In Kota, Rajasthan’s JK Lon Hospital, as many as ten children have now died in the first four days of January, taking total death toll to 110 since the beginning of December, 2019.
As reported by Times of India, the ICU in the hospital where a father brought his infant had no window panes. This when the temperature in the night fell to as low as 3 degrees with strong gust of freezing winds passing through which may have led to death of the child. A state government report has confirmed that many infants died from hypothermia. Hypothermia is a situation when the body temperature falls below 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
Not only the ICU had no windowpanes, oxygen cylinders in the hospital were also empty, because of which a lot of children lost their lives. Meanwhile, when Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot went to JK Lon Hospital on Saturday, two groups of Congress clashed with each other and tore clothes when they were stopped from entering the hospital. As reported by Patrika, Pilot had reached the hospital with his supporters when they were stopped. Congress workers lost their cool and started creating a ruckus. Not only that, Pilot’s supporters clashed with supporters of another Congress leader Naimuddin Guddu, having total disregard for the deaths of the children.
JK Lon is the biggest government hospital for children and receives as many as 200-300 patients in the OPD every day. Following the deaths of the children, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had issued a show-cause notice to the Chief Medical And Health Officer of Kota District, BS Tanwar, to look into these deaths. The hospital was in very poor state and pigs were found roaming on the campus.
Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on Saturday announced that the first phase of the NPR in Bihar will start between May 15 and May 28, reports News18.
“The NPR process in 2020 will be carried out between April 1 and September 30 in the country. In Bihar it will be done between May 15 and May 28, 2020,” said Deputy CM Sushil Modi, adding that officials who refused to carry it out will face administrative and punitive action.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi: A decision has been taken to update the National Population Register (NPR) in 2020. Regarding this process, collection of data will be carried out from 15 to 28 May in Bihar. (4.1.20) pic.twitter.com/wxY1t0wLr6
In his press conference, Modi also hit out at Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan for opposing the NPR, the NRC and CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act).
“No chief ministers, even if he/she is opposed to CAA and NPR, can refuse to implement them. Neither West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee nor Kerala CM P Vijayan can say that they won’t implement NPR in their states. They can say anything for public consumption. But they can’t say no to CAA and NPR. A census director in each state has already been appointed, including in West Bengal,” he said.
Blaming the opposition Congress and RJD for creating confusion, Modi said, “NPR and NRC are two different things. No state, including West Bengal, Kerala or Rajasthan, can refuse to implement CAA or NPR as the centre has the power to bring legislation over citizenship. Preparing NPR is a statutory provision which no state can refuse to implement”.
At the beginning of the press meet, Sushil Modi also played an audio-video clip of former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram speaking in favour of NPR whose purpose is to issue resident cards which eventually will lead to citizenship cards.
The deputy chief minister expressed satisfaction that there has been no incident of major violence as people, especially Muslims, have understood that the CAA is not meant to take away anyone’s citizenship.
Meanwhile, reacting to BJP leader’s comment, senior JDU leader Shyam Razak claimed that he was unaware of any such decision on implementation of NPR and said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the right and “competent person” to make such announcements. He said Deputy CM Modi may have made this statement in his “personal capacity”.
Reportedly, the JDU, the alliance partner of the BJP in Bihar’s ruling coalition, had earlier said that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi had clarified that there is no proposal to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country, there was no problem in going ahead with the NPR exercise.
Last month the Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to update the NPR (National Population Register) that will be conducted nationwide except in Assam, where the NRC was conducted last year.
Iran has unfurled a red flag on top of the iconic The Holy Dome of Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, which is an old Shi’ite tradition symbolising bloody revenge.
The Red Flag bring hoisted on The Holy Dome Of Jamkarān Mosque, Qom, #Iran. As stated in a previous tweet, according to old #Iranian tradition this is a symbol of battle/war to come. pic.twitter.com/U8p3p135c9
Iran had earlier on Saturday pinpointed 35 key American assets which could be targeted to take revenge after the recent attack where Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force head General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated. Late on Saturday, Lebanon’s Hezbollah also told Iraqi soldiers to leave the American airbases and warned them to stay at least 1,000 metres away from American military airbases starting Sunday.
The words ‘Those who want to avenge the blood of Hussein’ were written across the war flag. As per Shi’ite tradition, red flags also symbolise ‘blood spilt unjustly’ and also serves as a call to avenge the person who is slain. The Jamkaran mosque is on the outskirts of the holy city of Qom, about 100 miles south of Tehran. General Soleimani’s daughter questioned Iranian President Rouhani who would avenge her father’s blood.
The daughter of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani has asked Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who will avenge his death.
“We will avenge, all of us will avenge his blood,” President Rouhani told her. On Friday, Soleimani was killed in a targeted US drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq.
A statue of Mahatma Gandhi located at Hari Krishna lake in Gujarat’s Amreli was vandalised by some unidentified persons late Friday night.
Gujarat: A statue of Mahatma Gandhi near Hari Krishna lake in Amreli district vandalised by unidentified persons, last night. A case has been registered. pic.twitter.com/UL3PxNWBQq
The statue was set up in 2018 in a garden near a lake dug up and beautified by Dholakiya Foundation of Surat-based diamond baron Savjibhai Dholakiya, and it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017.
The police are suspecting the vandalism to have been done by people angry over the lake’s construction as it displaced people in the area. A case has been registered to identify the culprits.
“The incident happened last night. Efforts are on to identify and nab the culprits. We have made a diary entry. This may be the handiwork of people unhappy with the construction of the lake or by anti-social elements,” said Sub Inspector YP Gohil of Lathi police station, speaking to PTI.
Amreli is one of Lok Sabha the constituencies in Gujarat. It was an important Lok Sabha seat for both BJP and Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Even as the BJP had eyed to retain all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, the Congress had high hopes from seats like Amreli, a predominantly agrarian region, as it felt that farm issues and Patidar distress would be key factors since farmers there are “unhappy” with the Modi government.
The Congress had fielded its leader of opposition in the Assembly Paresh Dhanani who had a strong grip on the constituency which was already seeing strong anti-incumbency against BJP MP Naran Kachhadia.
The Patidar leader from Gujarat, Hardik Patel had also expressed his keenness to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Amreli, however, his political ambition’s received a major jolt when Gujarat HC refused to stay his conviction. Congress party had expressed its support for the Patidar leader if he wished to contest Lok Sabha polls.
Though BJP’s Kachhadiya Naranbhai Bhikhabhai defeated his nearest rival, Congress’ Paresh Dhanani, by a margin of 201431 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the constituency is still believed to be Congress party’s stronghold.
On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made his appearance on controversial left-wing propaganda channel NDTV for a townhall meeting with Delhi citizens. The session included Delhi CM Kejriwal taking questions from the audience, who were supposed to be common citizens of Delhi. However, the whole event has turned out to be staged as some ‘citizens’ who were selected to ask questions to Kejriwal have been identified as Aam Aadmi party workers.
In a video posted by social media account named Political Kida, it can be seen that three people claiming to be ‘citizens’ expressed their opinion on the performance of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. However, these alleged ‘citizens’ who either praised Arvind Kejriwal or questioned him for Delhi government’s initiatives have turned to be active party workers of AAP.
Fixed questions by Kejriwal with Aaptrads – Part 2
A person who introduces himself as Abhishek Tiwary, hailing from Kondli Vidhan Sabha constituency, praises Delhi CM Kejriwal for AAP government’s initiative of installing CCTV and streetlights in Delhi. Tiwary narrates a story in which he claims that intoxicated men from his locality used to harass women. However, after the installation of CCTVs and streetlights in the locality by the Kejriwal government, the intoxicant men feel fearful about committing crimes leading to an increase in the safety for women.
However, it is now revealed that Abhishek Tiwari is an active worker of the Aam Aadmi Party and he had disguised himself as a commoner to praise Kejriwal during the NDTV show. Tiwary has himself posted several posts on Facebook supporting Arvind Kejriwal. Interestingly, he has even shared the videos of the NDTV townhall show on his Facebook timeline.
Another person named Lokesh Kaushik makes an appearance in the town hall show. Interestingly, NDTV news anchor Nidhi Razdan, who has a history of spreading fake news, picks up a random piece of paper to call out AAP worker Kaushik, who then gets an opportunity to ask a question to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Yet again, it turns out to be that Kaushik is also an AAP worker from Patparganj area of New Delhi. Perhaps ‘neutral journalist’ Nidhi Razdan was not aware that the whole town hall event was a staged event in the presence of Aam Aadmi Party workers, who were sitting at the venue pretending to be a commoner.
Kejriwal taking fixed questions because random questions can confuse him & waste his precious time which he could have used in drinking & eating Samosas.
In another town hall event, a lady named Deepali Mehta shared another story in which she claimed that an elderly man, who was a beneficiary of Delhi government’s Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra scheme, had made his son take an oath stating that he will be voting for Aam Aadmi Party in the upcoming elections.
According to a Facebook post of an AAP worker named Preeti Puri, Deepali Mehta is also an active member of the party, who has been busy campaigning for Arvind Kejriwal ahead of Delhi elections.
AAP worker Deepali Mehta campaigning for Arvind Kejriwal.AAP worker Deepali Mehta campaigning for Arvind Kejriwal.
Apart from carrying out staged debates on NDTV, on Friday Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal crossed all limits by spreading lies and fake news against Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC by claiming that every citizen, including Hindus, who do not have own and parent’s birth certificates will have to leave India after CAA is implemented.
The Delhi CM made this comment in a townhall session on NDTV moderated by Nidhi Razdan. Responding to NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan, who had asked Kejriwal to clarify his stand on the issue, Delhi CM indulged in fear-mongering by spreading false information on CAA, which grants citizenship to persecuted minorities belonging to neighbouring countries rather than taking away citizenship of any individual of the country.
Interestingly, Arvind Kejriwal also took out a poll of people in the audience, who were mostly AAP workers, by asking how many have their own and parent’s birth certificates issued by the government. The poll perhaps staged, turned out to be a success for Kejriwal as only 15-20 people out of the many, raised their hands saying they possessed birth documents.
To which Kejriwal said, “Out of around 1000 people sitting here, only 15-20 people have raised their hands, rest all will have to go away from the country”, he said. Nidhi Razdan ably contributed to this fearmongering by adding “whether they are Hindu or Muslim”, which was promptly agreed by Kejriwal.
While Arvind Kejriwal was uttering these lies on CAA, instead of countering him, the moderator Nidhi Razdan instead chose to contribute to his fearmongering.
The Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, currently lodged in Tihar jail after being arrested in connection with the anti-CAA violence in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj on December 21, is unwell and needs immediate medical care, claimed the Bhim Army on Saturday.
However, rejecting the claims of the organisation, a senior jail official said Azad was “absolutely fine” and no such issue had come to their notice during routine medical check-ups by the official jail doctor.
Bhim Army claims its jailed chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad is unwell and needs immediate medical care. Senior jail official says Aazad ‘absolutely fine’
Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad had been arrested in connection with the violence in Old Delhi’s Daryagan on December 21, a day after his outfit defied a Police ban and organised a march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar against the new citizenship law.
The Delhi Police had denied permission to Chandrashekhar Azad’s protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar. Reports say that thousands of Muslims gathered at Jama Masjid after the Friday prayers, joined by Bhim Army members.
Prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 were in place near the Red Fort area then, however, defying the orders the Bhim Army members had hit the streets in the national capital on December 20.
On the day of the march, Azad had given a slip to the Delhi Police after the security personnel tried to detain him. He came outside Jama Masjid early Saturday (December 21) and was detained. He was arrested later, police said. After being detained, Azad was kept at the Crime Branch office in Chanakyapuri since he said he was unwell. He was later handed over to the central district police.
Following his arrest, he was taken to a hospital for a medical check-up after which the court sent him to 14-day judicial custody to Tihar jail. His bail plea was rejected by a Delhi court on December 21. The court had further sent 15 others, arrested in connection with the violence at Daryaganj, to two days’ judicial custody.
Police had suspected Azad instigated the crowd which turned violent near Delhi Gate and burnt a car.
Bhim Army spokesperson Kush Ambedkarwadi, who had met the jailed chief on Friday, said Azad has been undergoing treatment for the disease for the past one-and-a-half years, which requires biweekly phlebotomy, a “procedure to remove extra red blood cells from the blood to treat certain blood disorders”, and that he had told authorities at the Tihar Jail, where he is currently lodged, about it.
Meanwhile, Azad’s doctor Harjeet Singh Bhatti has claimed: “If Azad doesn’t get immediate medical care, his blood might get thicker and he may suffer a cardiac arrest. The jail authorities are not allowing him to visit AIIMS,” he said.
“This is inhuman and clear violation of human rights. I request Delhi Police and (Home Minister) Amit Shah to get him admitted to AIIMS,” he posted on Twitter.
The jail authorities, however, said medical assistance will be provided to Azad if the need arises.
After shamelessly lying about the Citizenship Amendment Act on the NDTV townhall yesterday, the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has displayed shocking ignorance of the legislation that intends to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
At a time when the country is plagued with protests against the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, far from allaying the concerns of the agitated people, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is going overboard to fuel apprehensions among people. Raising suspicions about the CAA, Kejriwal asked what’s the guarantee Pakistan won’t send spies as Hindus to seek asylum in India.
What is guarantee Pakistan won’t send spies as Hindus under #CAA: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
Under the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, persecuted minorities-Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, who have entered India on or before December 31, 2014 will be granted the citizenship of the country.
The cut-off date for applying the citizenship of the country for the persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh has been kept as December 31, 2014. It means, those who have managed to flee persecution and enter India on or before December 31, 2014, will stand eligible for seeking the citizenship of the country under the provisions listed in the CAA.
For those coming to India after that date using legal means, they will have to stay in India for 5 years before applying for citizenship, against 11 years for others. Moreover, all other provisions of naturalisation apply to them, which includes a thorough background check by intelligence agencies.
However, Kejriwal displayed no regard for the fine nitty-gritty of the Citizenship Amendment Act, and brazenly fanned misgivings about the legislation by claiming that Pakistan might send spies under the guise of persecuted Hindus. The opposition parties including AAP is opposing CAA because it does not includes Muslims. Now Kejriwal should answer why he is asking Muslims to be included in CAA, because Pakistan can more easily send Muslims as spies to India.
Pakistan does not need CAA to send spies as Arvind Kejriwal thinks, people regularly go from one country to the other using legal means, and anyone can be sent as spies using existing means of international travel using visa-passports. In fact, most countries use postings in their embassies and consulates in other countries to send spies, as officials posted at such offices enjoy diplomatic immunity.
Earlier, the Delhi CM lied through his teeth in the NDTV town-hall session when he claimed that the government seeks to disenfranchise the Hindu citizens of India through the Citizenship Amendment Act.
In a session moderated by NDTV’s Nidhi Razdan, who seemed to extend her support to Kejriwal in his lies, the Delhi CM elaborated his limited understanding of the Act by claiming that the central government will make papers for Hindus coming from Pakistan, but for Hindus in India, if they don’t have papers, they will have to leave the country. “Read the law if I am wrong”, he asserted. Kejriwal went on by saying so much love for Pakistani Hindus, but Indian Hindus will have to leave if they don’t have papers, what was the need of this law I don’t understand,” he said.
Soon after the incident of stone-pelting and vandalism was reported from the Sikh shrine of Gurudwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on Friday, the Congress party had been trying to dilute the significance of the incident. Earlier in the day, the Chattisgarh Congress had called one of the Nankana Sahib videos fake, and now, the Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad has attempted to trivialise the horrific attack by calling it “a non-issue.”
According to a report by The Republic TV, while addressing a press conference on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the Congress leader refused to even comment on the Nankana Sahib attack in Pakistan. He casually dismissed the horrific attack by laughing it off saying, “forget that.”
The reporter in the video footage is heard asking the Congress leader to comment on the Nankana Sahib attack in Pakistan. She says that the Congress CM of Punjab (Amrinder Singh) has asked Pakistan PM Imran Khan to intervene and his response she says is more of an eyewash. To this the Congress stalwart, Ghulam Nabi Azad is seen smirking and saying: “Forget that, it is not an issue. this (CAA) is the issue.”
Many Sikh devotees were stuck inside the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara last night, after an angry mob, led by the family of Mohammed Hassan, the boy who allegedly abducted and converted Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, who is the daughter of the gurdwara’s granthi, gathered outside the shrine and raised communal and hateful slogans while pelting stones at the shrine.
The Nankana Sahib attack by the Muslim mob in Pakistan has been condemned by several opposition leaders in India, including Congress former president Rahul Gandhi, but still Ghulam Nabi Azad thinks it is a not a issue worth commenting.
Moreover, if the press conference was on some other issue, like say economy, than the Congress leader would have been correct in saying that the issue is not relevant to the current discussion. But the press conference was on Citizenship Amendment Bill, and therefore the Nanakana Sahib attack is a related issue. The CAA is designed for incidents like this, to give citizenship to religious minorities facing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which includes Sikhs.
Therefore, the attack on Sikhs and Sikh shrines in Pakistan is a relevant issue in the CAA, and it is not a non-issue like the Congress leader was claiming.
The 93rd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is going to be held in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad on the 10th, 11th and 12th of January this year.
This literary meet has a glorious history. The first Sammelan was organised in Pune in 1878 and was presided by the great Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade. The Sammelan in its yesteryears has been presided over by literary stalwarts like Vi.Sa.Khandekar, Durga Bhagwat, Pu.La.Deshpande and many more. But since the last few years, the presidentship of this Sahitya Sammelan has become a topic of controversies. This year’s Sammelan is no exception to this. For this year’s Sammelan, Father Francis D’britto has been unanimously elected to preside over the 3-day event.
Father Francis D’britto is a Christian priest recognised by the Roman Catholic church. He has been working towards propagating the Christian religious ideas amongst people for most of his life. Based in Vasai near Mumbai, Fr. D’britto will be the first priest to preside over the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan.
Many readers and intellectuals have expressed apprehensions over a religious priest being given such an opportunity. Most of Fr. D’britto’s works are based on Christian religious history and philosophy. His well-known works include ‘Subodh Bible’, which is an easy-to-understand translation of the Bible, ‘Pope Dusre John Paul’, which is a biography of Pope John Paul II and ‘Sangharshyaatra Khristabhumichi’.
Fr. D’britto has received severe criticism from the likes of philosopher M.P Rege for suppressing the evils of the church and defending the church while criticising the so-called “evil practices” in Hinduism through his writings. Anand Hardikar, a well known Marathi writer has written an open letter to Fr.D’britto in which he exposes Father’s hypocrisy and asks some pointed questions to him. Hardikar has asked Fr. D’britto if he believes in the ten commandments by Moses, one of which talks of lynching people for idolatry.
Since Fr. D’britto has referred to Moses as ‘Rashtrapurush’ in one of his books, Hardikar asks D’britto if he supports such lynchings on the basis of a person’s way of worship. These questions seem pertinent as Fr.D’britto often talks of the constitution and the values of secularism and tolerance.
Maharashtra has always been hailed as a modern, liberal state. Marathi literature and the literary movement has played a significant role in inculcating modern, liberal ideas and promoting social reforms.
Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is a platform that has represented the voices of prudence and reason. Father D’britto while reaching Marathi-loving people all over the globe from this platform, will have to give answers. He will have to answer whether while talking of constitutionalism, on one hand, he supports forced and fraudulent conversions by the Christian missionaries.
He will have to answer if he believes in science and in adopting scientific temper or does he believe in the miracles mentioned in the Christian religious texts. He will have to explain what is his stand on homosexuality which is decriminalised in India but condemned by the church. He will have to answer whether he accepts that there are more than one ways for reaching to the ultimate truth.
Father D’britto is not the only one liable to answer. The ‘liberal- intellectuals’ will also have to explain how are they okay with a priest presiding over this Sammelan. Had some Hindu priest been elected president, these so-called ‘liberal-intellectuals’ would have returned awards and would have boycotted the Sammelan by now. But expecting this woke gang to be fair and prudent will lead us to great disappointment and nothing else.
So, it is going to be interesting to see if we get our answers from Father D’britto since he has always spoken of tolerance, freedom and constitution.
Siddiqullah Chowdhury, a minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet and also the president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s of West Bengal, has sparked a massive controversy by asking people not to cooperate with central government officials in implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
Minister of State for Mass Education Siddiqullah Chowdhury urged the people of West Bengal not to share their documents with officials conducting the NPR and CAA exercise in the state.
“I appeal to all of you. That under no circumstances should you share your documents with them. Keep your documents close to you in safe custody. It will mean a disaster. Do keep your documents as your last sword (sic),” he said.
Speaking at an anti-CAA rally in Bardhaman district of West Bengal, Chowdhury said that unless the state government and party accept the proposal, the people of West Bengal should not be sharing the documents with any officials.
Chowdhary also accused the BJP of creating communal tension and divide in the country on religious grounds.
Just weeks back, Siddiqullah Chowdhury had threatened Home Minister Amit Shah over the CAA and NRC and had warned Home Minister Shah that he will be stopped from entering Kolkata.
“We may not allow him (Shah) to step out of the city airport (Kolkata airport) if necessary. We may gather one lakh people there to stop him,” Chowdhury had said during a protest organised by Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind against the CAA.
Recently, Siddiqullah Chowdhury was also denied a visa by the government of Bangladesh, apparently on ‘technical grounds’.
Ever since the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in the parliament West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a massive anti-CAA campaign in the state. Mamata Banerjee had already announced that CAA will not be implemented in her state.
In fact, addressing a series of rallies in the state against CAA, Banerjee urged students to continue their protests against the contentious law. Addition to that, the state of West Bengal has been gripped with massive communal riots following the passing of historic legislation that grants citizenship to persecuted minorities of the three neighbouring countries.
The anti-CAA riots in West Bengal were extremely violent as Muslim mobs indulged in rampant vandalism as they ‘protested’ against the CAA.
The communal riots by Muslim mobs started in West Bengal after the weekly Friday prayers engulfed the whole state with the active support of Mamata Banerjee led state government. The Muslim mobs unleashed violence across the state by burning public infrastructure like Railway stations, buses, toll plaza and destroyed crores worth of tax-payers money to ‘protest’ against the CAA.
