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India never denies nationality of its citizens: Harish Salve presents a strong case for Kulbhushan Jadhav at ICJ

OpIndia Staff
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India never denies nationality of its citizens: Harish Salve presents a strong case for Kulbhushan Jadhav at ICJ

Hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case continued for the third day at the International Court of Justice today. Yesterday, Pakistan’s counsel Khawar Qureshi presented the side of Pakistan, where Jadhav has been sentenced to death.

Advocate Harish Salve continued with India’s arguments today at the Hauge, Netherlands, based UN court. He began by lodging a protest over the choice of words by Qureshi yesterday, saying that Pakistan side used words like shameless, nonsensical, laughable, breath-taking, arrogance etc many times, and India takes exception to being insulted before the International Court.

Arguing that Pakistan’s case was weak, Harish Salve quoted an old lawyer saying, ‘when you are strong on law you hammer the law, when you are strong on facts you hammer the facts and when you are strong on neither you hammer the table’.

Questioning the process adopted by the military court in Pakistan which had heard the Jadhav case and sentenced him, Salve said that the ICJ doesn’t need experts to help it decide whether Military Courts in Pakistan are due process complaint.

Salve said that Pakistan has made three attempts to derail the proceedings at the ICJ, which have failed. Referring to Pakistan’s allegation that India was blocking cross-examination of Deputy High Commission JP Singh, he said that court had held that the issue was not relevant to the case. Salve noted that Pakistan has attempted to produce the video of Jadhav’s so-called confession before the hearings began, but the court had refused to consider the video on record.

Harish Salve said that unlike Pakistan, India never denies the nationality of its citizens in another country, referring to Pakistan regularly refusing to accept Pakistani terrorists killed or captured by Indian security forces. Taking a dig at Pakistan, he said that Indian nationals are not the kind whose nationality needs to be denied. Salve added that Pakistan is being used as a safe haven by terrorists and terror organisations like Hafiz Saeed, Al-Qaeda, JeM, Dawood Ibrahim etc.

Salve said that there was no doubt that Kulbhushan Jadhav is an Indian national, and as per laws, if a foreign person is detained by a country, consular access must be granted as per article 36 of the Vienna Convention.

Salve informed the court that India has repeatedly asked for a copy of the judgment convicting Jadhav, and the charges against him. There would be no threat to the security of Pakistan if they share these documents, but still Pakistan refused to share the documents.

Harish Salve referred to use of articles published by Indian media by Pakistan, saying that those articles actually contradict the facts in Pakistan’s FIR.

Salve also questioned the ambit of judicial review of Pakistani courts, saying that often they do not interfere with decisions of military courts. He also said that the International Commission of Jurists and European Parliament have criticised the functioning of Pakistan’s Military Courts. In contrast, the Supreme Court of India had reviewed the case of Ajmal Kasab, they examined all the records as it was a case of death sentence, Salve informed the international court.

Advocate Harish Salve alleged that Jadhav has become a pawn in Pakistan’s tool to divert international scrutiny from itself. He was referring to rising international pressure on Pakistan to take action on terror groups operating from the country after the Pulwama terror attack.

Harish Salve concluded his arguments by saying that the time has come for the Court to make Article 36 a potent weapon for protection of human rights.

After Salve’s arguments, Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs, read out relief sought by India in front of the ICJ. He requested the court to adjudge and declare that Pakistan acted in egregious breach of Article 36 of Vienna convention.

Charge sheet filed against mining baron Janardhan Reddy and others in Ambidant Ponzi Scheme case

Aditi
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Charge sheet filed against mining baron Janardhan Reddy and others in Ambidant Ponzi Scheme case

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in Karnataka have filed a charge sheet against 9 persons including former BJP minister and mining baron G Janardhan Reddy in the Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd Ponzi scheme case. The 4,800-page sheet mentions that investigations have revealed that the firm had cheated 10,564 people who made investments of around ₹120 crore. The charge sheet has been submitted to the city civil court.

Amongst others who have been named in the charge sheet are Ambidant directors Syed Farid Ahmed and his son Syed Afaq Ahmed, Irfan Mirza, Vijay Tata, Mehfuz Ali Khan, Ballari Ramesh, Inayat Ullah Wahab and Ashraf Ali. The case has been registered under the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act (KPID).

Several properties worth over crores have been attached by the CCB belonging to the accused. The properties which have been attached include three layouts at Saraipalya, a flat at Ambedkar College layout, six flats at an apartment in Kalasipalya, 17 flats at Jigani and 17 guntas of land and 11 flats at Anekal. All these are owned by the Ahmeds. 17 flats worth Rs 57 crore belonging to Vijay Tata have also been attached. Two acres land in Bengaluru owned by Reddy and a site at Chikkanagamagala belonging to Ashraf Ali also have been attached.

Ambidant Marketing had started a Ponzi scheme promising high returns of up to 12% per month. Six cases have been registered against the firm.

Choice for 2019: Between Modi’s agenda of reform vs mahagathbandhan’s incoherent economic policies

Karan
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Choice for 2019: Between Modi’s agenda of reform vs mahagathbandhan’s incoherent economic policies

After the recent assembly elections, there has been a renewed discussion about the likelihood of a “mahagathbandhan” of regional political parties with the agenda of reducing the margin of victory for the NDA. Till date, most opinion polls continue to put the NDA at a 220-230 figure while the UPA is well within the 150 mark and the rest go to the others. Consequentially, everyone expects a BJP led government to be formed in 2019 and this implies that Prime Minister will comfortably get another term to carry on with the agenda of reforms. I do not expect the 2019 verdict to be a fractured verdict and the opinion polls in 2019 suggest exactly what they did in the January of 2014 so once the campaign starts, we should expect the BJP to gain and perhaps be very close to the half-way mark.

But this article is not about the elections or their likely outcome but it is about the “incoherent economic agenda” of the Opposition parties that is myriad in their political opportunism. Their economic agenda is so contradictory that it is disturbingly amusing to me as it displays a clear lack of understanding of the complex challenges that our country faces. This lack of understanding is perhaps, another reason why we must ensure that the process of reforms continue post-2019 for which it is imperative that the Prime Minister is given a full mandate in the 2019 elections.

One of the critical problems that India faces is in terms of its high dependence on agriculture for employment. Since 1991, the agricultural sector witnessed a rapid decline in its importance as a percentage of GDP while it continued as India’s primary source of employment. For all the talk about jobs, one must consider that the manufacturing sector is important from the point of view of the creation of jobs in the unskilled or semi-skilled sector. But, for the manufacturing sector to boom, one needs to provide adequate land to the industry. Now, let us refresh our memory and remind ourselves of those who opposed the “land reforms” that the government wanted to bring in its earlier days. Unfortunately, land reforms were one thing that the government could not see through due to stiff political opposition (or opportunism) but needless to say, it exposed the hypocrisy of those who keep on harping on the high dependence on agriculture for jobs. These individuals frequently oppose land acquisition for any project and incite the local farmers to protest development activities which would, in fact, be in the interests of the farmers themselves.

In fact, the entire episode of jobs is hilarious as now, most opposition parties want jobs, but one must ask them, how will they generate these jobs as they want jobs but they’re hostile to industries. Recall the Singur episode when Tata had to completely shift its plant to Sanand, in Gujarat because Mamata Banerjee led a strong protest the company. The shift of the plant to Sanand resulted in rapid development of the region and it is moving towards becoming one of India’s biggest manufacturing hubs. The poor farmers of Singur were cheated by their political leader and her policies which resulted in them being deprived of development opportunities that could have improved their lives.

Over subsequent months, Rahul Gandhi’s policies have started to look a lot like Indira Gandhi’s policies during the 70s. He has the same contempt for private businesses as Indira did and he believes in inefficient state-run corporations as much as Nehru did. This is not just scary but potentially dangerous as it shows how the Congress is going back to the faulty economic policies that failed us in the past. Their idea of the creation of jobs while holding businessmen in contempt implies that they intend to expand the public sector at the cost of private businesses- an idea that was tried for decades and one that failed for decades. Besides, the public sector in itself cannot be extended to such an extent that it could accommodate India’s working age population thus the idea is in itself not plausible.

Another important common factor between most regional parties and the Congress is its faulty welfare programs that are aimed at using public resources to build political capital in the form of electoral success. This is perhaps an important factor that needs to be reiterated- most of these political parties want to spend, to ensure that they can win elections. Thus, they don’t have a long-term outlook towards promoting growth, but their only agenda is redistribution. But to ensure that you can redistribute and help the poor become non-poor is by promoting growth which requires encouraging investment and incentivizing innovation. Unless there is growth, mere redistribution will only result in an eventual collapse of growth leading to an economic crisis. This makes growth imperative for redistribution to take place, but sadly, for the Congress and its friends, redistribution has always come before growth and this is a major reason behind the modest growth India experienced till the 1980s and the collapse of growth in 2011.

The choice in front of the voters is fairly simple as on one hand, it has Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his agenda of reforms (4 reforms have been implemented during 2014-19 in the form of GST, RERA, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the recent shift towards basic income) while on the other, we have an incoherent economic policy that has its own inherent contradictions. Those born in the 21stcentury have to make an important choice that couldn’t be simpler, and I am certain that they will make the right choice!

IndiaSpend’s faulty ‘fact-checker’ cements its anti-Hindu bias, exposes its Hinduphobia while downplaying Pulwama attack

Nirwa Mehta
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IndiaSpend’s faulty ‘fact-checker’ cements its anti-Hindu bias, exposes its Hinduphobia while downplaying Pulwama attack

In an attempt to justify their statement of not treating a terror attack – where the terrorist himself declared that it was a religious war against infidels – as a religious hate crime, FactChecker compared the terrorist attack with alleged attacks on Kashmiris in some parts of India after the Pulwama terror attack. They claimed that they have not included such attacks either as ‘hate crime’ as it doesn’t fit into their ‘motivated by religious identity’ criteria, because such attacks appear motivated by regional identities of the victims, not religious.


Interestingly, FactChecker had deleted the tweet originally posted by them and reposted the same for reasons best known to them.

Now there are multiple issues with this justification, and FactCheker has only dug holes for themselves with it, as they had once done earlier while trying to justify why they don’t include attacks on Hindus in their hate-crime database.

With their subsequent tweets, FactChecker tried to pass off the allegations of attack on Kashmiris as some real crime while it has been witnessed in multiple cases that such allegations were either rumours or fear of Kashmiri students without any actual attack having been taken place against them. Therefore, if FactChecker is not including those in their database, primary reason is because such crimes don’t exist at all. They are essentially making a virtue out of necessity.

Secondly, some of the ‘attacks’ against Kashmiris were not exactly hate crime but could at worst be called revenge attacks, where some people hit back at those celebrating Pulwama attack. Many of such Kashmiris were booked by respective state police departments or their employers or colleges took action against them. These can’t be called hate crimes at all. So once again, FactChecker is making a virtue out of necessity.

Thirdly, in regards to such alleged attacks, religion is an integral part of the Kashmiri identity. No Kashmiri Hindus were targeted anywhere, so one can’t say ‘regional’ identity is the only driving factor here. Therefore, if any such attack did take place, it entirely qualifies as a hate crime and as a religion-based hate crime. It’s astounding why FactChecker will leave it out. Perhaps only to justify their leaving out the religion-based terror attack that killed 44 jawans.

And finally, if FactChecker strongly believes that alleged attacks against Kashmiris were primarily due to their regional identity i.e. the editors, if any, at IndiaSpend have the ability to understand the nuance that every Muslim victim is not attacked only due to his religion, where does this nuance go when dealing with attacks on Muslims accused of cow smuggling? Aren’t economy and law and order the primary reasons behind such attacks? Why does FactChecker then treat those as religion-based attacks, especially when there are multiple cases where Hindu cow smugglers have also been attacked? If attacks on Kashmiris don’t qualify as religion based hate crimes, as per FactChecker themselves, the case for cow related attacks not being treated as religion based hate crime is far more stronger, as farmers are primarily protecting an asset.

This reminds me of a couplet from this popular song from Padosan:

Ek chatur naar badi hoshiyaar,
apne hi jaal mein phasat jaat,
hum hasat jaat, arre,
ho ho ho ho

Just give up FactChcker, and stop justifying your Hinduphobia.

Pakistan army advice Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed to stay out of sight for now over rising international pressure

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan army advice Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed to stay out of sight for now over rising international pressure

A day after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan in a televised address, bellowed that Pakistan had no connection with the dastardly Pulwama attack, Intelligence sources have told Zee Media that Pakistan Army has advised its two terrorist principals to maintain a low profile amidst rising pressure from the International community.

Pakistan’s military-intelligence establishment has once again interceded to safeguard the terrorists they have been fostering for ages by asking Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed to keep a low profile as long as the pressure of the International community continues over the Pulwama terror attack.

This protective advice from the Pakistan Army unmasks the pretence of Pakistan’s PM and his delegates who have been in a continuous denial mode, ranting the similar rhetorics of Pakistan not being behind the terror attack.

Meanwhile, in what can be seen as a pushover to India’s effort to formally get Jaish-e-Mohammad’s mastermind, Masoor Azhar, termed a ‘globally designated terrorist’ it has been reported now that France will again lead a proposal at the UN to put Masood Azhar on the terrorist list.

This is not the first time France has sought to ban Masood Azhar at the UN. In 2017, a similar proposal was brought at the UN by the USA, which was supported by France and the UK. The proposal was submitted with the Sanctions Committee 1267 of the UN. But the move was blocked by China.

Before that, India had also moved the US Sanctions Committee for banning Masood Azhar, but those attempts were blocked by China. Out of the 15 members of the security council, only China is blocking the move.

This move, which is now gaining momentum Internationally, is also being speculated as one of the prime reason for Pakistan Army wanting to keep its in-house terrorists in low visibility.

Pakistan backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility of the heinous Pulwama attack executed on February 14, wherein the organisation audaciously attacked a convoy of 70 vehicles of the CRPF carrying 2500 personnel which was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. In what is being considered the most gruesome attack in the last 3 decades, over 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives as a suicide bomber, rammed an explosive-laden car into the CRPF bus, which was part of the convoy.

Pakistan has been condemned and shamed Internationally for this cowardly act.

Liberalism is a mental disorder: M.K Venu proves it in his latest article about Pulwama attack for The Wire

K Bhattacharjee
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Liberalism is a mental disorder: M.K Venu proves it in his latest article about Pulwama attack for The Wire

Leftist propaganda outlet recently published an article about the Pulwama attack, by ‘Eminent Intellectual’ M.K. Venu which defies common sense and basic knowledge. The article, which is an atrocious assault on our intellect, makes the argument that the BJP will politicize the Pulwama Terror Attack and that Pakistan will welcome the fact that Kashmir will play such a pivotal role in the outcome of the General Elections.

Quite undoubtedly, the most erroneous claim in the article was when Venu argued that Kashmiri Separatism was never about Islamic Jihad. He writes, “A perceptive political analyst pointed out that the Pulwama suicide bomber’s video message, most likely formulated by Jaish-e-Muhammed ideologues, talks mostly about Hindutva majoritarian oppression with references to BJP’s cow politics.”

The whitewashing of the terrorist’s actual words by Venu is quite astonishing. The terrorist did not merely refer to ‘Hindutva majoritarian oppression’ or ‘cow politics’. The Jihadist openly advocated hatred towards Hindus by labelling them cow-piss drinkers. That is not cow politics, that is Islamic hatred for Hindus. It’s quite deplorable that Venu brushes it under the carpet by terming it as an attack on BJP’s brand of politics.

And exactly is he referring to when he speaks of ‘Hindutva majoritarian oppression’? In West Bengal, Muslim mobs are permitted to go on a rampage against Hindus while the Police do absolutely nothing. Cattle smugglers are involved in numerous criminal activities where they even violently attack law enforcement authorities when confronted, even killing them at times.

Elected Democratic representatives boast about the number of Mosques they have constructed, the minority have special rights granted to them by the discriminatory Indian Constitution itself. What on Earth does he mean by ‘majoritarian oppression’? Of course, in the liberal world, ‘feelings’ matter more facts and the feelings of minorities and liberals matter a lot more than facts and certainly a lot more than the sentiments of Hindus.

Venu then adds, “This is interesting because for decades the Kashmiri Muslim majority was only obsessed with the question of maximum autonomy or Azadi, and they did not really connect or empathise with the questions which constantly agitated the Muslim minority in the rest of the country, whether UP, Bihar or Gujarat.”

It appears that the author has been living under a rock for decades. It has always been amply clear, even Kashmiri separatists say it, that the terrorism against India has always been about establishing an Islamic caliphate in the region. Liberals have a poor memory, it seems, considering the fact that it hasn’t been long since Barkha Dutt tried to coax a separatist into saying that Kashmiri Separatism was about Azadi even when the latter maintained that it was about his religion. But it doesn’t matter what Kashmiri terrorists themselves say. If liberals are in disagreement with observable facts, then they will declare reality itself to be a mistake.

Moving forward with his argument which is based on a horribly false premise, Venu writes at one point, “So why is Muslim-majority Kashmir, which was largely preoccupied with the notion of full autonomy or Azadi for all these decades, now entering the debate linked to Hindutva and the overtly majoritarian politics of the rest of India, especially the Hindi heartland?”

The answer to his question is fairly obvious. For the same reason that some Muslims in India indulged in rabid violence for the plight of Rohingyas in Myanmar, for the same reason that Indian Muslims hate Israel for its war against Palestinians, for the same reason that Islamic fanatics across the country have been celebrating the Pulwama Terror Attack and attacking those who express solidarity with the martyrs, loyalty to the Global Ummah transcends all else. Venu’s words only serve to confirm the notion that Liberalism is a mental disorder which blinds a person to obvious realities.

In his article, Venu insinuates that Narendra Modi himself is indulging in the politicization of the act of terrorism. He wrote, “Narendra Modi himself is making speeches in Patna, Varanasi, etc., speaking in very coded language about revenge. “The fire raging in your hearts is raging in my heart too,” he told an angry crowd in Patna.”

The thick veil of liberalism cloaking his eyes prevents Venu from seeing that the Prime Minister is merely echoing the sentiments of the Indian populace. And it’s not just Narendra Modi who is speaking in such terms. The Chief Minister of Punjab, who belongs to the Congress party, has called for vengeance as well. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh spoke out against Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his fanboy, Navjot Singh Sidhu.

By singling out Narendra Modi for his rhetoric against Pakistan which is being echoed the rest of the India polity as well, Venu commits the crime that he is accusing the BJP of. It is he who’s politicizing the matter, not the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Indian Prime Minister. In doing so, he has once again affirmed his liberal credentials. It is the hallmark of liberalism, after all, that its adherents accuse others of what they themselves are most guilty of.

Karnataka: Suspended Congress MLA JN Ganesh arrested for assaulting fellow MLA Anand Singh a month ago

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: Suspended Congress MLA JN Ganesh arrested for assaulting fellow MLA Anand Singh a month ago

Karnataka Congress MLA J N Ganesh has been arrested for assaulting Anand Singh, also a Congress MLA, after they got involved in a fight in hotel Eagleton Resort in January this year. The police had filed charges of attempt to murder on him.


J N Ganesh was missing since he was charged in the case. Charges under 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 307 (Attempt to murder), 504 (intentional insult to breach peace) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been filed against him by Bidadi Police Station. According to reports, Ganesh was arrested from an undisclosed location outside Karnataka.

The brawl between the two Congress MLAs took place when the MLAs were staying in a resort amidst the fear of poaching by the BJP. Ganesh had allegedly hit Singh with a bottle after which he was admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru. Ganesh had denied having any fight with Singh. The party leadership also had also denied the attack, saying that Anand Singh was hospitalised due to chest pain and not due to any fight. But later photographs of Singh had appeared in media which showed clear sign of assault.

An FIR was lodged by Singh against Ganesh for allegedly assaulting him. Ganesh had even gone missing after the filing of the FIR. The police had formed Special teams to find out Ganesh and arrest him.

Although the Congress party had denied the attack initially, later Ganesh was suspended from the membership of the party.

Saudi Prince in India: ‘Terrorism common concern, stand with India against terrorism’

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Prince in India: ‘Terrorism common concern, stand with India against terrorism’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman addressed a joint conference pledging to work together to curb terrorism and extremism. PM Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also issued a joint statement and witnessed the exchange MoUs between the two countries, reported ANI.

Addressing the media after the delegation level talks between the two countries, PM Modi said that Saudi Arabia was one of India’s most valuable strategic partners. He further added that the relations between the two countries have grown stronger and welcomed Saudi Arabia’s investment in Indian infrastructure. PM Modi also welcomed Saudi Arabia to join the International Solar Alliance.

PM Modi in his statement brought up the issue of Pulwama terror attack said that both countries agree that pressure should be put on countries supporting terrorism. In the joint statement, PM Modi gave a strong warning to Pakistan over the Pulwama attack, saying both Saudi Arabia and India had agreed to ramp up pressure on countries that continue to harbour terrorist organisations.

“The cruel attack in Pulwama last week underlines the anti-humanitarian threat the world is facing. To deal with it effectively, we agree that there is a need to put all possible pressure on countries supporting terrorism. It is necessary to destroy the infrastructure of terrorism and end its support system by giving strong punishment to the terrorists and their supporters,” said Prime Minister Modi.

Following PM Modi’s statement at the joint press conference, Mohammed bin Salman said, “Extremism & terrorism are our common concerns. We would like to tell our friend India that we’ll cooperate on all fronts, be it intelligence sharing. We’ll work with everyone to ensure a brighter future for our upcoming generations.”

Prince Salman said that the relationship between India and Saudi Arabia is over thousands of years old. “It is even older than history, and this relationship has grown stronger in the last 50 years. Our objectives are similar be it in energy, agriculture or technology,” added the Prince.

Prince Salman also called for common planning between India and Saudi Arabia to tackle various issues. “PM Modi visited Saudi Arabia in 2016 and we have achieved success in these years. We have invested around $44 billion in India. There are opportunities to invest over $100 billion in India,” said the Saudi Prince.

Five Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in areas of investment, tourism, housing and information and broadcasting were signed between India and Saudi Arabia after talks between PM Modi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Earlier, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman was accorded the Guard of Honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan where he met President Ramnath Kovind alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Today we want to be sure that this relationship is maintained and improved for the sake of both countries. With the leadership of the President and the Prime Minister, I am sure we can create good things for Saudi Arabia and India,” said Prince Salman as reported by ANI.

The Saudi Crown Prince arrived in India on Tuesday a day after his visit to Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday broke protocol to personally receive the Saudi prince and welcomed him with a warm hug at the Palam airport. The Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is on his first visit to India.

Earlier, India had expressed its reservations to the Saudi authorities over the India visit of the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman directly from Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama terror attack. According to sources, the Crown Prince Salman’s visit to India, immediately following a stop in Islamabad, will not be acceptable to India.

Amar Singh donates ancestral properties worth 15 crores to RSS-affiliated organisation Seva Bharti

OpIndia Staff
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Amar Singh donates ancestral properties worth 15 crores to RSS-affiliated organisation Seva Bharti

Rajya Sabha Member and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh today reached Azamgarh district’s Lal Ganj tehsil, to donate his ancestral property worth around Rs 15 crore, to Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh affiliated organization Seva Bharti. Amar Singh was accompanied by Seva Bharti leader Rishipal Singh, at the area’s Sub-divisional magistrate’s office.

“By giving away my property in the memory of my late father to them, I have tried to make a contribution to their efforts to serve the society,” Amar Singh said. He added that RSS is too big an organization, to be donated anything.

Firstly it was believed that Amar Singh will give his property on lease to Seva Bharti. But, on Tuesday, Singh’s close aid Virbhadra Pratap Singh said that property will be donated entirely to Seva Bharti, without any foundation. He has also informed that Amar Singh will also attend RSS event in Kanpur, to be held on 23 February. The event will also be attended by Uttar Pradesh’s deputy CM Dinesh Chandra Sharma.

The property donated by Amar Singh consists of his multi-storied bungalow, which is equipped with bullet-proof windows and a lift, along with 10-Bigha or roughly 2.5-acre farmland. Seva Bharti will use the donated property to establish a Thakur Hairshchandra Seva Kendra.

Amar Singh had resigned from all posts of SP in 2010, following which he was expelled from the party by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Recently, he has been inching closer towards Bhartiya Janata Party. However, Amar Singh has kept his card reserved, and never responded to speculations. Today, answering to media persons, he even acknowledged Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the emerging leader, citing Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, in which BJP lost to Congress, despite having more vote share.

Amar Singh also said that entrance of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into active politics will ensure wiping out of ‘cockroach parties’, and make election battle restricted to two parties. Slamming the SP-BSP alliance, Amar Singh said that Mayawati led BSP is a turncoat and forges a friendship with any party, which it deems will give it electoral benefit.

Saradha chit fund scam: Justice L Nageswar Rao recuses himself from hearing CBI’s contempt case against Mamata govt

OpIndia Staff
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Saradha chit fund scam: Justice L Nageswar Rao recuses himself from hearing CBI’s contempt case against Mamata govt

Justice L Nageshwar Rao has recused himself from the hearing of the contempt plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Supreme Court against the West Bengal authorities in the Saradha Chit Fund case.

The matter was listed before a Bench of CJI Gogoi, Justice L Nageshwar Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The hearing of the plea was adjourned when the Bench informed that one of the judges was not inclined to hear the matter. Justice Rao refused to be part of the bench hearing the case citing the reason that he had represented the State of West Bengal in a case earlier. The case will now be heard on February 27.

In the contempt plea, the CBI has alleged that the State authorities obstructed the probe in the multi-crore chit fund scam.

In separate affidavits filed on February 18 by the West Bengal Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De, DGP Virendra Kumar, and Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar respectively in the Supreme Court rendering an unconditional and unambiguous apology, they had denied the charge of obstructing the probe in the scam.

The plea was filed in the wake of the scuffle between the West Bengal government and the CBI after the CBI officials who had gone to interrogate the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar were detained by the Kolkata police. Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal had sat on Dharna in support of Kumar.

In their affidavits, the trio has reportedly maintained that at no point of time had the West Bengal police and the state government tried to obstruct the investigation. They stated that the CBI officials had tried to enter Rajeev Kumar’s residence without valid papers.

They have also maintained that no police official, in uniform or otherwise, was at no point of times was present at the dharna venue with the CM.

The SC had ordered Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before the CBI for questioning in Shillong.

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