Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte has declined to adhere to the summon of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) who asked him to appear before the agency on November 25 in connection with the money laundering probe against jailed former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Kunte said that he will not be able to turn up before the ED to record his statements as he is busy with Cabinet meetings on November 25.
ED issues summon to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte to appear before it on Nov 25 for answering questions related to Anil Deshmukh’s probe & transfers and postings of state police officers
Kunte said he ‘won’t be able to join investigation due to some cabinet meetings’
The ED summoned Kunte to record his statement regarding the transfer and postings of police officers in Maharashtra when Deshmukh was heading the home portfolio. Anil Deshmukh, a prominent leader of the Nationalist Congress, was forced to resign as Home Minister in the first week of April after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe against him for allegedly running an extortion racket.
The former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging Deshmukh had asked controversial cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs. 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments.
There were other serious allegations of corruption in transfer and posting.
This month, CBI arrested a private person named Santosh Shankar Jagtap from Thane. Jagtap allegedly acted as the go-between in the transfers and postings of police officers when Anil Deshmukh was the home minister. His name surfaced during the call intercepts of certain phone numbers done by former Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla.
Notably, Kunte a 1985 batch officer is set to retire on November 30 and the Maharashtra government requested the Centre for his three months extension.
On November 24, Congress MLA Rajendra Singh Gudha made a controversial statement. In his sexist jibe, he said the roads in his constituency should be like the cheeks of Katrina Kaif. Gudha, who was elected as Minister of State for Rural Development in Rajasthan, was at his assembly constituency Udaipurwati. When the people complained to him about the bad roads, he told NK Joshi, Chief Engineer of Public Works Department, from the stage, that the roads in his village should be made like the cheeks of Katrina Kaif.
#WATCH | “Roads should be made like Katrina Kaif’s cheeks”, said Rajasthan Minister Rajendra Singh Gudha while addressing a public gathering in Jhunjhunu district (23.11) pic.twitter.com/87JfD5cJxV
As per the reports, the minister first said the roads should be made like Hema Malini cheeks. After a few moments, he said, “no… Hema Malini has become old.” Then he asked the people present at the meeting, “Which actress is famous in films nowadays?” When people took the name of Katrina Kaif, he said, “Then the roads of my village should be made like the cheeks of Katrina Kaif.”
Before Katrina Kaif, it was Hema Malini
Back in 2005, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav also gave a similar sexist statement. At the time, he had said that Bihar roads would become as smooth as the cheeks of Hema Malini. In 2019, Congress leader PC Sharma compared the roads of Madhya Pradesh with the cheeks of BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya and said the Congress government would make them like the cheeks of Hema Malini.
Leaders of the Karnataka Congress have finally remembered Sardar Vallabhai Patel on his birth anniversary, though it seems it is not out of respect but out of fear of the BJP.
This was revealed following a weeks-old video that has gone viral on social media. It is related to the Congress’ programme organized in Bengaluru on October 31 to mark the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In the video, former chief minister Siddaramaiah is heard inquiring Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar about the absence of the portrait of India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhai whose birthday falls on the same day.
“Today it is his (Sardar Patel) birth anniversary. There is no portrait of him?”, chief minister Siddaramaiah is heard asking Shivakumar in Kannada.
“Sir, yes. It is his birthday today also. But we never keep the photo,” Shivakumar informs him about the party tradition of keeping Sardar Patel away from the memory.
“But what happens with BJP, they will take advantage,” Siddaramaiah said and turns to a staff member asking him whether he had a photo of Vallabhai Patel? Then they decide to keep a portrait of Sardar Patel with Indira Gandhi.
Unnoticed by them, their conversation was amplified by the ‘hot mic’.
The video might have gone unnoticed but it became viral after former minister and BJP leader MP Renukacharya tweeted a video of the purported conversation on November 24. His post in Kannada loosely translates: “Congress pays tribute to Patel in fear of BJP.”
“If anyone had a doubt how much the Nehru Dynasty hated Sardar Patel, this video clears it. Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar agree to place a photo of Sardar Patel along with that of Indira Gandhi fearing BJP. It is a shame that Slaves are so much scared of an Italian,” BJP leader CT Ravi said.
If anyone had doubt how much the Nehru Dynasty hated Sardar Patel, this video clears it.
CONgress leaders @siddaramaiah & @DKShivakumar agree to place photo of Sardar Patel along with that of Indira Gandhi fearing BJP.
Mic gaffes are not new in Congress. In October, a video of Karnataka Congress media coordinator MA Salim and former MP VS Ugrappa went viral. Ahead of a press conference, they were heard badmouthing about Shivakumar and his alleged corruption when he was a minister in HD Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress coalition government.
On November 24, rebel Congress MLA from Rae Bareli, Aditi Singh, joined Bharatiya Janata Party. Singh has been a staunch critic of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi. The 34-year-old rebel Congress leader was elected as a member of the UP Legislative Assembly in 2017. She is the daughter of the late Akhilesh Singh, who was elected as MLA five times.
Though she was a Congress leader, on several occasions, she voiced criticism for Congress as well as extended support to the ruling dispensation. She has also been a very vocal critic of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi. Last week, she criticized Priyanka Gandhi over her reaction to PM Modi’s announcement of the decision to repeal the Agriculture Laws. News Agency ANI quoted her saying, “Priyanka Gandhi had a problem when Bills were brought. She has a problem when the Laws (Farm Laws) have been repealed. What does she want? She should say it clearly. She is only politicising the matter. She has now run out of issues to politicise.”
Priyanka Gandhi had a problem when Bills were brought. She has a problem when the Laws (Farm Laws) have been repealed. What does she want? She should say it clearly. She is only politicising the matter. She has now run out of issues to politicise: Aditi Singh, Rebel Congress MLA pic.twitter.com/ssi8ZLPej5
Notably, Singh has been said to have voted for BJP in UP Legislative Assembly elections multiple times. Later year in May, she was suspended by Congress from the women’s wing after she criticized her own party for arranging 1,000 buses for migrants during the Covid-19 lockdown. She also voiced support for the abrogation of Article 370 while Congress was against it. in 2020, she defied her Party’s call for boycotting UP assembly after which Congress sought her disqualification. However, the request was rejected by the Speaker.
In 2018, there were rumours that Aditi would soon marry Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of 2019 general elections. However, Singh rubbished the rumours and said, “Such rumours upset me. I would like to clarify that Rahul Ji is my rakhi brother and I am really saddened by such rumours on social media.”
An impending coal crisis is lurking on Congress ruled Rajasthan that may hit power production in the coming days. But it will be interesting to see whether and how the Congress will blame the Narendra Modi led government for this crisis scripted by the Congress led Chhattisgarh government.
The chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel have locked horns after the Chhattisgarh government withheld permission of the mining of the Parsa coal mines. As per a report in TV9, Chhattisgarh government has not given permission to Rajasthan government to mine coal in Para mine.
The said coal mine spread over 841.53 hectares is situated at Surguja in Chhattisgarh. In 2015 the central government had allocated three coal blocks to Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Nigam Limited (RUVNL) situated in Chhattisgarh including Parsa and Kete Extension.
But the mining could be started in only one block and the matter of the remaining two blocks including Parsa remained pending due to the absence of environmental clearance.
On 21 October, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change gave clearance for mining. On 2 November, the union coal ministry also gave clearance for the mining. Rajasthan was to get 2.7 rake coal on daily basis and 1000 rakes annually to fuel its thermal plants. The mine has a reserve of 150 million tonne coal and can produce for 30 years.
Even if the Rajasthan government was able to secure clearances for mining from the Centre in 15 days, the Chhattisgarh government is sitting over the request of Rajasthan to give go-ahead for the mining.
The proposed block is situated on forest land and there some local tribal leaders who are protesting any mining activity. Now seemingly under the vote bank compulsion, the Baghel government has just become tightlipped despite a desperate appeal form Rajasthan chief minister.
After facing power outage in September and October due to depleted coal stocks, Rajasthan the chief minister Gehlot wrote a letter to Baghle and requested him to clear the roadblocks for the development of both blocks. Gehlot also requested personal intervention of Baghel to help Rajasthan.
Gehlot urged that Parsa coal block (5 million tonne per annum production capacity) and Kente Extension (9 million tonne per annum production capacity) will solve the problem of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan has thermal units in district Suratgarh with 2160 MW capacity, Kota (1240MW), Chhabra (1320MW), Kalisindh (1200MW), Giral 250MW (Barmer), 270.50MW plant in Jaisalmer.
Former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been the most prominent Democrat to have gone against the party line on the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. Contrary to her former Democrat colleagues, she has maintained that it was a clear case of self-defense. On Wednesday, Tulsi Gabbard shared a video where she once again reiterated her stand that it was wrong of the mainstream media and US President Joe Biden to call the teenager a White Supremacist.
Outrageously, within hours and without evidence, MSM and Biden labeled Rittenhouse a white supremacist. This is unfair and further eroded people’s trusts in our President and MSM. pic.twitter.com/rnjObndanb
She said, “From the beginning, we are seeing this thing play out, where evidence doesn’t matter, facts doesn’t matter (sic). Hearing all these comments being made, they are grossly inaccurate, and it just shows how politicised the whole thing was from the beginning.”
She continued, “And unfortunately, how dangerous this path is if you follow it down its course. Where every white person is a white supremacist is essentially the message that they are sending, whether you realise it or not. And so, therefore if you look at our judicial system, you look at jury trials, does this mean that we don’t allow white people on juries anymore because they can’t be impartial because they are all white supremacists?”
“But then if so, they are saying, okay, we gotta get rid of the whole system, reform the whole system. Okay, so if you get rid of all the juries, then what? So then you have one person who’s making a decision about the fate of someone’s life and their future. How does that stand up to the ideals of a democratic society? It doesn’t. It starts to buckle and fall apart very quickly,” added Tulsi Gabbard.
The former Congresswoman made the comments on the Greg Gutfeld show on Fox News. Earlier, she had said that the jury got it right when it concluded that Kyle Rittenhouse was not guilty on all charges. The teenager was accused of intentional homicide after he killed two protesters in self-defense.
Gabbard said that the fact that the charges were even brought in against Rittenhouse showed that the prosecution was motivated by politics, which ought to be considered criminal. Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty after he claimed before the court that he shot the violent protesters in self-defense.
Prior to that, there were numerous lies spread by the mainstream media against the teenager, the most ostentatious being the allegation that he “crossed state lines” and he was defending property in the city of Kenosha which they claimed he had no connection to. This was despite the fact that his father lived in Kenosha and had family there and he worked in the city too. Furthermore, his home was less than a half an hour drive from the city.
The Cyber Cell unit of Mumbai Police Monday arrested a 33-year-old man from Rajasthan for allegedly posing as a woman and trying to extort Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Kudalkar with a morphed obscene video of his. Two other accused in the case are absconding.
The accused, identified as Mousamdin Mohammed Khan, contacted the MLA via Facebook on October 19. Pretending to be a woman, the imposter claimed he was in trouble and sought the MLA’s phone number. According to the police, Kudalkar shared his number with the accused and subsequently, posing as a woman, Khan video called him which lasted for a few seconds.
Having received the MLA’s number and confirming that it was indeed MLA Kudalkar’s personal number, Khan went on to create a morphed vulgar video of the Shiv Sena leader and sent it to him on Whatsapp. He demanded money from the MLA, threatening him of making the video public if he refused to accede to his demands.
As per a report published in Indian Express, the MLA paid some money initially, but when Khan demanded more, he approached Mumbai Police. Kudalkar, an MLA from Kurla, filed a complaint with the cyber police on October 23. The cyber cell of the police tracked the accused to Bharatpur in Rajasthan, and with the help of local police arrested him. Two other accused involved in the case are on the run. The police have launched a search probe to arrest them.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Rashmi Karandikar (cyber) said, “We have taken transit remand of the culprit. The team of police along with him should be here Wednesday and we will comment only after they are here.”
The Mumbai cyber police did an excellent investigation and nabbed the culprits in no time. I urge people to report such incidents to the cybercrime police,” said Kudalkar after the culprit was nabbed by the cyber unit of the Mumbai Police.
On November 24, Sanjay Mishra, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister of Tripura, received summons from Kolkata Police via email in connection to a case registered against him at Narkeldanga Police station. The case has been registered under Sections 153B, 268, 468, 469, 471, 500, 505(I)(b) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act 2005.
Summons sent to OSD to CM Trupura by Kolkata Police.
The summons read, “In exercise of the power conferred U/s 41A Cr. P.C., I do hereby inform you that you are the FIR named an accused person of the above referred case, and it is revealed during investigation that there are reasonable grounds to question you to ascertain the fact and circumstances from you. Hence, you are requested to appear at Narkeldanga PS on 25.11.2021 at 12:00 PM and meet the I.O. of the case S.I. S. Bandopadhyay of Narkeldanga PS.”
It further read in case Mishra failed to appear before the Police, it might result in his arrest as per law.
TMC has a history of using Kolkata Police to level political scores
This is not the first time the ruling party of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress, has used the Police to settle political scores. In August, Kolkata Police had arrested BJP leader Sajal Ghosh. In the process, they broke down his door and arrested him under Arms Act. Ghosh had claimed that he was arrested despite of not being involved in any criminal activity.
A quote attributed to Savarkar has been going around in academic circles which shows that Savarkar supported Jinnah’s two nation theory. This article examines the quote and its implications.
The quote is “I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnah’s two-nation theory. We Hindus are a nation by ourselves and it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations (sic)”.
So, what is the (primary) source of this quote? Is it real or fabricated? Let us examine.
One can find this quote in Prabhu Narain Bapu’s PhD. thesis titled ‘Constructing Nation and History Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India 1915-1930′ submitted to the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London in November 2009. (For the online version of the thesis, click here)
You can see (below) that the page 77 of the thesis contains the aforementioned quote.
Part II Sangathan Ideology; Chapter 5 Hindutva – A Nation of Hindu Race and Culture; Section III. Hindu Rashtra of the said thesis.
If you look closely, you will find that the primary source quoted by the PhD. scholar is ‘111 Savarkar, Hindu Rashtra Darshan, p. 14-5,20, 24.’
Citation Number 111
The book can be found here (click) or here (click) or here (click). The quote cannot be found anywhere in the book, let alone pages 14, 15, 20 or 24 as cited in the thesis.
PDF search result
It appears baffling that a PhD thesis submitted to the ‘prestigious’ University of London contains such a mistake. However, our quest here is not to judge but to enumerate and construe.
Taking a slight detour, it would be important to state the fact that Dhruv Rathee (a pro-AAP YouTuber), in order to prove that Savarkar was responsible for partition, cited this quote from a book which was written by this very PhD. scholar Prabhu Narain Bapu. Also, the said book was based on this very thesis.
Sourced from a book written by London School of Economics graduate who has a PhD in history. It reflects the whole ideology of Hindu Mahasabha more than the single line you quoted
Coming back to topic, where did this quote then come from? A website maintained by Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Research Foundation states that these words were said by Savarkar in 1945. Their stated source is ‘vide Indian Educational Register 1943 vol. 2 page 10’. However, it is inimical to common sense and logic that a document published/written in 1943 would contain a quote from 1945. The website can be accessed here (click).
Snippet of the relevant portion of the website.
The source (Indian Educational Register, 1943, Vol.2, page 10) is also known as Indian Annual Register. Prof. Shamsul Islam cites this very source for the quote but mentions the date of the quote to be 15th August, 1943 and the place to be Nagpur in an article for the Counterview blog. Link to that article is this (click).
Relevant portion of Prof. Shamsul Islam’s article.
The link to the relevant volume of Indian Annual Register is this (click). One can find this quote in the document. The date is 15th August, 1943 and the venue is Kanpur.
Indian Annual Register, 1943, Vol.2 , page 10
If viewed from here, it appears that:
1. The the quote is real. 2. Narain Prabhu Bapu merely misquoted in his PhD. thesis (still a grave mistake). 3. The website maintained by Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Research Foundation merely gave the wrong year (1945 instead of 1943). 4. Savarkar indeed supported the two nation theory.
As with most of the things, the devil lies in the details here. As you can see, the document also mentions that Savarkar wanted to join hand with those who agreed with four basic provisions:
1. Territorial Integrity of India 2. Majority rule in provinces and the Centre 3. Residuary powers in the Centre 4. Recruitment to civil services on merit alone
Let us now revise, what exactly is the Two nation theory of Jinnah. At Lahore session of the Muslim League, he had put forward a resolution surmising his demand. That and his other principles of the theory can be summarized as follows:
1. Partition: He wanted Muslim majority ““Independent States” in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign (sic)” 2. Minority rights in India: He wanted “adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specially provided in the constitution” for “the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights and interests”. 3. Separate interests of Muslims and Hindus: Whole of the resolution was based on the idea that the interests of the two communities are fundamentally different and they cannot be welded into one nation. This can be understood from the use of the term ”Muslim India”. 4. Provincial autonomy and recruitment: Earlier, he had suggested that only in few subjects should remain with centre and the rest including the residuary powers shall remain with the provinces (Point one and two of Jinnah’s fourteen points). Further, he wanted reservation for Muslims in recruitment to public service (Point eleven of the said points).
One can refer to the Lahore Resoultion of the Muslim League and Jinnah’s fourteen points as the source of the above.
It becomes extremely clear, hence, that while Jinnah wanted partition, Savarkar wanted Territorial Integrity of India. Jinnah wanted minority representation while Savarkar wanted Majority rule. Jinnah wanted residuary powers to reside in the provinces but Savarkar wanted them to reside in Centre. Jinnah wanted reservation in recruitment to civil/public service while Savarkar wanted merit to be the sole criterion. How can then be that Savarkar had ‘no quarrel’ with Jinnah’s two nation theory?
Vikram Sampath in his latest book (biography) of Savarkar titled ‘Savarkar (Part 2): A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966’ has cleared the issue.
Ch 7, Leaning on a Broken Reed
Savarkar’s views were distorted and presented as he himself claimed in an interview to Kaal daily on 19 August, 1943. It can safely be concluded, hence, that Savarkar did not want the partition of the country.
On November 24, an invitation of “Prophet Bajinder Singh Ministries” started to make rounds on social media platforms. The organization is starting its branch in Moga on November 25, as suggested by an advertorial video on the official YouTube channel of Bajinder Singh. The ad on YouTube alleged the attendees would witness “miracles” by Bajinder Singh. It claimed Singh would heal people with cancer, disabilities and possessions.
Bajinder Singh is the same person whose ‘Mera Yeshu Yeshu’ video became a meme on the internet.
Though the YouTube video does not talk about who all have been invited as Chief Guests, the invitation card mentioned Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Congress MLA Harjot Kamal, actor Sonu Sood and his sister Malvika Sood. Notably, Malvika is all set to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections from Moga.
The invitation card has attracted sharp criticism on social media as Bajinder Singh has been accused of converting people to Christianity on the pretext of false and misleading promises. While sharing the invitation, Author Ratan Sharda said, “What does it say about #Congress CM? What does it say of the party? What does it say of SGPC Amritsar, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Akali Dal who hate & abuse RSS for stressing Sikh Hindu unity but silent on this blatant conversion game?” he further questioned, “Bajinder has become a prophet now and CM #Channi his disciple?”
Bajinder has become a prophet now and CM #Channi his disciple? ?
Investigative journalist Vijay Patel said, “Why this Bajinder is not healing Corona? And look at the guest list. CM of Punjab and Sonu Sood are on the list.”
Singh’s name had been linked to a murder and a rape case in the past. He was also accused of looting the followers of money on the pretext of ‘miraculous healing’. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also asked the Punjab Police to initiate a case against Bajinder Singh under POCSO Act in August 2021 after videos of Singh emerged on the internet where he was seen using a minor boy for forceful religious conversion activity.
The ‘healer baba’ surprisingly has over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and over 2 lakh followers on Facebook. His social media pages mostly consist of testimonials and claims of curing illnesses like HIV infections, paralysis by simply applying his prayed anointing oil, curing a deaf and dumb child by using the same oil.
Bajinder Singh’s conversion network is increasing in Punjab at a rapid pace without any strong opposition from the government or local leaders. With a new branch in Moga, Singh may expand its conversion network in villages around the city in Punjab.
