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Kerala govt puts Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination image on cover of budget document, calls it political statement

Kerala’s Left Democratic Front government led by Pinarayi Vijayan has released their official budget document for the year 2020-21 on Friday. The document has used artist Tom Vattakuzhy’s ‘Death of Gandhi’ painting on the cover page.

The cover page of Kerala’s Budget 2020-21 document

The document was presented among the members of the state Assembly after state Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac ended the Budget speech which incidentally began with remarks against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

This idea of the Communist Kerala government of using Gandhi’s assassination picture for its budget document cover stirred a political storm, following which the Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac came up with a justification, calling it a ‘political statement’.

“Definitely, it is a political statement, the cover of my Budget speech. It is a painting by a Malayalam artist of Mahatma Gandhi’s murder scene. We are sending out a message that we will not forget who murdered Gandhi,” said Isaac.

Taking a dig at the BJP government at the Centre for proposing National Register of Citizens (NRC), Issac further alleged that today history is being re-written and NRC is being used to divide the country into communal lines.

“This is important at the times when history is being re-written. There is an attempt to erase some popular memories and use the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to divide the population into communal lines. Kerala will stand united,” he added.


Critics of CAA and NRC have been misleading people by saying that their provisions are discriminatory and may be used to target Muslims, a claim which the government has time and again refuted. Pertinently, NRC and NPR are still in the proposed stage but the opposition has been using it as a tool against Modi government by spreading misinformation over it and misleading the citizens to fan their political agenda.

Read: Indian Muslims do not stand to suffer due to the CAA-NRC combo: Here are the laws and guidelines explained

NRC is an official record of those people who are legal citizens of India. The dossier includes demographic information about all those individuals who qualify as citizens of India as per the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray approves allotment of Rs 10 crore land to Sharad Pawar led Trust at nominal rate despite objections

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Even after objection raised by the state Revenue and Finance departments, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, led by Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, allotted a 51-hectare land worth Rs 10 crore to Sharad Pawar led Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) at a nominal rate.

While authorising the proposal, the Thackeray Cabinet gave short shrift to the objections voiced by the state’s Revenue Department and the Finance Department and disregarded an opinion submitted by the state’s Advocate General’s office.

The piece of land in contention, located in Maharashtra’s Jalna, was initially acquired by the state’s Agriculture Department for a state seed farm. According to the state communique, the market value of the plot was pegged at Rs 10 crores.

However, the land was sanctioned to the VSI, a public trust formed by cooperative sugar barons in 1975, to expand its educational and research activities. NCP chief Sharad Pawar is VSI chairman while the sitting Maharashtra ministers Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Excise Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, Finance Minister Jayant Patil (NCP), and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat (Congress) are among the Board of Trustees of the VSI. In addition, two other ministers Rajesh Tope (NCP) and Satej Patil (Congress) are on its governing council.

Read- Maharashtra government to bring reservations for Muslims in the state soon: Congress minister Aslam Sheikh

Since then the Revenue department has opposed the allocation of the land on concessional rates, quoting a 1997 Supreme Court verdict which said that the land acquired by the government for a specific purpose should be used for that particular purpose or for other public purposes and if this cannot be done, the land should be returned to the original owners. Both Revenue and Finance departments have questioned if the activities carried out by the VSI can be considered for “public purposes”.

The Finance department also stated that the plot should only be allocated at market rates after inviting bids. The Uddhav Thackeray government has also ignored state Advocate General’s opinion in this regard and asked the Revenue department to seek consultation from the law department and append conditions before allocating the land.

Supreme Court postpones hearing on petition over Shaheen Bagh roadblock, says it does not want to influence elections

The Supreme court has postponed the hearing for a plea filed against Shaheen Bagh protests, noting that it can influence the Delhi Assembly election voting on 8 February 2020.

The bench, comprising Justices KM Joseph and SK Kaul said, “We understand it’s an important issue. We will hold a detailed hearing on Monday”.

As per reports, the advocate appearing for one of the petitioners told the court that the voting day is scheduled for February 8, the bench noted, “That is exactly why we are saying come on Monday. Why should we influence it?”

The voting for 70 legislative assemblies in Delhi will take place on 8 February in Delhi and results will be declared on 11 February.

The bench also told the petitioners to come prepared for the argument on ‘why’ the matter should not be remitted back to the Delhi High Court. The hearing has been postponed to February 10.

The bench noted, “We think it would be appropriate if the high court deals with the matter. The high court is the appropriate forum and we can issue directions to this effect”.

The Shaheen Bagh protests that have been ongoing since December 15, have blockaded the road in the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, causing immense traffic woes for daily commuters. The Okhla underpass area has also been restricted due to the protests by Muslims.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Amit Sahni, who had also approached the Delhi HC, seeking directions for the Delhi Police to remove the road blockade and ensure smooth traffic flow in the area.

The petitioner has argued that the Kalindi Kunj road is vital because it connects three states, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It was also submitted that the roadblock and traffic diversions have caused the wastage of immense amount of time, energy and fuel, besides overburdening the DND, Akshardham and Ashram routes.

The court, though they deferred the matter, acknowledged that ‘there is a problem’.

Read: Shaheen Bagh ground report: A well-organised ‘organic’ protest, estimated costs of Rs 5L every day and protestors spying on you

Former Delhi MLA Nand Kishore Garg had also filed a petition separately in the Supreme court seeking directions to the authorities to remove Shaheen Bagh protesters.

The plea filed by Nand Kishor Garg had affirmed, “the law enforcement machinery was being “held hostage to the whims and fancies of the protesters” who have blocked vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting Delhi to Noida”.

The high court urged the local authorities to deal with the situation while keeping issues of law and order in mind.

It is notable here that despite the Delhi Police’ request to the protestors to clear ways for school children and residents, there has been no progress so far.

Former diplomat falls for India Today’s headline error, slams EC thinking CBI has arrested Sisodia

On Thursday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) apprehended Gopal Krishna Madhav, a Delhi government officer, over bribery charges. Madhav was an Officer on Special Duty with the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia since 2015.

Madhav, who is a  senior DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services) officer, was arrested late in the night around 11:30 pm after a trap was set. He was caught red-handed, accepting a bribe to the tune of ₹2 lacs. He was taken straightaway to the CBI Headquarters. Reportedly, Madhav’s arrest was in connection with a case related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

However, India Today in an inadvertent error reported that it was Manish Sisodia who was arrested by the CBI in place of his OSD triggering confusion in the minds of the netizens.

“Political face-off between AAP, BJP erupts over arrest of Manish Sisodia by the CBI,” read the India Today report.

India Today’s tweet.

As soon as India Today put out an error through its tweet, many social media users corrected India Today report by suggesting that it was his aide who was arrested, not Deputy CM Sisodia himself.


Despite social media users schooling them for their error, India Today is yet to correct its wrong reportage. However, the error by the media group came to use for certain left-liberal users, who further used it to target the CBI and the Election Commission.

Former Diplomat KC Singh, often known for his anti-Modi tweets, used the tweet to attack the Election Commission for allowing CBI to allegedly ‘arrest’ Manish Sisodia at a time when Delhi is going to polls on February 8.

Singh, who perhaps did not comprehend the facts of the case, advised the Election Commission that they should have waited for another day before ‘arresting’ Sisodia. Singh said that Sisodia was not going to flee from India and urged the officers to instead search Sisodia’s house if they thought he could tamper with the evidence.

It is rather shocking that Singh, who had served as India’s Ambassador to various countries failed to even understand the basic facts pertaining to the case.

Delhi will vote on February 8.

Portable Mosques arranged for Muslim athletes and supporters during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

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The 2020 Tokyo Olympics that are scheduled to begin from July 24 will see mobile mosques for the athletes and supporters belonging to the Islamic faith. The decision has been made due to the unavailability of appropriate prayer areas in hotels and public spaces in Tokyo.


The “mobile mosque” will host a 48-square-meter prayer room on the back of a parked truck. The back of the vehicle can be widened within seconds and will have provisions for pre-worship cleaning (Wuḍūʾ). The modified truck will also carry Arabic signage.

The portable masjid is the brainchild of an organisation named The Yasu Project.  CEO Yasuhara Inoue said, “I want athletes to compete with their utmost motivation and for the audience to cheer on with their utmost motivation as well. That is why I made this.”

2020 Tokyo Olympics mobile mosque
The extended mosque on wheels

He also claimed that the idea of mobile mosques will bring awareness about the different people co-existing in this world, besides promoting a non-discriminatory and peaceful Olympic Games.

Muslims constitute only about 0.1% in total population in Japan. An investigation by Waseda University found close 105 mosques in Japan, most being located on the outskirts of the capital city. As such, it is likely to cause inconvenience to the Muslims willing to pray 5 times every day. The portable mosques that are to be placed outside gaming venues will solve this issue.

In an email to Reuters, the Tokyo Games committee stated, “The Organising Committee is preparing a list of religious or faiths centers that could be contacted or visited if requested by residents of the Villages during the Games.”

MNS puts up poster outside CM Uddhav Thackeray’s house demanding expulsion of Pakistani and Bangladeshi infiltrators from his ‘own backyard’ Bandra

After teetering around the periphery of political oblivion for some time, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has shown unprecedented alacrity in staking a claim at the Hindu Nationalist space in Maharashtra that was vacated by Shiv Sena on the account of their new ‘secular-liberal’ alliance with Congress and NCP to form a government in the state.

The Raj Thackeray-led party has doubled down on its strategy of cornering the Uddhav Thackeray government on the issue of pervasive illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan in Maharashtra.

MNS party has put up posters outside Uddhav Thackeray's residence asking him to evict the illegal immigrants from Bandra area
Posters erected outside CM Uddhav Thackeray’s residence(Source: Indian Express)

The workers of MNS today put up a poster outside Matoshree, the residence of CM Uddhav Thackeray, seeking to evict Muslim immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh from the colonies which have cropped up in CM’s own area-Bandra. “Bangladeshi and Pakistani infiltrators need to be evicted from India. If this is your stand, then you need to clean up these colonies of infiltrators which have cropped up in your own backyard in Bandra first,” the poster read.

Read: To fill the void left by newly ‘secular’ Shiv Sena, Raj Thackeray’s MNS goes saffron on Balasaheb’s birth anniversary

MNS is set to organise a massive rally on upcoming Sunday, February 9, against the illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh residing in Mumbai. Last month, firebrand politician Raj Thackeray had announced about the rally while launching an offensive against the illegal immigrants. “India needs to intensify its security even if it means people are inconvenienced. We are a ticking bomb. It is important to throw out Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh and for this, I am with Prime Minister Modi,” he had said.

Recently, the MNS had also put up flags in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, asking Pakistani and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants to leave or get evicted “MNS-style”.

Sena, however, has been maintaining that they do not see MNS’ new avatar as a threat. In an earlier Saamana editorial, Shiv Sena had stated that Raj Thackeray should stay firm with Hindutva, even if it has been borrowed from Shiv Sena. They added that MNS is unlikely to get any political leverage from it as Shiv Sena had never shed their “saffron colour.”

How pro-Islamist lobby is whitewashing threat by Omar Abdullah of Kashmir breaking away from India by attacking PM Modi

Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, the pro-Islamist lobby has been gunning for Prime Minister Modi with the most despicable lies and propaganda. Several pro-Islamist Indian journalists took it upon themselves to defame India internationally, while others, habitually peddle lies through proxy websites and social media to tarnish the image of India after the Modi government decided to abrogate Article 370 and finally, fully integrate the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India.

The pro-Islamist lobby has now found a new way to hit-out at PM Modi, albeit, with lies and deceit.

In the parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Modi hit out at Kashmir politicians like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti for their threats prior to the abrogation of Article 370. Prime Minister Modi in parliament first quoted Mehbooba Mufti.

Read: Jammu and Kashmir: NC’s Omar Abdullah and PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti booked under Public Safety Act

PM Modi quoted a tweetstorm by Mehmooba Mufti on the 5th of August, the day Article 370 was abrogated. Specifically, PM Modi referred to this tweet where Mehbooba Mufti had questioned what Kashmir got for “choosing India”.


Then, PM Modi referred to Omar Abdullah and said Omar had said, “आर्टिकल 370 को हटाना ऐसा भूकंप लाएगा की कश्मीर भारत से अलग हो जायेगा (The abrogation of Article 370 would bring a massive earthquake that it will divide Kashmir from India.)”.

Before we get into how the propagandists are now trying to twist PM Modi’s words, one must understand the context in which PM Modi was speaking. First, PM Modi spoke at length about the development that has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. He then spoke about how there are charges that the Abrogation of Article 370 was against the tenets of the Constitution of India.

It was then that PM Modi quoted Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah to explain how it was their statements that were against the very tenets of the Constitution and the territorial integrity of India.

Read: AltNews’ Pratik Sinha helps New Yorker water down Pulwama attack, cast aspersions that Balakot airstrike was fabricated

To understand this better, here are parts of what Mehbooba Mufti had said after the abrogation of Article 370.

Decision of J&K leadership to reject 2 nation theory in 1947 & align with India has backfired. Unilateral decision of GOI to scrap Article 370 is illegal & unconstitutional which will make India an occupational force in J&K. GOIs intentions are clear. They want the territory of J&K by terrorising it’s people. Those elements in J&K who rejected the constitution & sought resolution under the UN have been vindicated. GOIs intention is clear & sinister. They want to change the demography of the only Muslim majority state in India, disempower Muslims to the extent where they become second class citizens in their own state. What did J&K get for acceding to India? Another partition along communal lines? Our special status isn’t a gift bestowed upon us. Its a right guaranteed by the same parliament. A contract entered into by J&K leadership & India. Today the very same contract has been violated (sic).”

Further, Omar Abdullah had said that this decision will have ‘dangerous consequences’ almost threatening the Union of India. To understand what he meant by these threats, one must look at Omar Abdullah’s 2014 tweet-storm where he had elucidated exactly what these ‘consequences’ were.


Essentially, both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti had spoken about breaking India up, inciting violence and supporting terrorists and separatists of Kashmir if Article 370 was abrogated. In fact, after being put under house arrest, Omar Abdullah had also raised questions on Kashmir acceding to India and said that the accession was based on Article 370, essentially hinting that now that Article 370 has been abrogated, there is no reason for Kashmir to be a part of India. In fact, Omar Abdullah’s statement post the abrogation of Article 370 and those of Rahul Gandhi, whose party is today shielding Omar Abdullah from the statements of PM Modi were quoted by Pakistan in their anti-India dossier to UNHRC.

Read: Pakistan’s anti-India dossier in UNHRC features quotes from Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah: Reports

Now that these problematic and dangerous statements were mentioned by PM Modi in the parliament itself after time had wiped them clean from public memory, the lobby had to find a way to save face, as they always do, when Islamists are exposed. The Lutyens cabal then focussed on one word that was used by the Prime Minister as a ‘matter of speech’, in order to whitewash the threats issued by the Kashmir leaders only points to a deeper malaise within the Lutyens ecosystem.

Several propagandists took to Twitter to claim that PM Modi was lying and that he had, in fact, quoted a satire website Faking News and passed the word ‘Earthquake’ as an authentic quote by Omar Abdullah. The trope was started by propagandists like Swati Chaturvedi and to help the narrative reach further, self-proclaimed fact-checkers like AltNews who have been caught peddling lies often also chimed in along with Congress and other usual suspects.


What the propagandists were trying to do is shield Islamist leaders from Kashmir like Omar Abdullah and latch on to one word, while hiding the truly seditious statements that Abdullah and Mufti had given after the abrogation of Article 370.

Read: Supreme Court upholds the report of JK Juvenile Justice Committee, nails the lies spread by leftist media over ‘detention of children in Kashmir’

The chorus would have been funny if not tragic. ‘will cause earthquakes’ is a popular figure of speech and even their favourite Rahul Gandhi had used it. PM Modi simply paraphrased it. Just that it happened to have been used on Faking News too, doesn’t mean he quoted Faking News. Basically, PM Modi used a figure of speech to paraphrase whatever was said by the Kashmir politicians.

Read: The Global Ummah speaketh on Kashmir: US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, her sketchy past, and her Islamist views

While the manner in which PM Modi paraphrased Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti did not alter the meaning of their sentiment, the same cannot be said about the cabal. In fact, paraphrasing and interpreting wrongly the meaning of PM Modi says has been the favourite strawman tactic used by the cabal for a long time with the media happily playing along, just as it is now.

Going back to point from where the vilification of Prime Minister Modi started – The Gujarat riots of 2002. Times of India had reported that speaking about the riots, PM Modi had said that ‘every action has a reaction’, essentially meaning that the burning of Hindus has been answered with the riots. However, Modi had never said this. After TOI reported this blatant lie, several op-eds by media foot soldiers were written demonising Modi.

Later, in 2013, before the 2014 General Elections, media had misquoted Modi yet again. They reported that Modi had compared Muslims to dogs by saying that even if a dog died, he would have felt bad. In reality, it was again only a metaphor used. Modi had essentially said that we are human beings who feel bad even if an animal dies, the Muslims and Hindus who died were human beings and he is pained by their death.

The most recent was PM Modi’s “15 Lac” comment during the run-up to 2014 elections. PM Modi had said, to quantify the amount of black money stashed abroad that if we ever got all the black money back to India, there was so much, that every person could get 15 Lac out of it. That statement was twisted to report that PM Modi had promised the people of India that he would credit Rs 15 Lac to every citizen’s account. The politicians used that to call Modi a liar and the media simply played along, throwing every ethic of journalism to the wind.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in the saga of how politicians and their pens for hire have misquoted and maligned PM Modi ever since his Gujarat days, that how ‘project vilify Modi’ is still very much in progress.

One has to wonder why the lobby is so desperate at this point in time. Perhaps because with the anti-CAA riots and Muslim mobs wreaking havoc, the carefully crafted narrative of how the only problem that ails India is that of “Hindutva” is falling apart, or because of Shaheen Bagh and how the media aided the Islamists there have exposed the true face of the cabal. Either way, the desperation of the pro-Islamist lobby is rather evident if they had to cling on to such strawman arguments to vilify the Prime Minister.

How AAP govt lied to a Washington Post columnist to get a positive news report in the US publication

In 2016, columnist Vivek Wadhwa wrote an article in Washington Post wrote titled “What New Delhi’s free clinics can teach America about fixing its broken health care system” where he heaped praises on AAP’s Mohalla clinic. The article quoted Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain claiming that he came up with the idea of a ‘mohalla clinic’ as he “believed that not only will they reduce suffering, but also overall costs — because people will get timely care and not be a burden on hospital emergency rooms.” The article concludes with a line which suggests America should also build mohalla clinics in its cities.

This 2016 article was on Thursday used by Aam Aadmi Party in its election campaign ad.


At around 20 seconds in the video, it talks about how Washington Post had hailed Mohalla Clinics.

Washington Post article in AAP ad

On Friday, Wadhwa took to Twitter say that he was conned by Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain and shared a link which levelled allegations of scam and corruption in the mohalla clinics.


He said that while he usually does not comment on Indian politics, AAP’s mohalla clinic lies were so ‘over the top’ that it made him sick. The report by Wadhwa, which was based on lies told to him by Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain, was used by AAP in its election campaign to boast about mohalla clinics.

Read: Delhi’s AAP government promised 30,000 new beds in hospitals, delivered only 394 new beds in hospitals between 2015-2018

Wadhwa shared a February 2017 DNA article which reported how vigilance probe unearthed a scam wherein doctors allegedly inflated the number of patients they treat. As per the DNA report, doctors in Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics used to ‘treat’ as many as 533 patients in four hours in one day. This would be roughly 1 patient treated every 36 seconds.

It was alleged that the doctors at Mohalla clinics would make false entries of patients, thereby making as high as Rs 4 lakh per month income. As per the report, vigilance officers the doctors were also allegedly duping the patients by giving them ‘useless’ medication to make them come back.

Union government makes first donation of Re 1 to the Ram Mandir trust, construction to begin in April

After the process to build a grand Ram Mandir at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya was started with the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra on Wednesday, the union govt became the first donor to the trust by making a symbolic donation of Re 1 to the trust.

The undersecretary in the Ministry of home affairs, D Murmu contributed the amount on the behalf of Central Government on Wednesday.

The officials cleared that the trust will accept donations, grants, subscriptions, aids or contributions from any person in cash, kind, immovable properties without any conditions.

The trust will be functioning at the residence of senior lawyer K Parasaran initially, but the Union home ministry said that the trust will have its permanent address in Greater Kailash, South Delhi.

Swami Govind Devgiri Maharaj, one of the members of the newly formed trust, has said that construction of Ram Mandir will start either on Ram Navami or Akshaya Tritiya in April this year. But the exact date will be finalised on the first meeting of the trust. He said that the construction will be completed in two years. “Many people wanted that a Ram temple be built in Ayodhya. “It will not just be a monument dedicated to Lord Ram, but a symbol of the country,” he said. It may be noted that this year Ram Navami is on 2nd April and Akshaya Tritiya is on 26th April.

Read- Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya: A God in captivity

With the final verdict in Ayodhya case on 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to form a trust for the construction of Ram Mandir within three months from the judgement day. The central government has constituted an independent 15 member trust to oversee the construction of Grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya, after the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The members of the trust Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha kshtra include senior Lawyer K Parasaran, Jagatguru Shankracharya, Jyothishpeethadheeshwar Swami Vasudev Saraswat Ji Maharaj from Allahabad, Jagatguru Madhavacharya Swami Vishwa Prasnnateerth Ji Maharaj, Pejawar Math in Udupi, Yugpurush Parmanand Ji Maharaj from Haridwar, Swami Govind Devgiri Ji Maharaj from Pune, Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya.

Apart from these, Anil Mishra, a homoeopathic doctor from Ayodhya, Kameshwar Chaupal from Patna who is a scheduled caste member, and Mahant Dinendra das of Nirmohi Akhara Ayodhya Baithak are also made members of the trust.

Two prominent representatives will be nominated by the Board of Trustees with a majority resolution. One representative will be nominated by Centre who shall be a serving member of IAS and not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the government. The District Magistrate or Ayodhya will be the ex officio trustee if he’s a practising Hindu. All the nominated members must be practising Hindus. If the Ayodhya DM is not Hindu, then the additional magistrate will be nominated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced in Lok Sabha that the Cabinet has cleared the trust that will manage the 67 acre land in Ayodhya where the Grand Ram Mandir will be built.

PM Modi had said in his speech announcing the decision, “keeping in mind the construction of the temple and the spirit of the devotees who will come to pay obeisance to Ram Lalla in the future, the government has taken important decisions to transfer the whole of approximately 67.7 acres acquired land to the new trust”.

“We have readied a scheme for the development of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. A trust has been formed, it is called ‘Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra’, PM had said.

He had also declared that the UP government has agreed to give the 5-acre land to Sunni Waqf Board as directed by the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya Matter.

Ranjeet Bachchan murder: Wife, her lover arrested in Lucknow for killing Vishwa Hindu Mahasabha leader

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Three people, including the wife of the deceased Ranjeet Bachchan, the chief of Vishwa Hindu Mahasabha, were arrested in connection with his murder on Thursday.

According to the reports, Smriti Srivastava described as Bachchan’s second wife, her friend Deependra and driver Sanjeet Gautam have been arrested in Lucknow in connection with Ranjeet Bachchan’s murder. He was allegedly killed because he was “delaying” the proceedings to divorce his wife Smriti Srivastava, who wanted to marry her lover Deepender.

According to Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey, Smriti Srivastava confessed to police that Ranjeet Bachchan was stalling their divorce proceedings by not appearing in court.

Ranjeet Bachchan was shot dead on February 2 while he was out on a morning walk, barely a couple of kilometres away from the high-security Uttar Pradesh legislature complex in the heart of the state capital. His cousin Aditya Srivastava was also injured in the attack.

“Those involved in the murder are Smriti Srivastava (second wife), her friend Deependra, Sanjeet Gautam (driver) and Jeetendra (the shooter). Deependra was the person who convinced everyone to commit the crime. Smriti was part of the whole conspiracy. We arrested Sanjeet Gautam from Lucknow, Deependra has been arrested from UP-MP border and Smriti has been arrested from Vikasnagar (in Lucknow),” said the police commissioner.

Giving details of the incident, Pandey said, “Three people Deependra, Sanjeet and Jeetendra moved from Rae Bareli at 2.30 am on the intervening night of February 1 and 2. On February 2, Deependra was dropped at Hazratganj crossing, the shooter was dropped near Capitol cinema hall crossing. At 5.40 am, Ranjit Bachchan, Kalindi and Aditya moved out from their home for the morning walk. The shooter followed them in Hazratganj, and attacked them outside Globe Park.”

The police said one vehicle was used for recce and another for escaping after committing the crime.

Twelve teams were formed to arrest the accused persons, the police commissioner said, adding that efforts were underway to arrest Jeetender, the shooter. Earlier, four police personnel, including a sub-inspector, were suspended for laxity.