The BJP yesterday announced appointments of state in-charges for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
भारतीय जनता पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री अमित शाह ने लोकसभा चुनाव 2019 की दृष्टि से विभिन्न प्रदेशों के लिए लोकसभा प्रभारी/सह प्रभारी नियुक्त किए। pic.twitter.com/Og7pvXvtvM
V Muralidharan and Sunil Deodhar have been appointed as in-charge of Andhra Pradesh. Deodhar was in-charge of Varanasi when PM Modi contested the seat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He was also in-charge of Tripura during the Tripura Assembly elections.
Mahendra Singh and Bhupendra Yadav are in-charge of Assam and Bihar respectively. Recently, the BJP announced the NDA alliance in Bihar where the BJP and JD(U) will contest on 17 seats each. BJP national vice-president Om Prakash Mathur and Dr Anil Jain, who was in charge of Chhattisgarh in recently concluded state elections are chosen for Gujarat and Chhattisgarh respectively.
Tirath Singh Rawat and Mangal Pandey are appointed for Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand whereas BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli is appointed for Manipur and Nagaland. Swatantra Dev Singh and BJP Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay are appointed for Madhya Pradesh. Arun Singh is appointed for Odisha while Captain Abhimanyu, a decorated Indian Army ex-soldier is made in-charge for Punjab and Chandigarh. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Sudhanshu Trivedi are appointed for Rajasthan.
Nitin Navin, Bihar MLA and Aravind Limbavali, Karnataka MLA are chosen for Sikkim and Telangana respectively while Thaawarchand Gehlot, a minister in the Modi cabinet will handle Uttarakhand. Former Gujarat Home Minister and also Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Gordhan Zadaphia, party vice-president Dushyant Gautam and Madhya Pradesh BJP leader Narottam Mishra are made in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.
Four cow smugglers were arrested from Nirdhna area of Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar. As per reports, the accused fired at the police party which went in search for the smugglers.
Police arrested four cow smugglers from Nirdhna area of Muzaffarnagar. Om Veer Singh, SP City, says”The accused had fired at the police party which went in search for the smugglers. Weapons, cow meat&cow skin have been recovered. Four others escaped from the site.” (26.12.2018) pic.twitter.com/DKP7crQfIS
The Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka is on edge, as senior BJP leader Umesh Katti has claimed that he is in touch with at least 15 disgruntled MLAs of ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition and BJP will open doors for them if they chose to join it.
Umesh Katti, an eight-time MLA reportedly claimed that the coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy will collapse within the next 24 hours and expressed confidence that BJP would form a new government in the state by next week. The Congress-JDS coalition which is already on a backfoot after senior Congress leader Ramesh Jarkiholi had hinted at quitting the party to join the BJP after he was axed from the cabinet.
”The coalition government will collapse within a day. The BJP will form the next government in the state within the next 15 days. At least 15 disgruntled MLAs of the Congress are in touch with me and are set to join the saffron outfit shortly,’’ Katti said without revealing the names of the MLAs belonging to the Congress-JDS coalition.
Reportedly, Katti also claimed that he is touch with Ramesh Jarakiholi and said he would welcome Jarakiholi to the BJP. However, Katti has also ruled out of engineering any defections in the coalition, similar to ‘Operation Kamala’, but said that the party would definitely welcome the dissident MLAs from the Congress and the JD(S) if they want to join the BJP.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao has asked Umesh Katti not to mislead people by making such illusionary statements. He further challenged Katti saying that he must resign as a legislator if he fails to prove.
The Congress-JDS coalition has been rocked with controversies, despite the so-called waive-off of farm loans, two farmers have already committed suicide in the state, while many other farmers have also received loan repayment notices from the banks. The coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy is also facing heat within its own coalition as senior leaders from the coalition have expressed disappointment over the recent cabinet expansion which has resulted in speculations of defections from the coalition.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has also been facing the wrath of the public after he had ordered for an ‘encounter‘ of the accused involved in the murder of a Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) party worker. A complaint has also been registered by an activist against the Chief Minister for ordering to ‘mercilessly kill’ an accused.
The Aam Aadmi Party is scheduled to hold its national council meeting on Saturday. The party will discuss the current political scenario as well as preparations for the next year’s general elections in the meeting. According to reports, party sources have revealed that the party may move to amend its constitution removing the cap of two-terms for any office-bearer, making the path clear for party chief Kejriwal to continue as party convener and chief for an indefinite time period.
Sources: AAP constitution is set to be changed for Arvind Kejriwal to continue as party’s chief indefinitely. AAP, in its National Council meet on Saturday is slated to amend its constitution to allow Kejriwal get a third consecutive term as the party’s national Convenor pic.twitter.com/eKhhgUFdRn
As per reports, AAP had elected Arvind Kejriwal to be the party’s national convenor for a period of three years in April 2016. As the 2019 general elections are likely to be held in April-May 2019, the party is holding its national council meeting earlier.
AAP’s constitution states that no member will hold the same post of an office bearer for more than two terms of three years each.
However, it is also possible that the national council will extend the terms of current office bearers for another six months and will elect new office bearers after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A national executive meeting will be held on Friday to set up the agenda for Saturday’s meeting. The national council includes the founding members of the party and any decision by the national executive is valid only when ratified by the national council.
All India United Democratic Front (AIDUF) chief and MP from Dhubri in Assam Badruddin Ajmal today assaulted a journalist during an interaction with the press. He was talking to media at Hatsingimari in South Salmara Mankachar district in Assam, after felicitating the winning candidates of the party in the recently concluded Panchayat elections. During the interaction, Ajmal suddenly got angry with a question asked by a journalist from ETV and verbally abused him. He also threated to physically attack him, in front of other journalists and party workers.
Ajamal was telling that he is with the Mahagathbandhan in Delhi, while the decision for an alliance in the state is yet to be taken. Responding to it, ETV Bharat reporter Kabir Mondal had asked him, “whether the AIUDF will ally with the Congress if the later forms Government at the Centre after Lok Sabha polls and whether it would ally with the BJP if the later comes back to power again.” The AIUDF chief replied with a counter question, “how much money will you pay? Is this journalism”. After that, he got angrier and threw away the booms of the news channels in front of him. He shouted words like dog, son of dog, goon for the journalist. He grabbed the boom of ETV, and said “I will smash your head, go and file a case on me”, gesturing with the boom.
Ajmal was particularly angry with Mondal, as he accused that Mondal was targeting him. He said he has no problem with other journalists present there. He said that Mondal has taken money from BJP to ask such questions. “He is asking if I am sold to BJP, his father will be sold”, he shouted. He said that he has thousands of people behind him, and the journalist will be finished in just one signal.
It can be noted that AIDUF is keen to forge an alliance with Congress for the Lok Sabha polls. Although central leadership of Congress is willing to ally with the party, the state leadership is stonewalling the move. Three-time chief minister Tarun Gogoi is particularly against any alliance with Ajmal’s party. While an alliance between the two parties can consolidate the Muslim votes, the state leadership feels that it will result in reverse consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of BJP. Congress state president Ripun Bora also has said that a pact with AIUDF will be suicidal for the party.
This act of violence by the Lok Sabha has been condemned by several organisations in the state. The Digital Media Journalists’ Association of Assam (DiMJAA) has decided to file an FIR against Badaruddin Ajmal.
The central government has announced the formation of a new high court for the state of Andhra Pradesh. The high court will be named as High Court of Andhra Pradesh, which will start functioning from 1st January 2019. The new high court will be located at Amaravati, the newly built capital city of Andhra Pradesh.
The notification issued by the government says:
“In pursuance of article 214 of the Constitution and the Order issued by the Supreme Court of India and in exercise of powers conferred under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 30, sub-section (1) of section 31 and sub-section (2) of section 31 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the President hereby constitutes a separate High Court for the State of Andhra Pradesh, namely,the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, from the 1st day of January, 2019 with the principal seat of such High Court at Amaravati in the State of Andhra Pradesh and the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad shall become the High Court for the State of Telangana.”
Following the split of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, its capital city Hyderabad was included in Telangana. Therefore, entire administrative machinery had to be created for Andhra Pradesh from scratch, and this new high court is part of that process.
The government has also transferred 16 judges from the high court at Hyderabad to the newly formed Andhra Pradesh High Court, while remaining 10 judges will become the judges of the high court for the Telangana state. This will be the 25th High Court in the country.
Last month, the Supreme Court had given the go-ahead for the formation of a new high court for Andhra Pradesh. The court had said that since all the requirements have been fulfilled, there is no embargo for the competent authority to issue a notification bifurcating the courts into the High Court of Telangana and High Court of Andhra Pradesh respectively. The court’s decision came after the green signal from an inspection committee.
In Amaravati, a very big complex known as Justice City is under construction, where the High Court and subordinate courts and even some tribunals would be accommodated. There is also a provision for construction of residential complexes for the judges of the High Court and judicial officers of the subordinate courts in the Justice City. Till those constructions are completed, the state government will hire vilas for residences of the judges, while the high court will function from a makeshift building, the govt had informed the Supreme Court.
Darul Uloom Deoband, the Islamic Seminary, in a recent Fatwa, has decreed that women are forbidden to participate in marriage processions with men. It is fairly common for women relatives of the groom to participate in marriage processions with other men in the family. Sometimes, music is also played in these processions.
The fatwa comes after a resident had raised questions regarding the practice with the Fatwa department of the seminary. The seminary responded that not only were women forbidden from participating in such social functions with men, they are also forbidden from eating food alongside them on such occasions. The seminary also asserted that Muslims should not eat food while standing and advised Muslims to protect themselves from such activities.
Deoband has come up with such bizarre fatwa’s at a remarkable frequency. Earlier in February, the Islamic seminary had decided to issue a fatwa against Muslim women taking help of men while trying out bangles in shops.
It was also reported that Deoband clerics had issued a fatwa against life insurance, as they claimed that Life and death are in the hands of Allah and no insurance company can guarantee a man’s longevity. In the past, a cleric associated with the Darul Uloom Deoband university had issued a fatwa against women watching football games, as watching men playing with bare knees is forbidden for women.
In another instance of a bizarre fatwa, a fatwa was issued asking Muslim families to not marry men or women who work in banks. Posting photos of self and family on social media websites have also drawn Fatwas in the past. New Year Celebrations and designer burqas, too had the same destiny.
On another occasion, an Ulema had proclaimed that a group of Muslim women who performed Lord Ram’s Aarti on the eve of Diwali, ceased to be Muslims. The most peculiar Fatwa was when the seminary had declared that it was forbidden in Islam for an uncle to carry the bride to the palanquin as it could lead to feelings of lust between either of them.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief, Asaduddin Owaisi has today expressed his rage at the UP Government after the Noida police announced banning namaz at public places.
Recently the Noida police have issued an advisory notice to 23 private companies in sector 58, asking their administrations to dissuade their employees from visiting nearby parks for offering namaz. The police asserted that the companies must ensure that their officials use office premises or mosques for Namaz but not public places.
Sector 58 Station House Officer (SHO) Pankaj Rai, who issued the notices, cited a Supreme Court order of 2009, which banned unauthorised use of public places for religious activities by all religions.
While Shia Waqf board chief Waseem Rizvi welcomed the decision, Owaisi, furious with the Noida police’s intervention, hit out at the Uttar Pradesh government alleging that the UP police would shower petals on ‘kanwariyas’, but interrupt the Muslims for whatever they did. He further lambasted at the UP government, asking, how could namaz, once a week mean disrupting peace and harmony?
Well, history has it, how the Friday namaz has been, often seen turning into mass violence. On April 25, we had reported how a large mob speculated to be numbering into a thousand, went on a rampage following the Friday Namaz Prayers in Madhya Pradesh’s Burhanpur town. In order to restore peace, the police proceeded to lathi charge the violent youths.
In August last year, the police had to fire at a mob in Aligarh which was resorting to incessant stone pelting after Friday prayers. Post-Eid prayers too had seen intense violence in July 2017 when a large mob decided to attack a police station in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.
In 2012, Lucknow had witnessed one of the biggest mayhem when a mob, numbering about 500, went berserk and indulged in large-scale violence, targeting media persons in particular and even beating up several bystanders who were caught unawares after the Alvida namaz (on the last Friday of Ramzan). The mob also had vandalised a statue of Lord Mahavira.
A lot more such incidents have been rampant in the valley of Jammu and Kashmir too.
In a similar incident, in June, a mob in Janglaat area of Jammu and Kashmir pelted stones at security personnel after Namaz offerings. According to a report, just a few hours after the situation in the rogue valley turned violent, the officials deployed in the area were forced to use tear gas shells in order to disperse the agitated crowd.
With Kashmir regularly witnessing such episodes of post-Friday namaz violence, it was reported recently, how the second Friday of Ramzan had turned violent in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 50 people were reported injured when a huge gathering of youths, post-Friday prayers, started brandishing anti-national flags and pelted stones at security personnel posted a little away from Jamia Masjid in the Nowhatta area of the city.
In fact, performing prayers on the street has long been a disputable argument in the foreign countries as well. France which is the biggest home to the Muslim minority in Western Europe had introduced a ban on praying in the streets, though the French Muslims argued that they did not have enough space in Mosques.
On 26th December, 1978, Indira Gandhi was released from jail. Six days prior to that, Congress workers had hijacked a plane to demand her release. Following the draconian Emergency, Indira Gandhi was detained for breach of privilege and contempt of the Indian Parliament, and her arrest invoked massive protests by Congress supporters throughout the country.
The protests that were triggered by Indira Gandhi’s arrest, the Left would have us believe, were rather peaceful and an outpouring of emotions for a beloved Prime Minister. However, 20th December 1977 proved just how deeply embedded the basic DNA of the Emergency was in the Congress cabal.
Forty years back on this day, Congress crossed all semblance of political decency and indulged in a mid air drama on board Indian Airlines flight 410. On 20th December, an aircraft was hijacked by two members of the Youth Congress.
The hijack was seen as one of the most shameful acts committed by the Congress and a dangerous display of contempt for the rule of law.
The hijacking was carried out with the intention of securing Indira Gandhi’s release from jail and having all criminal cases against her and Sanjay Gandhi withdrawn. Another demand of the hijackers was that the Janata Party Government at the Centre tender its resignation. To this end, two members of the then Youth Congress, Bhola Pandey and Devendra Pandey, hijacked an Indian Airlines plane, IC 410, from Lucknow to Delhi, soon after it took off from Lucknow.
Bhola Pandey and Devendra Pandey, the two hijackers belonging to Congress
The then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the Inspector General of Police and the Chief Secretary took a special flight to Varanasi and arrived at the airport the following morning to negotiate the release of the passengers.
The hijackers, who appeared to be armed, surrendered in the presence of the media after keeping 132 passengers hostage for several hours. However, it was later revealed that the hijackers had carried out the act with toy guns.
The hijacking incident created quite a stir in Parliament and within the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. That week was marked by large scale violence in many states, triggered by members of the Congress Party in protest against the arrest of Indira Gandhi.
What could then be observed as the epitome of immorality was when the Indian National Congress, instead of condemning the act, which was a threat to national security, rewarded the hijackers with party tickets for the 1980 State Assembly election.
Bhola served as a Congress MLA from 1980 to 1985 and from 1989 to 1991 from Doaba, Ballia, and also remained a member of the House for two terms. Devendra served the party as General Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, UPCC, until recently.
The Congress, further unveiling its maliciousness, hatched a plot to split the Janata Party in Parliament in 1979 and succeeded in doing so by weaning away Chaudhary Charan Singh and his followers.
The Congress Party tempted him with the prime ministership if he broke away with his MPs. The party offered him support to form the government. These moves led to the fall of the Morarji Desai Government. Charan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister by the President, but he never faced Parliament as Prime Minister because the Congress Party withdrew support before the next session and thus forced elections.
Meanwhile, the Charan Singh Government, under pressure from the Congress Party, initiated the process to withdraw the case against the hijackers. The case against the two Pandeys was dropped, and the Congress honoured both of them by giving them election tickets.
Congress’s history of corruption and malpractice is probably as old as the party itself. We Indians have somehow grown used to tales of its corruption. The Gandhi family and the Congress’s track record of corrupt activities should make even the hardened cynic thump the table and call for a revolution.
The Nehru Gandhi dynasty has taken India and Indians for granted, and we have chosen to remain blind to the history of the family’s corruption, which we have almost accepted as a way of Indian life and politics.
Senior Congress leader and Observer of Minority Department of All India Congress Committee, Sagheer Khan from Jammu and Kashmir in a bizarre statement has promised Rs 1 crore help to “innocents” killed by forces on charges of terrorism, Republic TV reports. The Congress leader claimed that Bhartiya Janta Party is inflicting atrocities on Kashmiris and forcing security forces to execute innocents, he also promised that people incarcerated on charges of terrorism will be freed.
“The atrocities that BJP is committing against the people here are resulting in the deaths of several innocent people. If Congress comes to power here, then we will offer 1 Crore Rupees and a job to those suffering in the aftermath. And the innocent people who have been killed and those who are in jail under terror charges will all be freed as well.” Sagheer Khan said. He also added that if Congress comes to power, it will pass a bill and execute all BJP leaders. He said, “BJP leaders who have carried out these killings here, no matter how much powerful the leader is, a new law will be formed and those BJP leaders will be hanged to death. These BJP party workers will be hanged to death.”
The Congress leader also made reference to Bulansher violence, in which a UP Police inspector was shot dead by some assailants. Sagheer Khan said that incident was an example of Hindu Terrorism.
”You must have known that a soldier named Jeetu from 22 Rifle got so angry by Hindu terrorism prevailing here that he went and killed inspector Subodh Kumar” Khan said.
Earlier this month, a clash broke out between Police and Bulansher residents after carcasses of cows were found in the locality. The police, as per reports, opened fire at the protesters. It is claimed that the police was forced to open fire after the protesters attacked them with stones. In the chaos, inspector Subodh Kumar Singh lost his life.
Jammu and Kashmir had been placed under the Governor’s rule as the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government fell after its coalition partner BJP withdrew their support from the government. The assembly was disbanded on November 21 by Governor Satyapal Malik. According to reports, security forces have successfully eliminated over 230 terrorists in this year.
