Hours after Udhayanidhi Stalin made derogatory remarks about Sanatan Dharma, Tamil Nadu Congress leader Karti Chidambaram extended his support to the DMK leader on Saturday (September 2).
“Sanatan Dharma is nothing but code for a Caste Hierarchical Society. All those batting for it are hankering for the Good Ole Days! Caste is the Curse of India,” he went on a vitriolic rant against the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy.
Sanathana Dharma is nothing but code for a Caste Hierarchical Society. All those batting for it are hankering for the Good Ole Days! Caste is the Curse of India
On Sunday (September 3) morning, he posted another tweet defending DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin. “There was no call for “Genocide” against anyone, this is a mischievous spin,” Karti Chidambaram claimed.
“In the common parlance of TN “ Sanatan Dharm” means Caste Hierarchical Society. Why is that everyone who is batting for “SD” comes from the privileged segment who are beneficiaries of the “Hierarchy”, he further brazened it out.
In the common parlance of TN “ Sanathana Dharma” means Caste Hierarchical Society. Why is that everyone who is batting for “SD” comes from the privileged segment who are beneficiaries of the “Hierarchy” There was no call for “Genocide” against anyone, this is a mischievous spin.
Udhayanidhi Stalin and his objectionable remarks against Sanatan Dharma
On Saturday (September 2), the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu said, “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely.”
“The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it. So, my appreciation to you all for giving an apt title to the meeting,” he stated.
Later, he went on a tirade against the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy on social media. While taking to X (formerly Twitter), Udhayanidhi Stalin wrote, “Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion.”
“Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality…I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma. I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma,” he reiterated his sinister plan.
On Saturday, September 2, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) sought an additional 8 weeks time to complete its scientific survey of the disputed Gyanvapi site and submit its report.
It is notable that the district judge’s court had directed ASI to survey Gyanvapi premises, with the exception of the sealed ‘Wazukhana,’ and submit its findings by September 4.
According to district government counsel Rajesh Mishra, the ASI filed an application for further time to finish the survey job and submit the survey report.
Shubhash Nandan Chaturvedi, a lawyer for Hindu petitioners, said that the Varanasi district court gave ASI four weeks to complete its survey, the deadline for which ended on Saturday.
“We believe the survey has not yet been completed, and ASI may request an extension,” he said.
Since District Judge AK Vishvesh is on leave, District Judge-in-Charge, ADJ-I Sanjeev Sinha, scheduled a hearing before the District Judge court on September 8, according to Mishra.
The ASI is conducting an extensive survey of the disputed Gyanvapi structure to ascertain whether the 17th-century mosque was built on top of a pre-existing Hindu temple.
The survey was started after the Allahabad High Court upheld a Varanasi district court decision, ruling that the action is “necessary in the interest of justice” and will benefit both Hindu and Muslim parties.
Reportedly, a GPR survey is being conducted by a team from Hyderabad in the area below the three domes at the disputed site to determine if the Gyanvapi ‘mosque’ is constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
Previously, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who represents the Hindu side, stated that an out-of-court settlement in the Gyanvapi Mosque case “is not legally possible.”
His comments came after Jitendra Singh Bisen, the international head of the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh, proposed an out-of-court settlement in the Gyanvapi issue in a letter to Anjuman Intejamia.
On Saturday (September 2), the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu, Udhayanidhi Stalin, went on a tirade against Sanatan Dharma on social media.
The development came hours after he courted controversy for comparing the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy with ‘malaria’ and ‘dengue.’ While taking to X (formerly Twitter), Udhayanidhi Stalin wrote, “Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion.”
“Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality…I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma.I spoke on behalf of the oppressed & marginalized, who suffer due to the Sanatan Dharma,” he brazened it out.
I never called for the genocide of people who are following Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion. Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality.
The son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin hailed the likes of Periyar and BR Ambedkar and claimed that the duo conducted ‘in-depth research’ on the ‘negative impact’ of the religious philosophy on society.
“Let me reiterate the crucial aspect of my speech: I believe, like the spread of diseases like COVID-19, Dengue, and Malaria by mosquitoes, that Sanatan Dharma is responsible for many social evils,” he further emphasised.
After the Hindu advocacy group ‘Legal Rights Observatory (LRO)’ informed that it would explore legal remedies against Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Tamil Nadu Minister tweeted, “Bring it on. I am ready to face any legal challenge. We will not be cowed down by such usual saffron threats.”
Bring it on. I am ready to face any legal challenge. We will not be cowed down by such usual saffron threats. We, the followers of Periyar, Anna, and Kalaignar, would fight forever to uphold social justice and establish an egalitarian society under the able guidance of our… https://t.co/nSkevWgCdW
“I will say it today, tomorrow, and forever: Our resolve to stop Sanathana Dharma from the Dravidian land would not reduce even a bit,” he called for the annihilation of the Hindu civilisational religious philosophy.
Tamil Nadu BJP Chief, K Annamalai, lambasted Udhayanidhi Stalin and tweeted, “Thiru @Udhaystalin, you, your father, or his or your idealogue have a bought-out idea from Christian missionaries & the idea of those missionaries was to cultivate dimwits like you to parrot their malicious ideology.”
While accusing him and his family of looting the State, Annamalai added, “Tamil Nadu is a land of spiritualism. The best you can do is to hold a Mic in an event like this & rant out your frustration!”
The only resolve that the Gopalapuram Family has is to accumulate wealth beyond the State GDP.
Thiru @Udhaystalin, you, your father, or his or your idealogue have a bought-out idea from Christian missionaries & the idea of those missionaries was to cultivate dimwits like you to… https://t.co/sWVs3v1viM
Earlier in December 2022, Udhayanidhi Stalin announced that he and his wife belong to the Christian Faith. “I am proud to call myself a Christian, all the Sanghis today will be burning,” he was quoted as saying.
On Saturday (September 2), the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu said, “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely.”
“The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it. So, my appreciation to you all for giving an apt title to the meeting,” he further added.
On September 1, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a charge sheet against three arrested railway officials in the Balasore train accident case. The charge sheet has been filed under sections pertaining to alleged culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing the disappearance of evidence.
The three officers, senior section engineer (in Soro) Amir Khan, senior section engineer (Signals) Arun Kumar Mahanta and technician Pappu Kumar, were arrested by CBI on 7th of July concerning the accident on the 2nd of June. All three officials were posted in Balasore district. The central agency said in the charge sheet that the trio tried to destroy the evidence to evade detection of their role in the accident following the collision.
The charge sheet has been submitted before a special judicial magistrate in Bhubaneswar. The central agency mentioned that based on the evidence collected during the investigation, the three committed offences under Sections 304(II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 read with 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 153 (endangering the safety of railways passenger by the willful act of omission) of the Railways Act.
CBI looked for all angles during the investigation, including foul play, technical glitches and human error. During the investigation, they found that there was a fault in the wiring in a location box that had cables to control the signalling function. It had gone undetected by the Signal and Telecom staff. Furthermore, the notes logged in the data logger device from 3 PM to 11:58 PM on 2nd of June were examined to reconstruct the chronology of the events leading to the accident.
According to the investigating agency, senior Railway officials discovered that Mr. Mahanta was informed four hours after the accident that the point indication was normal, despite the damaged point machines. Additionally, it was alleged that a labelling error had gone unnoticed by ground staff since 2018.
As per the charge sheet, the accused were directly responsible for the upkeep of signal and telecommunication assets at the railway station where the accident occurred. The repair work at the level crossing gate no. 94 were done under the direct supervision of Mahanta using the circuit diagrams of LC gate no. 79.
The circuit diagrams of another LC gate no. 79 were used during wiring work at north Goomty (hu) of the station for changing the operation of level crossing gate no. 94 from 100 volt AC to 24 volt DC. It was the accused’s duty to ensure the altercations were made to the existing signal and interlocking installations were as per the approved plan and instruction. However, they failed to do their duties.
During wiring work on the control operation of the ELB, the S&T staff supposedly used F23 and F24 terminals as “spares” and rewired the new ELB connection to those terminals as indicated in the circuit diagrams. This resulted in the disconnection of the feed from crossover 17A/B to 17 NWKR circuit, the location of the accident, causing the green signal indication feed to become delinked from the ground status.
CBI took over the case within a week of the accident
The Indian Railways requested the CBI inquiry in June. The Odisha government recommended a CBI inquiry on 5th of June, three days after the accident. CBI took over the case on 6th of June and filed an FIR in the matter.
Railway inquiry into the accident
Soon after the accident, Indian Railways initiated a high-level inquiry. The committee found ‘wrong signalling’ to be the main reason for the accident. The report suggested lapses at multiple levels in the signalling and telecommunication department led to the accident. There were red flags raised in the past, but they were ignored.
In its report, the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) to the Railway Board noted that if the station manager of Bahanaga Bazar had reported the unusual behaviour of the switches connecting two parallel tracks, the accident would have been averted. Furthermore, station-specific approved circuit diagrams were unavailable, and other diagrams were used, which was termed the “wrong step that led to wrong wiring” in the report. The team of field supervisors modified the wiring diagram but failed to replicate it.
A similar incident occurred on 16th of May 2022 at Bankranayabaz station in the Kharagpur Division of the South Eastern Railway. No corrective measures were taken after the incident to address the issue of wrong wiring, leading to the accident that killed 296 people.
Balasore Train Accident
On 2nd June 2023, 296 people died, and over 1,200 were injured in the tragic accident at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, Odisha. On the day of the accidents, the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary freight train. As a result of the Balasore Train Accident, some of the derailed coaches fell onto the adjacent tracks. A few minutes later, the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express train came on those tracks and collided with the derailed coaches.
China has officially informed the Indian side that President Xi Jinping will not attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi, media reports citing official sources said on Saturday (2 September). The reports added that the Chinese delegation will be led by Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
“The Chinese President is not travelling to India for the G-20 Summit,” people familiar with the development were quoted in reports. They added that leaders skipp such summits for various reasons and “these things do not reflect anything about the host country.”
Up until yesterday, Special Secretary for the G20 Summit, Muktesh Pardeshi, had been stating that India is awaiting a written confirmation from China on Xi Jinping’s attendance at the G-20 summit. While it has been widely speculated that the Chinese president would not attend the summit, there is no official confirmation. But now media reports are citing sources that it his absence is official now.
The Chinese President would be the second head of state in the G-20 grouping who will skip the summit in New Delhi to be held on September 9 and 10.
Xi Jinping skipped the G20 summit in Italy in 2021 too, due to Covid restrictions imposed by his government. However, he had attended the sessions via video link and had given his speeches.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephonic conversation with his Indian counterpart. During the interaction, Putin told Indian PM Narendra Modi that he would be unable to attend the summit in person. At the G-20 summit, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would represent the Russian delegation. According to a Russian govt spokesperson, Putin would not attend the summit as he had a “busy schedule”.
According to experts, Xi Jinping’s absence from the summit would signal that China is reluctant to solve the border disputes with India. However, China had earlier tried to present a contrarian stand when Chinese President Xi Jinping last met PM Modi in South Africa during the BRICS summit.
Following the brief meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said President Xi “stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples”.
Speaking about the two leader’s short meeting during the BRICS summit, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that PM Modi conveyed to Chinese President Xi Jinping India’s concerns about the unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector of the India-China border areas.
Notably, this was only the second meeting between the two leaders after the Galwan clashes in May 2020.
Meanwhile, earlier while speaking on the reports that the Chinese President could skip the G-20 summit, US President Joe Biden said that he “hopes” Xi Jinping would attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
According to official information, US President Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with PM Narendra Modi on the 8th of September, a day before the start of the G-20 summit.
President Xi is also skipping the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Jakarta next week. Li Qiang will also be visiting Jakarta from where he will travel to India for the G20 summit.
Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Saturday lauded the successful launch of Aditya-L1 and said that next will be the first trial for Gaganyaan which might happen in October.
Calling the launch of Aditya L1 as a sunshine moment for India, Singh said that this has been possible because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thrown open the gates of Sriharikota.
“It’s a sunshine moment for India. And secondly, like Chandrayaan, here also the whole of the nation was involved. And that’s been possible because Prime Minister Modi has thrown open the gates of Sriharikota. He’s brought all these stakeholders together, made them realize that this mission belongs to the whole of India,” the Union Minister told ANI.
“Next, I think, will be the first trial flight of Gaganyaan, which might happen in the month of October. That is, next month itself,” he added.
Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to the comprehensive study of the sun, which will find out the unknown facts about the sun. The satellite will travel on Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain the required speed to reach its destination.
Subsequently, Adiya-L1 will undergo a trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre that will take 110 days. The satellite will travel approximately 15 million kilometres to reach the L1 point.
“Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. The satellite spends its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun,” read the information shared on ISRO’s official website.
Despite being several hundred kilometres away from the sun, ‘Aditya L1’ will continuously observe it. Efforts will be made to gather as much information as possible about the sun. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hopes that, similar to Chandrayaan-3, the Aditya-L1 mission will also be successful in achieving its objectives.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Congress President Malikarjun Kharge, among other leaders, congratulated the ISRO scientists for the successful launch of Adita-L1.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On Saturday (2 September), the so-called Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association organised an “Eradicate Sanatan Conference” at Kamarajar Arangam, Teynampet in Chennai. Conspicuously, the anti-Hindu event was attended by DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin, who is the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. He is also a Minister in his father’s cabinet.
Speaking at the Hinduphobic event, DMK Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin spewed venom and once again made a vitriolic speech against Hinduism and its followers.
He said, “The title of this conference has been excellently coined. You’ve named it as ‘Abolish (eradicate) Sanatan Conference’ and not ‘Oppose Sanatan Conference’, so my best wishes to that.”
He asserted that there are certain things that rather than just being opposed these things need to be eradicated completely and according to him, the same should be done with Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism).
கொசு, டெங்கு, கொரோனா இவற்றையெல்லாம் நாம் எதிர்க்ககூடாது ஒழித்து கட்ட வேண்டும், அதைப்போல தான் இந்த சனாதனமும் அதை எதிர்க்க கூடாது ஒழிக்க வேண்டும்! – அமைச்சர் உதயநிதி ஸ்டாலின்! #UdhayanidhiStalin#Sanatanapic.twitter.com/0MKe3ORPdq
DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin added, “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely. The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it. So, my appreciation to you all for giving an apt title to the meeting.”
Going ahead in his tirade against Hinduism, he defined Sanatan Dharma in his own words stating, “What is Sanatanam? The name Sanatanam itself comes from Sanskrit. Sanatanam is opposed to equality and social justice. What is the meaning of Sanatanam? Eternal or something that can’t be changed. Something that can’t be questioned. That is the meaning of Sanatanam.”
The DMK leader further added, “Sanatanam said to divide people by caste and segregate them. But Our Kalaignar brought every community in one village and gave the name ‘Samathuvapuram’ giving a whip to Sanatanam.”
It is pertinent to note that earlier he used to claim that he was an atheist but recently he identified himself as a proud Christian.
Later, taking to X, he shared a tweet regarding the anti-Hindu event and asserted that they would eliminate Sanatan.
தமிழ்நாடு முற்போக்கு எழுத்தாளர் கலைஞர்கள் சங்கத்தின் சனாதன ஒழிப்பு மாநாட்டில் இன்று கலந்து கொண்ட போது, இந்திய விடுதலைப் போரில் ஆர்.எஸ்.எஸின் பங்களிப்பு என்ற புத்தகத்தை வெளியிடக் கேட்டுக் கொண்டார்கள்.
Furthermore, the ‘Eradicate (abolish) Sanatan (Hindu religion as we know it) event’ was also attended by Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister PK Sekarbabu. This underscored the frequent allegations against the Tamil Nadu government that it has adopted a policy of state-backed apartheid against the Hindu religion. For this, they appoint, anti-Hindu Dravidian ideology sympathiser to dismantle the institutions of spiritual or religious importance for Hindu believers.
தமிழ்நாடு முற்போக்கு எழுத்தாளர் கலைஞர்கள் சங்கம் சார்பில் சமத்துவத்தையும் – சமூகநீதியையும் நிலைநாட்டும் வகையில் நடைபெற்ற சனாதன ஒழிப்பு மாநாட்டில் இன்று (02.09.2023) மாண்புமிகு அமைச்சர் திரு.@Udhaystalin , திராவிடர் கழகத் தலைவர் ஆசிரியர் திரு.@AsiriyarKV ஆகியோருடன் பங்கேற்றோம். pic.twitter.com/TcC2TVh4HQ
Apart from DMK Ministers, the other attendees of the event included – K. Veeramani, the head of the rabid anti-Hindu outfit Dravidar Kazhagam, DMK MLA Ezhilan Naganathan, VCK MP Thol. Thirumavalavan, K. Balakrishnan of CPI-M, Peter Alphonse from Congress party, CPI-M MP from Madurai Su. Venkatesan, and Radhika Vemula (mother of late Rohith Vemula).
Legal activist group Legal Rights Observatory has said that they will be taking legal steps against the anti-Hindu event and the speakers. The group tweeted, “We will be exploring various legal remedies to ERADICATE filthy MOSQUITOES denigrating Sanatan Dharma at the behest of #RiceBag #Church!” LRO added that Udhayanidhi Stalin won’t go unpunished.
The DMK leaders are not alone in carrying out a smear campaign against Hinduism. Earlier, Swami Prasad Maurya who is the General Secretary of the Samajwadi party, an alliance partner in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc had made back-to-back derogatory remarks against Hinduism and claimed that it is not a religion but a hoax.
In a shocking development, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report has led to a startling discovery of rape in the Shahbad Dairy murdercase. According to the report, the victim was raped before her horrific death on May 28.
On August 31, the police added the section of rape to the First Information Report after the recent development came to light.
The 16-year-old girl was brutally murdered by a 20-year-old named Mohammed Sahil Sarfaraz Khan, who stabbed her more than 20 times and then crushed her head with a boulder. The passersby didn’t even attempt to intervene and help the victim while the murder was happening. The entire episode was captured on a CCTV camera installed in the street.
The Delhi Police apprehended the perpetrator from his aunt’s residence in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh after the spine-chilling video went viral on social media. According to the police statement, both were in a relationship for around two years up until the beginning of May this year.
The police had first registered a case under the section of murder, however as the investigation progressed, they lodged a First Information Report under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, molestation, and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Police had already submitted a charge sheet in the court in the case. Meanwhile, the postmortem report and Forensic Science Lab report came in, in which parts of semen were found in the genitals of the teenager and brought the matter of rape to the fore.
Police had informed that 34 wounds were found on the victim’s body. Her intestine was protruding, the skull was ruptured and 70 bones were completely smashed. A recording of the murder that lasted for around 90 seconds showed the offender forcing the girl into the wall with one hand while repeatedly stabbing her with a knife.
Mohammed Sahil continued the gut-wrenching assault after the victim was knocked to the ground and repeatedly stabbed as well as kicked her. He also attacked her many times with a cement slab while people were passing by without bothering to assist the minor.
The inquiry into the murder also revealed that the crime was premeditated and not a crime of passion. Sahil had been strolling across the street where the victim was killed since that morning. The culprit intended to kill the victim, her ex-boyfriend Praveen, and two to three other young people and had consumed alcohol before committing the crime. He confessed that he had bought the murder weapon about 15 days ago from a weekly market.
Notably, the Shahbad Dairy region is a hub of unlawful activities. Furthermore, there is a lack of well-maintained public spaces, encroachment on designated public areas, a rise in the crime rate, unsafe social conditions and the mushrooming of unauthorised structures in the locality.
On Saturday (2 September 2023), the Ministry of Law and Justice issued an official gazette announcing the establishment of an 8-member High-Level Committee (HLC) for analysing the feasibility of ‘One Nation, one Election’. As per the official notification, the HLC will examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.
While it was announced yesterday that former president Ram Nath Kovind will head the committee, the gazette notification has announced the names of seven other members. The committee includes Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Govt of India constitutes 8-member committee to examine ‘One nation, One election’.
Former President Ram Nath Kovind appointed as Chairman of the committee. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Former Rajya Sabha LoP Ghulam Nabi Azad, and others… pic.twitter.com/Sk9sptonp0
Apart from Chairman Ram Nath Kovind, the other members of the committee are:
Amit Shah – Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation Ministry
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury – Leader of Single Largest Party in Opposition, Lok Sabha
Ghulam Nabi Azad – Former Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha
N.K.Singh – The Former Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission
Subhash Kashyap – Former Secretary General of Lok Sabha
Harish Salve – Senior Advocate
Sanjay Kothari – Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner
It noted that Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the HLC as a Special Invitee.
Additionally, Niten Chandra who is the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Legal Affairs will be the Secretary to the HLC. The HLC will have its headquarters in New Delhi and it will conduct meetings and other functions as and when required.
An important aspect of the notification is that the committee has not been given any time frame to submit its recommendations. Instead, it has been asked to “commence functioning immediately and make recommendations at the earliest.”
Moreover, while there were speculations that ‘One Nation, One Election’ would be the agenda of the upcoming special session of parliament, that seems highly unlikely. Even though the committee has been asked to make recommendations at the earliest, it is unlikely that the committee will be able to prepare any report in just three weeks. As this involves a major legislative change, the committee will need to study a large number of laws ans aspects, will need to have consultations with a large number of people, and that will take some time.
History and Need for Simultaneous Elections
At the outset, the gazette highlights that elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and Legislative Assemblies of States were mostly held simultaneously from 1951-52 to 1967. The election cycle was broken and now elections are virtually frequent events.
Subsequently, the notification highlights the shortfalls of holding these recurrent elections. These include massive expenditure, diversion of security forces and other electoral officers from their primary duties for significantly prolonged periods, disruption in developmental work on account of prolonged application of Model Code of Conduct, etc.
It further highlighted the observations of the Law Commission of India in its 170th Report on Reforms of the Electoral Laws. The commission observed that the nation has to put an end to the cycle of elections every year and must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously.
The Law Commission’s report stated that holding a separate election to a Legislative Assembly should be an exception and not the rule. The rule ought to be ‘one election once in five years for Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies’.
Additionally, the gazette notification cited the report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice. The committee in its 79th Report on “Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Election to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies submitted in December 2015 recommended an alternative and practical method of holding simultaneous elections in two phases.
Stating that holding simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and State assemblies will be in the national interest, it added that the Government of India has constituted a High-Level Committee (HLC) to examine the idea of ‘One Nation, one election’.
According to the official notification, the HLC has started its functioning immediately and it will have to make recommendations at the earliest. Without a specific timeline, it is seemingly difficult that the matter of ‘One Nation, one Election’ will be raised in the special sitting of Parliament from 18 to 22 September.
Terms and references of the High-level committee
According to the official notification, the HLC will have the following directives –
Examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha), State Legislative Assemblies, Municipalities, and Panchayats.
It has to do this while keeping in mind the existing framework under the Constitution of India and other statutory provisions. It will also need to examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and other amendments to rules or laws for the purpose of holding simultaneous elections.
Examine and recommend if the amendments to the Constitution would need ratification by the States.
Analyse and recommend possible solutions in a scenario of simultaneous elections emerging out of a hung House, adoption of a no-confidence motion, defection, or any other event.
Suggest a framework for synchronisation of elections and specifically, suggest the phases and time frame within which simultaneous elections may be held if they cannot be held in one go.
This will also include suggestions for amending the Constitution and other laws in this regard and propose such rules that may be required in such circumstances. The HLC will recommend necessary safeguards for ensuring the continuity of the cycle of simultaneous elections. The HLC will have to recommend the required amendments, if any so that the cycle of simultaneous elections is not disturbed.
Examine the logistics and manpower required. This will include EVMs, VVPATs, etc., for holding such simultaneous elections.
Examine and recommend the modalities of use of a single electoral roll and electoral identity cards for identification of voters in elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha), State Legislative Assemblies, Municipalities, and Panchayats.
As per the official statement, the HLC can seek representations, and communications that can assist it in finalising its recommendations
According to the notification, the Legislative Department, and Ministry of Law and Justice will assist the HLC including providing logistical and manpower-related support.
On 28 August 2023, a minor student named Satyam was murdered in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Some minors, along with the main accused Yusuf, have been arrested by the police. The family members of the deceased along with Hindu organisations are demanding an NSA probe against Yusuf along with the demand of a bulldozer action.
Speaking to OpIndia, local residents of Kheeri described Yusuf as a bully and a man who beat people on a daily basis. There are also allegations of illegal occupation of land in Turkpurwa, a Muslim-dominated area where Satyam was killed. Also, people in the vicinity have to face crimes like buffalo theft and sheep theft.
Speaking to OpIndia, a local resident of Kheeri and an office-bearer of the Hindu organisation said that the Turkpurwa village where Satyam was killed has negligible Hindu population. He alleged that many Muslims in Turkpurwa have illegally occupied government land.
An office-bearer of the Hindu organisation told OpIndia that the present Muslim population that is seen in Kheeri was not seen there in this proportion 5-6 years ago. He demanded an administrative inquiry into the one-sided demographic change. Another local resident told us that the Muslim-dominated Turkpurwa stretches for about 300 metres on the main road.
Off the road, it is also in the form of a village where there are Mazars, 3 mosques and madrasas. Except for a few Scheduled Caste people’s households on one side of this village, almost all the people dwelling in the interiors of the village are from the Muslim community.
Residents around Kheeri Turkpurwa are quite fed up with incidents of theft including the theft of animals. On January 18, 2021, Rajesh Kumar in Kanchanpur, a neighbouring village in Turkpurwa, lodged a complaint with the police stating that around 20 of his sheep were stolen by someone at night.
The price of these sheep was estimated to be around 2 lakh rupees. Rajesh then described himself as poor and a debtor and said that through these sheep, his family was sustained. He had said that he had become unemployed since the sheep were stolen.
The complaint letter by Rajesh Kumar. Image Source: OpIndia
Even before this incident, on April 16, 2018, social worker Rajendra Mishra had alleged that a gang of buffalo thieves was active in the surrounding areas including Kheeri and Koraon. On the complaint of Rajendra Mishra, Prayagraj Police had instructed the subordinates to take necessary steps.
इस सम्बन्ध में थाना प्रभारी कोरांव,खीरी,मांडा से वार्ता कर आवश्यक दिशा निर्देश दिया गया।
— POLICE COMMISSIONERATE PRAYAGRAJ (@prayagraj_pol) April 16, 2018
The people of Kheeri told OpIndia that there are around 6500 voters in the village. Of these, 1,500 voters belong to the Muslim community, who mostly live in Turkpurwa. SC community has an almost equal number of votes as that of the Muslims. The rest are all other people.
We were told that about half a dozen candidates were contesting for the post of village head, the only Muslim candidate being Yusuf. According to local residents, Yusuf got a consolidated vote from almost all Muslims and some Hindus also voted for him.
Locals say that none of the Hindu candidates got Muslim votes in the election. Yusuf eventually defeated his rival Avneesh Kesarwani by around 250 votes. Yusuf had earlier been a candidate for the post of village head twice but lost on both occasions.
Villagers in Kheeri told OpIndia that there is a Mazar almost adjacent to the main road. This tomb was earlier in a small part and movement was normal here. We were told that Yusuf won the election and first of all he beautified this tomb.
Yusuf not only renovated the tomb but also installed gates, grills etc. in it. This time a big fair was also held at the same mazar in Muharram under the leadership of Yusuf. The villagers could not give information about whether this tomb was built on legal land or on illegal land.
We asked the locals why no one came forward to save Satyam. In response, local residents said that people in Kheeri were so scared of Yusuf that no one in the village dared to obstruct any of his work. People described him as a strongman and said that Yusuf has been booked for assault in the past as well.
So far, a total of 5 cases have been claimed against Yusuf. It is also believed that Yusuf can be prosecuted under the Gangster Act. Yusuf’s family runs trucks, but people described Yusuf’s main job as brokering in government offices. A report by Patrika also mentions that Yusuf has a strong hold on the police station and he spends ample money on the policemen as well.
Not only this, the report also states that the police officer travels with the cars given by Yusuf. The report further said that on the last Bakrid, Yusuf had given a feast to the policemen at the police station. He is also accused of misusing government funds and implicating complainants in fake cases. In this, some other officials of the district have been said to be his helpers.
Speaking to OpIndia, locals said they were waiting for bulldozers to be run on Yusuf’s illegal properties. People said that the 48-hour time given for strict action by the District Magistrate Prayagraj has now been completed. Once again, information has come out that the administration has informed about a time of another 48 hours for strict action.
However, some people also reported that the administrative officials are collecting a detailed account of Yusuf’s crimes and the assets acquired by him. Based on this, further action will be taken against him.
16-year-old Satyam Sharma was beaten to death on August 28, 2023, in Kheeri, Prayagraj. The reason for the murder is said to be Satyam’s opposition to the accused molesting his cousin. Satyam’s cousin had begged for mercy to save her brother by bowing before Mohammad Yusuf.
