Former Indian Cricketer and the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been admitted to a hospital in Kolkata after complaining of a heart issue on Saturday morning.
According to the reports, Sourav Ganguly was rushed to the Woodlands hospital in Kolkata after he suffered a mild cardiac arrest on Saturday morning while working out in the gym at his residence.
Sports Journalist Boria Majumdar confirmed that Ganguly will be discharged on Saturday itself after getting an angioplasty done. His condition is said to be stable and all tests are being conducted on him.
“He felt dizzy when he was in the gym and he went to Woodlands to get the Tests done. That’s when it came to light that there was a cardiac issue and the hospital has now created a 3 member board with Dr Saroj Mondal who will perform the procedure. @SGanguly99 get well soon,” Boria Majumdar tweeted.
He had a heart issue and is in Woodlands hospital. But is stable will need a procedure confirm hospital sources. Should be out of the woods in the next few hours. I wish him a speedy recovery. @SGanguly99
Even BCCI took to Twitter to confirm the news and wished a speedy recovery to the former Indian captain and current BCCI chief. BCCI secretary Jay Shah, in a tweet, said that Ganguly is stable and “responding well to treatment.
Reportedly, Sourav Ganguly was recently in New Delhi for the inauguration of the late Arun Jaitley’s statue at the Delhi cricket stadium, formerly known as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, on the 68th birth anniversary of the former finance minister and the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association chief.
Ganguly is reported to be in a stable condition currently. All required tests are being performed on him.
A strange case of triple talaq has come to light in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh where a divorced Muslim woman is seeking justice against her former husband who has converted to Hinduism. According to Amar Ujala, a Muslim man had given triple talaq to his wife in 2017. The man, who works with Indian Railway, had married a Muslim woman in 2004. He has two sons with his Muslim wife.
After giving triple talaq to his Muslim wife, the man converted to Hinduism. He married a Hindu woman and is currently living with her. However, his former wife has invoked the triple talaq law (Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019) against him. She has demanded maintenance from him under the law. The matter has come up for hearing before the Principal Judge RN Chand at Bhopal Family Court.
The woman came to know about triple talaq law from relatives
The Muslim woman’s counsel said that the woman came to know about the law against triple talaq from her relatives. She found out the law invalidates the practice of triple talaq and makes it a criminal offence. Therefore, the woman has sought maintenance under the law.
The Hindu wife of the man has reportedly claimed that her marriage with her husband is legal and valid. She said that her husband married after divorcing his first and only after converting to Hinduism. She said that the former wife of her husband had no right to live with her husband.
Triple Talaq law
The central government has enacted the law against triple talaq in 2019 after the Supreme Court declared the regressive practice as unconstitutional in 2017. The law criminalises the practice of triple talaq and prescribes punishment for up to 3 years. The woman is entitled to maintenance for her dependent children under the law.
With days left for US President Donald Trump to leave the Oval Office, the Islamic Republic of Iran had issued threats to him on Friday.
As per reports, Iranian Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi tried to intimidate the incumbent US President for the assassination of Iran’s top military general Qaseem Soleimani on January 3 last year at the Baghdad airport. He claimed that the killers of Soleimani would ‘not be safe on Earth’ and that Donald Trump was not ‘immune to justice.’
“They will witness severe revenge. What has come so far has only been glimpses…Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, maybe immune from justice being carried out. Never. Those who had a role in this assassination and crime will not be safe on Earth,” Raisi remarked at the Tehran University during the first anniversary of Qaseem Soleimani’s death.
Revenge may come from anywhere, threatens successor of Soleimani
Reportedly, several officials from Iran and neighbouring countries of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon attended the event. Esmail Ghaani, the successor of Soleimani, also vowed to issue threats, saying that revenge might come from anywhere. “It’s even possible that there are people inside your home [the United States] that will respond to your crime,” he claimed.
At the same time, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, warned, “Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers. We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield.” Tensions between the US and Iran flared up after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and ordered sanctions against the Islamic country.
Will avenge assasination one day, warns Iranian President
On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that the US was ‘definitely harmed’ for killing Soleimani and that Iranians would move on the path of ‘resistance and independence’. He added, “All nations have realized that as long as the Americans are in this region, the region will never see a favourable and desirable [day], and the regional nations, God willing, will cut off the foot of these criminals and aggressors.”
Reiterating that he knew General Soleimani for 40 years and that one day Iran would avenge his assassination one day, he emphasised, “Trump committed many crimes and killed many people, but we will never forget these two cases (including the killing of al-Muhandis).” Rouhani concluded that Soleimani did not hesitate to carry out his ‘national, religious and revolutionary duty’ in the face of US aggression.
Donald Trump warns Iran over US embassy attack in Baghdad
Recently, United States President Donald Trump warned Iran saying he would hold the Islamic Republic accountable “if one American is killed” in rocket attacks in Iraq. Taking to Twitter, President Trump blamed Tehran for the rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad. After a meeting with senior officials at the White House, President Trump said that Iran was behind rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad on Sunday.
“Now we hear the chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq,” he added, before offering “some friendly health advice to Iran: if one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over”. Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed the allegations made by the US and responded to US authorities on Monday asking not to provoke “tensions”. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the latest rocket attack in a tweet on December 21, refuting US accusations saying that the allegations are being made to create tensions.
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani
The head of Iran’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani was killed in the US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on January 3, 2020, a move that has provoked a major escalation in US-Iran tensions. Besides, trench mate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi were also killed in the drone attack. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had then issued a statement vowing to retaliate “in the right place and time”. Trump, on the other hand, had claimed that he did not seek war with Iran and the drone attack to eliminate Soleimani was to stop an “imminent” war with the Middle-East country
Expressing strong support for the farm reforms initiated by the Modi government, more than 850 academicians from different parts of the country have written a letter saying that the three farm laws brought by the government seek to free farm trade from restrictions and enable farmers to sell their produce at competitive prices.
According to the reports, the noted intellectuals, academicians, including a few Vice-Chancellors said that union government has repeatedly assured the farmers that these three farm laws will not do away with Minimum Support Price (MSP) “but rather free the farm trade from all illicit market restrictions, open the market beyond ‘mandis’ and further assists the small and marginal farmers to sell their produce at market/competitive prices”.
Image Source: Mukul Yadav/ Twitter
“The new laws also provide full autonomy for farmers to sell their produce. We strongly believe in the government’s assurance to the farmers to protect their livelihoods. The government is still firmly committed to delivering the principle of minimum government, maximum governance,” the statement said.
Reforms carried out after vibrant discussion: Experts, academicians
The noted experts also explained how the laws were brought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of agenda for agro-reforms to benefit the farmers. The statement said that the bills were passed in the monsoon session of the parliament after having a vibrant discussion. The statement said India is a country where most of the population is still dependent on agriculture for livelihood.
“We stand in solidarity with both the government and the farmers and salute their intense efforts. We all will live, progress, and develop together and peacefully,” the academicians said.
The extension of support from the three major agricultural reforms by the academicians comes after several farmers’ groups have welcomed the three farm laws enacted by the Modi government.
Wide range of acceptance for farm laws initiated by Modi government
Ever since Modi government passed the three farm laws, farmers from across the country had come forward to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested the Centre to not bow down to the demands of the protestors. These farmers from various states, including Punjab, have said that the new farm laws have been beneficial to them, and said that these should not be repealed as demanded by the farmers mostly from Punjab.
Interestingly, apart from a few protesting farmers from Punjab, who have been picked up by Arhatiyas (middleman) to protest against the Modi government by camping along the Haryana-Delhi border, most of the farmers in the country have openly come out in the support of the three laws passed by the Modi government that has freed them from the earlier restrictions imposed by the APMC acts passed by respective state governments.
Several videos, testimonies in favour of the three farm laws have come up on social media platforms highlighting how the majority of the farmers, if not all, have welcomed the much-needed agro reforms.
Recently, around 1.20 lakh farmers from Haryana had expressed their support to the farm laws and had written a letter to the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar demanding them not to succumb to the pressure and withdraw the farm laws.
Ever since the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance-2020 has come into force in the state, the UP police have registered as many as 14 cases and arrested 51 people under this law. Despite this, the perpetrators of Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad) continue to commit the crime unabated. In yet another case, a girl from Faridpur in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, has approached the police with a complaint against a Muslim youth named Abrar Khan who allegedly threatened her to convert to Islam and marry him on gunpoint.
Abrar Khan reaches Bareilly girl’s house with a gun and threatens to kill her and her family members
According to a report by Live Hindustan, the girl told the police that when her family came to know that Abrar Khan was harassing her and coercing her to convert to Islam and marry him, they approached Abrar’s family to complain against him. Miffed by this, Abrar along with his accomplice Israr and Mysore reached the victim’s house with guns and threatened to kill the victim and her family members if they did not yield to his demands.
Following this, the family approached the police and lodged a complaint against Abrar Khan accusing him of mounting pressure on their daughter to convert her to Islam. The police, in turn, registered a case of molestation and Love Jihad (Grooming Jihad) against Abrar Khan.
The victim who is a BSC nursing student told the police that Abrar Khan had been harassing her for quite some time. Whenever she use to go to college, Abrar Khan intercepted her path, harassed her and coerced her to convert into Islam and marry him. He openly molested and threatened her of dire consequences if she did not capitulate to his demands.
The Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad) victim from Bareilly narrates her ordeal
The victim confessed that due to the continuous badgering, she had gone into depression. She could not handle the mental agony and stress and developed tuberculosis. This also affected her studies, said the victim in her complaint.
The victim said that she was being harassed for a while, but she kept quiet thinking that if her family came to know, she would not be allowed to go to college and her studies would get hampered. However, one day when she was on her way to college, she stopped at a toll plaza to pay the toll fee when Abrar Khan and his friends intercepted her path.
The youth then dragged her out of the scooty and began to molest her on the highway. She somehow rescued herself and returned home. Fed up with the continuous persecution, the victim finally broke her silence and narrated her ordeal to her parents who, in turn, approached the police.
Victim threatens of suicide
While narrating her harrowing experiences, the victim broke down in front of the police. She cried and threatened to commit suicide if her persecutor is not punished. Bareilly Inspector Surendra Singh Pachauri has assured the victim and her family that the case would be investigated and strict and speedy action would be taken against the perpetrator.
The Delhi police have busted a crime syndicate involved in the theft and sale of more than 500 high-end luxury cars from Delhi and NCR. According to reports, the Delhi police have nabbed three key members of the syndicate that robbed high-end cars. The kingpin Waseem has been operating in Delhi, Jaunpur and Raipur in Chhattisgarh for the last five years and has been involved in the theft of more than 500 cars.
Waseem, assisted by a close associate Riyaz, had stolen fifteen luxury stolen vehicles such as Fortuner, Creta, Brezza, Skoda, Ertiga, with one Royal Enfield motorcycle have been recovered. The gang sold the vehicles in the Naxal-hit areas making it difficult for them to be recovered.
Reportedly, Waseem and his close associate Riyaz had formed a gang of auto-lifters about 5-6 years back. They purchased damaged cars’ scrap from the portals of different insurance companies and websites along with the original documents. Thereafter, they stole the cars of the same make, model and colour from Delhi/NCR and replaced it with the details of the scrapped cars by tampering with the engine and chassis numbers.
“These stolen cars would be sold later in small towns like Jaunpur, Raipur etc., through car dealers. They’d change the details so skillfully that even the transport authorities and finance companies could not detect the tampering. The gang then established its base in the Naxal-hit areas for selling the stolen vehicles to make it difficult for such vehicles to be recovered,” said Deepak Yadav, DCP East Delhi.
Rajikullah Khan, a 33-year-old resident of Raipur in Chhattisgarh became part of the gang in 2018. His role was to sell the stolen cars with tampered chassis and engine numbers in Raipur.
Another accused Satish Kumar, a resident of Nand Nagri in Delhi, is a car painter. Kumar had come in contact with Waseem who persuaded him to join them and asked him to deliver the stolen cars to the receivers at various places. Another accused Kunal Yadav, also came in contact with Waseem in 2018, who enticed him with the promise of easy money.
Kunal bought scrapped cars from the web portals of various insurance companies and car dealers and turned them over to Waseem. The kingpin Waseem, who has gone absconding is yet to be arrested and several teams have been formed to arrest him.
Since the Uttar Pradesh government approved the ordinance against forced religious conversions in November last year, the first charge sheet has been filed under the law by the state police in Bijnor in a case of Grooming Jihad. According to Indian Express, police have filed a chargesheet in a matter where a Dalit woman was abducted by a carpenter identified as Afzal. The charge sheet was filed before judicial magistrate earlier this week.
According to the report, the Dalit woman had shifted to Chandigarh a few years ago along with her parents. Afzal used to live near her house. In December last year, the woman accompanied by her parents had come to Bijnor to attend a wedding. She disappeared on December 6 while visiting a market near her home. Her father lodged an FIR against Afzal two days after her disappearance as the victim was last seen with him. A case was filed under the provisions of abduction and the new anti-conversion law. Police traced the woman in the district on December 9.
Afzal sexually assaulted and tried to convert her to Islam
In her statement recorded before the magistrate, the woman said that Afzal concealed his real identity and introduced himself as Sonu. She said that he used to visit her house and became friends with her. Narrating her ordeal, she said that Afzal tried to convert her and sexually assaulted her. The woman said that she came to know about the real identity of the accused only after she went with him. The accused allegedly promised to marry her after converting her.
Investigating Officer Kuldeep Kumar Gupta said that the charge sheet has been filed under section 366 of the Indian Penal Code, the relevant provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 and the SC-ST Act. On the basis of the woman’s statement before the magistrate, charges of rape have also been invoked. Afzal was arrested by police on December 10 and was produced before the court from where he was sent to judicial custody.
First case was filed under the anti-conversion law a day after it was passed
A day after the anti-conversion was passed by Yogi government last year, the first case was lodged under the law against one Uwais Ahmed for allegedly trying to forcibly convert a Hindu girl to Islam. The accused had allegedly lured the victim and had persuaded her to convert. He even threatened to kill the victim and her family is she did not comply with his demands.
Friction between the coalition partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra is palpable as Congress and Shiv Sena are sparring over renaming Aurangabad as ‘Sambhaji Nagar’.
A day after Congress state president and Maharashtra cabinet minister Balasaheb Thorat opposed the rebranding of Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana today published an editorial in which it made an emphatic case for renaming the city.
Dismissing that the change of name would have any repercussions on the fate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the article pointed out how the founder of Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray had already named it Sambhaji Nagar 30 years ago and people had wholeheartedly accepted it. It added that only formalities in the form of documentation were left to implement the official change of name.
The article said just like Ram Temple is being built with consensus, similarly, Aurangabad’s name will also be changed through consensus. The editorial went on to claim that the Muslims in India despise Babur and Aurangzeb and they would have no disagreement with naming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar. In a sly dig at the Congress party, the article said that the renaming of Aurangabad would not have any impact on the secularism of the country and a majority of Congressmen in the state would agree with Shiv Sena’s demand of renaming of the city.
Babur is not the father of Muslims and Aurangzeb is not their uncle: Saamana
“Babur is not the father of the Muslims in India, just as the sinful Aurangzeb is not the uncle of the Muslims here. Babur was buried in Ayodhya and the Ram temple is standing there. Neither Islam was endangered there, nor anyone’s secularism was eroded. If anyone thinks that Aurangzeb’s graveyard is a symbol of secularism, then he is making a mockery of India’s identity,” the article read.
The editorial further added that the Mughal despot Aurangzeb’s death is celebrated across the country. Aurangzeb inflicted, the article said, unspeakable atrocities on Chhatrapati Sambhaji to pressurise him to convert into Islam. However, he didn’t buckle under pressure. The article asserted that it is a grave insult to Shivaji Maharaj that a city named after Aurangzeb should exist on the land of Maharashtra.
“The Muslims of this country have forgotten Babur and the Muslims of Maharashtra have forgotten Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb and Aurangabad are no longer the subject of votes. The Muslims in Maharashtra have supported the Shiv Sena by adopting the path of nationalism,” the article stated.
Shiv Sena questions BJP for not renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar
The divergence within the MVA alliance over the renaming of Aurangabad had elicited a sharp reaction from the BJP, with the BJP state president Chandrakant Patil stating that the difference of opinion over the issue only underscored the sheer lack of cohesion among the MVA alliance partners. The party had asked Shiv Sena to clarify its stand on the issue in the light of opposition by the Congress party.
In response to the BJP’s criticism over the divergent views within the MVA government with respect to renaming of Aurangabad, the Shiv Sena, in its Saamana editorial, passed the buck to BJP, alleging that they could have easily changed the name of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar while they were in power in the state, just like they changed the names of Allahabad and Aurangzeb Road in Delhi.
Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat opposes renaming of Aurangabad
Earlier on Thursday, Maharashtra state Congress President Balasaheb Thorat had said if any proposal to rename Aurangabad comes up, his party would strongly oppose it. He said changing the names of places was not a part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, in which Congress and NCP are partners.
“If any proposal about renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar comes up, the Congress will oppose it strongly.Our party does not believe in changing names as it does not lead to development of common man,” Thorat told reporters.
Rajdeep Sardesai, who is often hailed as the ‘Michelangelo of the Indian Journalism’, on Saturday shared an image on Twitter to narrate a personal incident. Thanking his daughter for the gift, Rajdeep Sardesai posted an image in which he was seen holding a black T-shirt that reads, “This T-Shirt is White: Indian Media”.
Tweet by Rajdeep Sardesai
Apparently, Rajdeep Sardesai, who thinks of himself as some sort of an outlier in the country’s media establishment, insinuated that the Indian media was not doing objective and honest journalism currently, but resorting to false propaganda. Rajdeep Sardesai, ignoring the fact he is one of the most important members of the same media ecosystem that has successfully destroyed journalism in the country, was mocking the other independent journalists in the country who have successfully broken the status-quo to revolutionise journalism.
With the dwindling TRP of India Today, Rajdeep Sardesai and his side-kick Rahul Kanwal have been mocking every journalist or media organisation that does not toe their line, which often slants towards leftists, Islamists and trouble-makers.
One recalls how hours after psephologist and republic TV journalist Pradeep Bhandari was manhandled and slapped by a fellow ABP journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai wasted no time in downplaying the assault and engaging in victim-blaming. Referring to the security provided to Bhandari, he ranted, “An image which perhaps defines the Tv media in ‘Banana Republic’ times.” While casting aspersions about the integrity of Pradeep Bhandari, Sardesai indirectly justified the attack as a ‘sign of lost respect’.
He claimed, “When a ‘noise’ channel hires private security to ‘protect’ their so-called reporter from fellow journalists: it’s a sign of the channel having lost the most precious TRP: TV RESPECT POINTS of your peers!”
Rajdeep and Rahul Kanwal have repeatedly taken potshots at Arnab Goswami and Republic TV. It is therefore safe to assume that Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweet meant to refer to those journalists who don’t agree with his stands, however, given his own history of fake news peddling, the tweet backfired on Rajdeep massively.
Netizens mock Rajdeep Sardesai, says his daughter understood him better
As Rajdeep Sardesai shared that image, social media users picked up the irony in the image and mocked Rajdeep Sardesai by saying that his daughter was extremely honest about her parents. Several social media users, taking a dig at Rajdeep Sardesai, said that his daughter understood his style of journalism and has nicely defined Rajdeep’s journalism in one line.
It shows how good she understands you, the journalist of convenience. Hats off to her ???
Another user said that Rajdeep Sardesai’s daughter had a good sense of sarcasm. One social media user, for some weird reason referring to Rajdeep Sardesai by the name of the American city of ‘Dallas’, compared him with other ‘journalists’ like Ravish Kumar, Rahul Kanwal and controversial Youtuber Abhisar Sharma.
One Dhruvit Makwana asked Rajdeep Sardesai whether he was selling Pakodas instead of doing journalism after the alleged ‘journalist’ took to Twitter on Saturday to make a sly on the Indian media.
Senior ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai, is arguably the country’s most notorious fake news peddler. Rajdeep Sardesai, along with his wife Sagarika Ghose, are known for not only peddling misinformation on social media but also for openly taking political sides in favour of Gandhis and Congress party despite claiming to be ‘neutral’ journalists.
Rajdeep Sardesai and his notorious history of peddling ‘fake news’
Sardesai also has a rare distinction of being held accountable by the courts for spreading fake news. In 2020, Rajdeep Sardesai had issued an unconditional apology for airing a fake news item in 2007. The former NDTV and CNN-News18 journalist was accused of spreading fake news on Sohrabuddin encounter case, and a case was filed against him at the Metropolitan Sessions Court in Hyderabad.
The original case was filed in November 2007, and it was still going on. But in November last year, Rajdeep Sardesai and few others named in the case submitted an unconditional apology to an IPS officer, after which the case against them was dismissed by the court.
During the coronavirus lockdown, Rajdeep Sardesai had yet again caught peddling fake news after he had claimed a man had died due to starvation in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda. However, the DM had rejected the allegations and exposed Rajdeep’s lies by giving the list of foodgrains provided to the family in the last two months.
Veteran ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai had also spread misinformation about the Statue of Unity. Rajdeep Sardesai had tried to be cheeky recently and tried to take a dig at Modi government by asking what will they do against ‘Made in China’ Statue of Unity. However, it is a known fact that the Statue of Unity in Gujarat in entirely made by Indian entities and not the Chinese.
Further, in April, Rajdeep Sardesai had also falsely claimed that the Punjab government has got only Rs 71 crore from the Modi government to fight the Chinese pandemic coronavirus. However, the state government had received Rs 247.50 crores from the centre from the Disaster Management fund to tackle the pandemic.
These are just a few instances where Rajdeep Sardesai had indulged in acts of peddling blatant misinformation. Despite all his unethical journalism, Rajdeep Sardesai seems to be audacious to point fingers at the other journalists in the country by mocking their integrity.
Attacks on Hindu temples seem to have become a routine affair in the state Andhra Pradesh. Hardly a few days after a murti of Lord Ram was vandalised by some unidentified miscreants at Ramatheertham in Vizianagaram district, a Lord Subrahmanya murti in Lord Vigneshwara temple was found desecrated yesterday in Rajahmundry district. Yesterday, the priest of the Vigneshwara temple found the murti of Lord Subrahmanya desecrated with two severed limbs of the murti lying on the ground.
Few days go, a 400-yer old murti of Lord Ram was found beheaded by the temple priest in the ancient Sita Lakshmana Kodandarama temple. When the priest entered the temple on Tuesday morning, he found the doors of the temple were broken and the murti placed inside was without its head. Police were called in immediately. Several parts of the desecrated murti have been recovered from a nearby pond. A case was registered and the search for the culprits is on.
Chandrababu Naidu blames state government’s indifference for the attacks
While Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the state will take action against the perpetrators, the opposition parties are having none of it. After repeated attacks, opposition parties are now pointing fingers at the Reddy government and its indifference to Hindu places of worship being under siege in his state.
The recent incident was condemned by former CM Chandrababu Naidu. “Attacks on temples have become a daily occurrence, because of the government’s indifference. Neither the public nor the gods inside the temple are safe in the state. Matters would have come this far if stern action was taken in the first such case. The government has the responsibility to safeguard sentiments of all communities”, said Naidu.
The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) has, in turn, pointed finger at Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regarding the desecration of Lord Ram murti. The YSRCP General Secretary, V Vijaya Sai, alleged that the miscreants who vandalised the idol were TDP sympathisers.
Past incidents of attacks on Hindu temples in the state
Last year in February, a 50-feet tall ancient chariot of Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple at Bhogolu village of Bitragunta Mandal in Nellore district was set ablaze by some miscreants. A month earlier, in January, the idols of several Hindu gods and goddesses along with some flex banners in Pithapuram city in East Godavari district were vandalised. In a similar incident that happened a few months later in September, a six decades old, 40-feet high wooden ratham of Lord Narasimha was gutted in a fire.
