fire incident yesterday claimed lives of 43 people surfaced.
Plumes of smoke could be seen coming out of the building following which people from neighbouring building called up fire tenders to douse the fire. Since the building was vacated, there has been no loss of life in this fire.
Forty-three people were killed when a fire broke out at a luggage manufacturing factory on an early morning in Anaj Mandi area of Delhi on Sunday. Now, an FIR has been registered in connection with the fire incident and the case has been transferred to the crime branch for further investigation.
The factor owner Mohammed Rehan has now been detained by the Police. Earlier, it was reported that he was absconding. Over 50 people were inside the building when the fire broke out today morning. 15 fire tenders were sent to the spot after receiving information about the fire, but later 10-12 more fire tenders had to be sent due to the intensity of the fire. Now the fire has been completely doused, officials confirmed.
Former AAP MLA and currently Congress leader Alka Lamba held a Facebook live event recently in Delhi. The person handling her Facebook account inadvertently left the ‘filters’ on where a tool lets you put various layers of ‘filters’ on your face so that one can look like a cat or a puppy or an old man with beard.
At one point, the person Lamba was interviewing had ‘goggles and hat’ filter which changed into a gold medal filter and eventually into a purple moustache filter.
Alka Lamba didn’t close the filter option before going live on Facebook and this how it went. I can’t stop laughing. ?? pic.twitter.com/TfWZK5WV81
Lamba was speaking to the members of ‘Disabled Employees Association of Railway’ who were sitting on a dharna over delayed recruitment. The disabled protestors have been camping in Delhi’s Mandi House intersection since last several days over employment opportunities. They too appeared with various filters during the Facebook live event of Lamba.
Many people left funny comments on the faux pas at Lamba’s Facebook event.
Alka Lamba had reached to give a speech, on some matter, the man who handled her camera turned the filters on Facebook
Lamba recently moved back to Congress after her very public breakup with Aam Aadmi Party where she took to Twitter to let everyone know how Delhi CM and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had removed her from WhatsApp group. After serving Congress in various capacities for over 20 years, she quit the grand old party to join AAP in December 2014. However, within 5 years of being in AAP, Lamba grew disillusioned with the party leadership. She finally resigned from the party in September 2019 after rumbling for over a year that she would leave the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to former Union Minister Arun Shourie at a Pune hospital, where he is undergoing treatment a head injury suffered last week.
“In Pune, I met former Union Minister Arun Shourie Ji. Enquired about his health and had a wonderful interaction with him. We pray for his long and healthy life,” Modi tweeted along with photographs of the meeting.
In Pune, I met former Union Minister Arun Shourie Ji. Enquired about his health and had a wonderful interaction with him.
The former BJP minister turned bitter critic of the party was admitted at the hospital after he fainted and fell near his home in Lavasa near Pune on December 1 during a walk. 78-year-old Shourie sustained injuries on the back of his head, with internal injuries. He was rushed to a hospital at Hinjewadi near Pune, from where he was shifted to Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune, where he is being treated in the ICU.
PM Modi with staff of Ruby Hall Clinic
PM Modi visited Shourie at the hospital at around 6 PM today, and spent about 45 minutes at the hospital. He talked to Shourie’s relatives outside his room after spending around 15 minutes with him. According to hospital sources the visit was not announced before. The PM was in Pune to attend the three-day conference of IGs and DGPs.
“The Prime Minister’s visit was a jovial one and we did have some time alone and I gave some suggestions,” Shourie told The Indian Express after Modi came to meet him at the hospital.
Arun Shourie was the central minister of Communications, Information Technology and Disinvestment in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004. But his relatonship with turned sour after Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014. Ahead of Lok Sabha elections this year, he had urged the opposition parties to work together to oust the BJP government. He was present at a grand rally of opposition parties held at Kolkata, and had alleged that the Modi government has lied on all counts.
He had also alleged that Modi government had created an atmosphere of intolerance in the country, and one of the petitioners to move the Supreme Court against the Rafale deal, along with Prashant Bhushan, Yashwant Sinha.
The Shiv Sena is all set to defy its newfound allies and back the Citizenship Amendment Bill, if media reports are to be believed. As per reports, the Shiv Sena on Sunday decided to back the Bill which has faced severe opposition from ‘Secular’ parties which believe that it discriminates against Muslims.
The Congress will oppose the Bill in the Parliament, however, its ally in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena is expected to support it. One Sena MP told the Hindustan Times, “We are in favour of the bill as it is against infiltrators. It aims to help give citizenship rights to persecuted Hindus, Jains, Christians, and Buddhists in the three neighbouring counties.”
The Shiv Sena had recently broken off its alliance with its traditional partner, the BJP, and entered into a coalition government with the NCP and the Congress. In the Common Minimum Program of the Aghadi government, the Shiv Sena promised to uphold ‘secular values’ and work for ‘minorities’ in Maharashtra. 400 workers of the Shiv Sena had recently quit the party and join the BJP after it turned ‘Secular’.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to provide citizenship to religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are being persecuted due to their religious identity. Despite the noble intentions of the Bill, it has been opposed tooth and nail by the ‘Secular’ parties. The bill will be tabled in the parliament this week. Although the rulling NDA is short of majority in Rajya, it is expected to get suppoprt of parties like AIADMK, BJD and YSRCP, with some parties remaining undecided till now. Therefore, the government is confident that the bill will be passed by the parliament in the ongoing winter session.
New details have emerged on the Unnao rape and murder case, where it has been revealed that before the heinous crime, the victim was in a relationship with the main accused, and the relationship had turned sour after the family of the man refused to accept her. On Thursday, the 23-year-old rape victim was allegedly set ablaze by five men, including two men she had accused of raping her, at Hindu Nagar village in Unnao, while she was on her way to Rae Bareli.
Village resident and an eye witness, Ravindra Prakash said that even after being set on fire, the survivor ran for about a kilometre, and sought his help. He added that after he called the nearest post station by dialling 100 from his phone and she herself spoke to the police informing them about the incident, following which the police reached the crime spot and took her to hospital.
The woman who had suffered 90 per cent burns died of a cardiac arrest on Friday night after hours of fighting at the Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi. The police have arrested the two prime accused, Shivam Trivedi and his cousin Shubham Trivedi, besides three of their family members — Harishankar Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai and Shivam’s father Ram Kishore Trivedi.
IG Lucknow, SK Bhagat, while talking to the media revealed that the victim was in a relationship with one of the main accused Shivam Trivedi, who had physically exploited her on the pretext of marrying her. In order to trick the victim, Shivam had on January 18, 2018, also signed a marriage contract on a stamp paper of Rs 50, which was also counter-signed by a notary.
Reportedly, the Unnao victim and Shivam had consensual sex in the past since Shivam had been making promises to the victim of marrying her. But things had fallen apart after Shivam’s parents refused to accept the girl as their daughter-in-law. After that Shivam also back-tracked and declined to marry her in a formal ceremony, and even threatened to kill her.
The victim alleged that after things became bitter, Shivam along with his cousin Shubham kidnapped her in December 2018 and thereafter raped her. Since Shivam’s family was influential, the police did not register an FIR then. The woman then approached a local court. After the intervention of a local court, the case was registered in Rae Bareli district in March.
In the FIR lodged on March 4, 2019, the victim had alleged that Shivam Trivedi, son of Hindu Nagar Gram Pradhan Savitri Devi, had raped her on the pretext of marriage. She had further alleged that Shivam’s cousin, Shubham, along with three others also joined him in raping her.
According to the IG, acting upon the FIR, police had sent Shivam the main accused to jail, who later got bail on November 30. After coming out of jail, Shivam was in constant pursuit to take revenge from the victim. Her brother also said that the pradhan’s family had been threatening them for the past few days to withdraw the rape case before Shivam set her on fire on Thursday.
Notably, the victim’s family had alleged that Shivam’s family had offered them Rs 3 lakh to get their daughter to marry off elsewhere. Since Shivam’s family was influential they had tried to create pressure on the victim’s family through the village Panchayat as well, failing which they resorted to this remorseless recourse.
Reportedly, the rape victim was going to Raebareli with her parents to pursue the case at 4 am on Wednesday when she was attacked. According to the reports, the rape accused and his friends dragged the woman outside of her village, took her into the fields and doused her in petrol before setting her on fire.
The bail order issued by Allahabad High Court on 25th November also mentions that Shivam had brought the woman to Raebareli on the pretext of giving her employment, and “forcibly committed rape with her by giving false assurance of solemnizing marriage with her”. The order states that the duo had signed the marriage agreement on 9th January this year, but Shivam had dishonoured this agreement after his parents refused to accept the relationship.
Bail order of Shivam Trivedi
Importantly, the High Court order does not mention anything about the alleged kidnap and rape in December 2018 and mentions that the marriage agreement was signed in January 2019. The order only talks about rape on the pretext of marriage by Shivam, while remaining silent on the alleged gang-rape by Shivam and his friends.
The family of Shivam has strongly refuted the allegations, saying that they are not guilty. They have said that the woman was pressurising Shivam to marry her, and had threatened to file rape charges against him if he refuses to marry her. They have alleged that the woman had said that she will send Shivam to jail for 10-20 years on rape charges. The family also pointed out that Shivam was found sleeping at his house by police after the woman was allegedly burnt by him. According to them, he would not be sleeping after committing such a crime. They also questioned the version of the woman that she ran for more than a kilometre after setting on fire.
The police have said that despite suffering intense burns, the survivor had named the accused who she said set her ablaze. Unnao SP Vikram Veer said she named the two cousins and three other family members, and all of them have been arrested.
Besides assuring fast inquiry in the case and compensation for the family the Yogi government had also sent commissioner and IG-rank officers to the crime scene in Unnao promising to help the survivor in all possible ways.
An interfaith couple from Meerut is being threatened by the girl’s family after she converted to marry her husband in a Temple. Her family members are not happy with the marriage and are issuing death threats against them. As per Navbharat Times, the girl is the daughter of one Abid Ali from Daurala town’s Shahpur-Jadid village in Meerut district.
According to reports, the girl left her home on the 14th of April and married Anujpal at the Arya Samaj Mandir in Deoband after converting her faith. Anujpal is a resident of the same village. Following that, she appeared before the Court to register her statements and the Court permitted her to live with her husband. Since then, they have been living at a house on rent.
The girl is now accusing her relatives of threatening her life, as per a report in Patrika. It is alleged that they are threatening to burn her alive and murder her. It is also being alleged that only a week earlier, her relatives had made an attempt to kidnap her along with her husband. They soon reached the Police Station to request for security. The SP of the Crime Branch has ordered that they are provided with security. The couple has been assured that they will be provided complete security.
The couple has alleged that they cannot go back to their village in fear. They want to live at the husband’s home but the girl’s side is issuing death threats. In her complaint to the SP, the girl has also said that her father organized a Panchayat in the village along with others. According to her, it was declared in the Panchayat that if the couple dared to enter the village, they will be murdered.
Senior Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor, consistent with the nature of his party endorsed a clear American attempt at meddling in our internal affairs. He labelled the introduction of a bipartisan resolution on Kashmir as an ‘admirable effort’ by representatives of the US House Congress when in reality, it was an attempt at meddling in India’s internal affairs.
Restore Internet, End Detentions In Jammu&Kashmir, Says Bipartisan Resolution In US House. Admirable effort by US reps, whereas in our Parliament we have been unable even to have a discussion on the subject of Kashmir in the entire winter session. Shame. https://t.co/Q51xIVeZFb
The resolution was introduced by Indian-American Pramila Jayapal and it has been co-sponsored by Republican Congressman Steve Watkins. The resolution cannot be voted on in the Senate and does not have the force of law. Jayapal was urged not to introduce it by numerous members of the Indian-American community and her office received over 25,000 emails from Indian-Americans in addition to in-person meetings. However, she has decided to go ahead with it. There were also peaceful demonstrations outside her office against her move to table the resolution on Kashmir.
Thus, quite clearly, Jayapal does not even have the unequivocal support of Indian Americans. However, one person she does have support from is Shashi Tharoor. It is quite distressing that a senior leader of the main opposition party in India is cheering for a resolution that is effectively an interference in the internal affairs of India. India is a sovereign country and the least one would expect from Indian politicians is to protect the sovereignty of our nation. But Shashi Tharoor, it seems, will cheer for foreign entities that seek to undermine the sovereignty that we cherish as an independent country.
The proper response from Shashi Tharoor would have been to question the locus-standi of the US House of Congress in the matter of Kashmir. He should also have questioned what moral authority does the US have over India regarding ‘human rights violations’. The United States of America has violated the human rights of populations throughout its history and yet, it presumes to have the authority to lecture India about human rights. Instead of asking such legitimate questions, Shashi Tharoor calls it an ‘admirable effort’.
As disgraceful as it is, Shashi Tharoor’s stance isn’t surprising. Not too long ago, another senior leader of the Congress party, Mani Shankar Aiyar, had famously asked for Pakistan’s help to ‘remove’ PM Modi and bring a Congress government to power. The Congress party has also regularly toed the Pakistani line on matters of national security, be it Surgical Strikes, Pulwama Terror Attack, Balakot Air Strikes or Kashmir.
Therefore, as distressing as it may seem, Shashi Tharoor’s endorsement of interference in Kashmir by the US House Representatives is consistent with the pattern of behaviour the Congress party has demonstrated in recent times. It also, perhaps, explains why the Congress has been reduced to merely 52 seats in the Lok Sabha.
