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Female journalist, crew of Republic TV heckled at Aligarh Muslim University, camera and equipment broken

OpIndia Staff
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Female journalist, crew of Republic TV heckled at Aligarh Muslim University, camera and equipment broken

Today the students of the Aligarh Muslim University had alleged that the Republic TV crew which was present in their campus reportedly indulged in physical and verbal harassment. The students accused the Republic TV scribes of calling the institute as ‘University of Terrorists’.


The Wire journalist further insinuated that such behaviour has been commonplace by the Repuplic TV journalists with public figures and the forthwith condemnation by the BJP MP from Aligarh suggests a set-up. The Wire journalist here is implying that it was a deliberate attempt by the Republic TV crew to incite the students of the AMU by name-calling them.

However, in an elaborate thread, the Republic TV journalist who was present at the scene and victim of the ire of the AMU students outrightly dismissed the lies peddled by the Wire journalist and penned down her ordeal in excruciating detail. Nalini Sharma, working as a journalist at Republic TV, claimed in a series of tweets that the Wire journalist was concocting blatant lies and that she and her crew were, in fact, the victims of the unbridled aggression displayed by the violent elements in the AMU who were averse to Republic TV.


Nalini claimed that while she was reporting live on an issue totally unrelated to AMU, a security official of the AMU who identified himself as Azeem Akthar asked them to stop the reporting. Nalini ignored him as she was reporting live on air. After that, a group of students gathered around them and the Republic TV crew were pushed around and their equipment manhandled. They were immediately asked to leave the University because they were from ‘Republic TV’.


According to Nalini, this was just the beginning. The crowd began to grow and the heckling intensified as the Republic TV crew were waiting for their car to arrive. She further alleges that when they began to oppose the physical abuse, their cameras and equipment were snatched away from them and broken into pieces by the hoodlums of the AMU.

This was not the end, a human chain was formed by the students, exhorting others to not allow these ‘women’ to leave the campus “at any cost”. They were physically pushed when they tried to break the human chain. With great difficulty, Nalini along with her another female colleague and three male colleagues pushed through the human chain and managed to escape the University campus.


All this while, the police forces stationed outside the gates of the AMU behaved like a bystander witnessing the violent intimidation. When Nalini asked the police to recover their cameras which had footage of the hooliganism of the AMU students, the police said that they had no authority inside the campus and hence they cannot help it. They further informed her that such kind of unruly behaviour by AMU students is common. The hoodlums in the University had destroyed all the cameras, equipment and mobile phones that they had captured during the violent heckling and intimidation.

The journalists were abused, heckled, physically pushed around and subjected to the worst kind of intimidation just because they belonged to Republic TV. Instead of standing for their fellow colleagues’ Freedom of Speech and their safety, the Wire journalist spun a web of lies, legitimising the condemnable act by the AMU hoodlums and branding the victims as perpetrators and vice-versa.

A report on the incident by Republic Bharat can be seen here.

Naveen Patnaik says Modi government has failed to create and augment rail and highway infrastructure in Odisha, facts say otherwise

Sambit Nayak
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Naveen Patnaik says Modi government has failed to create and augment rail and highway infrastructure in Odisha, facts say otherwise

On 26th December 2018, on the 21st foundation day of Biju Janata Dal, party president and CM Shri Naveen Patnaik, while addressing a rally at Puri, came down heavily on the NDA government at centre led by PM Narendra Modi. Central to his attack was how the current dispensation at Delhi has completely neglected Odisha. One of the prominent narratives among his 9 point attack was that the central government has failed to create and augment rail and highway infrastructure in Odisha. Since then, it had been repeated ad nauseam, without being backed by any data or specific questions.

So here is the data on Railways and Highways on what this government has done vis-a-vis previous governments to help our readers make an informed decision.

Railways

As of 2017, Odisha has 2572.16 KM of rail route at a density of 15.03 KM per thousand KM against a national average of 19 KM. Clearly, Odisha is lagging here and much needed to be done to connect the hinterlands and LWE affected areas. New, as well as capacity augmentation projects sanctioned in the late 90s and early 2000s, have been started after 2014 since the UPA government literally did nothing for Railways in Odisha except the introduction of some new trains. In fact, East Coast Railway, which is the major railway zone in Odisha headquartered at Bhubaneswar, became a separate zone, last time BJP was in power under Atal Behari Vajpayee. After that, Odisha suffered for 10 years before getting its due share in 2014 and onwards.

Line Doubling

One major call out in the doubling work is Cuttack-Barang section which lies on the Chennai-Howrah trunk route. It witnesses heavy to very heavy traffic. This section is 12 KMs with 1 major bridge and 1 minor bridge in between. The original project started in 2010 but no significant progress was made. This caused major delays as trains had to be stopped at Cuttack station as there was only 1 bridge over river Kathajori. Modi government expedited the process and got it completed in early 2015 after coming to power.

Electrification

It must be noted that the Angul-Sambalpur line’s electrification was sanctioned in 2003-04 but UPA did nothing in the following 10 years. NDA government has electrified 60 KMs out of 149 KMs in 4.5 years.

New Line Addition

In effect, in the 4.5 years between 2014-18, Odisha got 267 KMs of track doubled, 398 KMs of track electrified and 81 KMs of brand new railway track.

Here is a brief summary of UPA 2009-14 vs NDA 2014-19

(Note: The data is taken from ECoR system Map of 2008, 2014 and 2018)

Ongoing Projects

See the year of sanction of each project. The entire 81 KMs in Khurda Road-Balangir section is constructed in last 4.5 years under NDA with a pair of trains already running between Khurda Road – Rajasunakhala. Let’s mention some projects here, which carry special significance.

  • Paradeep-Haridaspur will go through Kendrapara district, which still doesn’t have a railway line.
  • Khurda Road-Balangir will go through Nayagarh and Boudh districts which don’t have railway line.
  • Talcher-Bimlagad will bring down the distance between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar to 308 KMs from present 440 KMs
  • Angul-Sukinda will connect two massive mineral clusters i.e Coal from Talcher with Iron ore in Sukinda. This is being carried out by a JV between RVNL(Rail Vikash Nigam Ltd), IDCO (Industrial Development Corporation, Odisha), Jindal and Bhusan.

The budgetary fund allocation in this government has also touched record heights. In last year budget Odisha got a record ₹5,102 crores, which is around 5 times of what UPA govt allocated in their last budget.

Of course, the budgetary allocation includes other things among new lines, doubling, electrification, station modernisation, amenities improvement. Odisha has got at least 40+ new trains in last 5 years. Some marquee trains include Humsafar, Antyodaya, Duronto and Sampark Krantis along with other regular trains. Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda stations have got major facelifts.

National Highways

As per 2016 data, Odisha shares 4.6% of the total National Highways of India, which stands at 4,838 KMs out of 103,613 KMs. The density per 1000 sq KM is 31.1 KM against a national average of 31.5. The density per 1 Lakh population is 11.5 KMs which is better than the national average of 8.6 KMs.

With declaration of state roads as new NHs being done from time to time keeping in view the requirements of connectivity, priority and availability of funds, in his recent visit to Odisha, Union Minister for Highways, Nitin Gadkari announced that Odisha as of date has 9,426 KMs of National Highways, nearly double of what NDA government started with. Though, most of them are still single carriageways with 2 lanes.

Completed Projects

Among completed projects, total expenditure by the central government is ~₹6,000 crore. There are a slew of ongoing projects which are slated to finish by 2020.

Ongoing Projects

In most of the ongoing projects, land acquisition is almost complete. Forest clearance is pending only in certain sections but work is going on in full swing. The Chandikhol-Talcher via Duburi NH 53 carries special significance here as it will connect Coal belt (Talcher) – Iron Ore and Chromite (Duburi) – Steel Capital of India (Kalinga Nagar) – port (Paradeep) through a 4 lane road.

Sanctioned and Awarded

These projects have been sanctioned and awarded but work has not started yet due to various reasons like administrative/jurisdiction changes, 90% land acquisition not completed, forest clearance and so on. The Birmitrapur-Barkote section is politically significant as it was promised by PM Modi himself in his pre-election rally. This region has given the sole BJP MP from Odisha among 20 BJD MPs. The local BJP MLA recently resigned from BJP citing non-progress of work on this highway.

So, Odisha has got 294 KMs of 4 laned Highway in the last 5 years while work on other 642 KMs are ongoing which will be opened in next year. Another 368 KMs have been awarded and work may start soon. For a comparative study, Congress in its entire regime of 55 years got ~70 KM of 4 laned roads in Odisha. The NH 16 stretch in Odisha got 4 laned during Vajpayee’s ambitious Golden Quadrilateral scheme. Another 294 KMs got added during Modi’s regime. In fact, UPA itself in a 2013 affidavit admitted that, in the 6 years tenure between 1998-04, NDA government has constructed more roads than all other governments combined in the past 30 years.

This data excludes the 415 KM coastal highway of Odisha envisaged at ₹7,500 crore from Gopalpur to Digha under Bharatmala, 262 km long waterway at a cost of Rs 5000 crore, combining Mahanadi and Brahmani from Karimnagar to Dhamra and Paradip, 93 KMs of Ring Roads around major towns and various flyovers and bridges. The ministry claims that the total expenditure by the centre on regional connectivity in Odisha is pegged at 1 lakh crore.

While we don’t contest CM Shri Naveen Patnaik’s allegation that centre is not doing enough on highways and railways in Odisha, we will urge the Chief Minister to back his claim with data and be specific on what needs to be done which has not been done or not being done.

Another U-turn by Rahul Gandhi: Terms the same CAG report worthless which he desperately wanted to see

Jhankar Mohta
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Another U-turn by Rahul Gandhi: Terms the same CAG report worthless which he desperately wanted to see

The Congress supremo, Rahul Gandhi has been hitting on the BJP government for months over the Rafale deal. Clearly, in the present scenario, one is forced to believe that this is the only card in the hands of the Congress, which it’s President has been using over and over again, against the incumbent government.

Rahul Gandhi, who has been famous for citing different prices for Rafale jets ranging from a few hundred rupees apiece to thousands of crores, has taken to first ignore the SC’s verdict over the deal and now rubbishes the very report he and his party have been demanding to see.

The Gandhi scion forgets that it was he and his party leaders who had gone hammer and tongs demanding the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s report over Rafale pricing to be made available and now, when the CAG has tabled a report on the Rafale deal in the Parliament today, Rahul, conveniently forgetting his earlier statements, has openly rubbished the report calling it worthless.

In fact, the Congress, probably anticipating a clean chit to the government over the Rafale deal, had started resorting to such theatrics since yesterday, raising questions on the impartiality of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India himself.

A few months ago the Congress wanted the CAG to present his report as soon as possible. In September, a delegation of senior Congress leaders met the CAG on the Rafale deal and asked the auditor to prepare a report on alleged irregularities in it.

Again in October, the Congress urged the CAG to carry out a forensic audit of the Rafale fighter jet deal and bring all facts on record to enable Parliament to fix accountability for the alleged scam in the contract. The Congress had then, contrary to its present stand, called the CAG a constitutional body and said that it must audit the deal.

“It is expected that the CAG which has a Constitutional mandate and authority to scrutinize every document, in this case including original tender, understanding reached between Dassault and HAL and the arbitrary decision of the Prime Minister without any mandate from Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will undertake a forensic audit,” the memorandum said.

In fact, in December 2018, when the Supreme court ruled that there was no reason to doubt the process that the government followed to buy the Rafale jets, the Congress had made a major hue and cry, demanding to see the CAG report on the Rafale deal.

And now, once the CAG has done what actually the Congress has been demanding all this while, Rahul Gandhi takes a complete U-turn and disregards CAG and its audit report dubbing it as ‘Chowkidar Auditor General’ report.

Ankur Singh on Twitter identified this peculiarity of Rahul’s where he is seen going back on his words, leaving the Twitter users wondering whether the Congress President does this deliberately or whether he is genuinely suffering from some kind of intellective disorder.


Many users on Twitter commented over the conflicting stands displayed by Congress.


Moreover, what could be seen as another irony is that Rahul Gandhi castigated the country’s Prime Minister by citing a report published in The Indian Express to renew his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rafale deal. Rahul said that PM Modi acted as a middleman for Anil Ambani. He also sought criminal proceedings against PM Modi. However, he refuses to accept the audit report prepared by a constitutional body.

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi on Monday submitted the report on Rafale deal to President Ram Nath Kovind. The Modi government is likely to table the report in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a day before the first part of Budget Session culminates.

BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi of being a defence lobbyist

OpIndia Staff
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BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi of being a defence lobbyist

Firing fresh salvos at the Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the BJP today levelled a serious allegation of him being a ‘Defence Lobbyist’. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the source of documents cited by Rahul Gandhi in his press conference.


Earlier today, citing an internal email purportedly sent by Airbus officials, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that the PM Modi worked as a middleman for Anil Ambani. The allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi were predicated on a conjecture-filled report by the Indian Express claiming that the Reliance group head Anil Ambani met the French defence officials weeks before PM Modi’s meet. Rahul also dismissed the CAG report on the Rafale deal, calling it a ‘Chowkidar Auditor General report’.

The report in the Indian Express insinuated that Anil Ambani’s visit to the French Defence Minister on a short notice before the Prime Minister’s official visit exerted an influence on the outcome of the Rafale deal and that Anil Ambani was unduly benefitted by the deal.

Prasad contended how Rahul Gandhi was in possession of the internal emails of Airbus, which is itself facing an inquiry into the shady deals it got during the UPA regime and went on to claim that the Congress President is working as a defence lobbyist for competitor aircraft companies and trying to scuttle the Rafale deal, which is expected to immensely fortify the Indian Air Force.

Earlier too, several BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley had alleged that Rahul Gandhi was attacking the Rafale deal at the behest of Eurofighter, which was a contender in the MMRCA deal. There also allegations that Rahul Gandhi had met Eurofighter officials before he started his attack on the Rafale deal. Airbus is the majority shareholder of the consortium that manufactures the Eurofighter Typhoon jet.

Contempt of Court: CJI orders Rs 1 lakh fine and “sitting in a corner” for former CBI interim chief Nageshwar Rao

OpIndia Staff
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Contempt of Court: CJI orders Rs 1 lakh fine and “sitting in a corner” for former CBI interim chief Nageshwar Rao

The Supreme Court has come down heavily on former interim CBI chief Nageshwar Rao on Tuesday after it found him guilty of contempt of court. The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh, that has to be deposited within a week.


Rao was found guilty of contempt, along with Additional legal advisor Bhasuran S.

CJI Gogoi also ordered Rao and Additional Legal Advisor Bhasuran S were also order to “sit in a corner” of the court till the end of the day’s proceedings.

The officers have been found guilty of transferring the senior most investigating officer AK Sharma in the sensational Muzaffarpur shelter home case to CRPF cadre, without the due permission of the court. The court earlier had said that there are two categorical orders by it, directing CBI not to transfer the concerned officer, without its permission. The court also had observed that information regarding the court’s order was not furnished to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

The punishment comes a day after Rao tendered an unconditional apology to the court, for his mistake which he said was done without any intention to defy the court’s order. Attorney General KK Venugopal also appealed to the supreme court to adopt “merciful approach” and also cited Rao’s 32 years of “unblemished” track record.

“You have played with the orders our orders. God help you” Court had remarked on February 7, the day the Rao and Bhasuran were summoned.

Rao was appointed interim CBI chief, last year after the government had sent CBI chief Alok Verma and special officer Rakesh Asthana on leave after both had leveled serious allegations against each other.

The sordid incident of children of shelter homes in Muzaffarpur being sexually abused and tortured came to light in June last year when the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report, based on conversations with several girls at the home.

SC had directed CBI to look into matters of illegal shelter homes in Bihar. This had come after surfacing of large scale sexual exploitation of girls at Balika Grih, a children’s home in Muzaffarpur operated by Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti.

Twitter users complain about mysterious reduction in number of retweets of their tweets, allege foul play

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter users complain about mysterious reduction in number of retweets of their tweets, allege foul play

Amid the growing allegations of bias against users belonging to right-wing ideology, today many users on microblogging site started Twitter complaining that suddenly numbers of retweets and likes on Tweets posted them declined after higher numbers were shown for them.

Several users on Twitter posted screenshots their tweets, which showed that retweets on likes on their tweets came down within a few minutes.


People who were monitoring retweets of their tweets noticed that numbers of retweets were gradually coming down.

BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma alleged that her one tweet with more than 1200 retweets, which had criticised Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for sending a pregnant woman in his place to the Parliamentary committee, was later showing 505 tweets.


When we checked the tweet ourselves, we found the number of retweets on that tweet had come down even further to 211 at 3.30 PM.

The same allegation was made by several users on Twitter, many of them prominent right-wing names.


Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s account was also not immune to this mysterious act of vanishing retweets, which was spotted by several people. One tweet by the PM saw the number of RTs and likes going down from 1661 and 5871 to 402 and 1480 respectively in just 3 minutes.


Of course, it is not that retweets and likes are mysteriously going down only, they are going up also for some people. This video posted on Twitter shows a drastic change in retweets and likes on a Tweet by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.


The number of retweets suddenly increases to 1798 from 37, while the number of likes is shown as 5411 at first, then it comes down to 160, and then again reaches 5416.

It is not known whether it is happening due to motivated acts by Twitter or due to a bug in their software. Numerous people have tagged Twitter in their tweets, but the company has not responded yet.

Akhilesh Yadav was stopped as per request by the University: CM Yogi defends action after Yadav’s ‘detention’ allegations

OpIndia Staff
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Akhilesh Yadav was stopped as per request by the University: CM Yogi defends action after Yadav’s ‘detention’ allegations

Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav was today reportedly stopped at the Lucknow airport by security officials from visiting Prayagraj and participating in the student union program slated to be held at the Allahabad University. UP CM Yogi Adityanath has now come out and defended his government’s move to stop Yadav from addressing the student union function.


Yogi contended that the Samajwadi Party chief was stopped from visiting the city of Prayagraj because his government had inputs that there might arise a problem of law and order in the city on Akhilesh’s visit there. He referred that the University itself had requested him that the Akhilesh visit could cause a dispute among the warring student organizations here and the law and order situation might get worsened. In such a situation, the government stopped him from going to Allahabad University.

Akhilesh Yadav was stopped at the Lucknow airport from where he was supposed to board a flight to Prayagraj and address a student union organisation at Allahabad University there. The former UP CM was headed to Allahabad University where his party’s students’ wing, the Samajwadi Party Chhatrasabha, leads the student’s union.

Yadav went ahead to claim that Yogi Adityanath is terrified and hence stopped him from participating in the student union event. BSP chief and Akhilesh’s former foe-turned-friend Mayawati has also joined in slamming the UP government.


However, a letter by the University administration, addressed to the personal secretary of the SP chief was accessed by Republic TV which mentions clearly that the University administration had decided not to allow political leaders to address events inside the campus due to past instances of violence. The letter was sent yesterday.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath also mentioned that Yadav was stopped as per the request by the University. He added that the grand festival of Kumbh is going on in the city of Prayagraj where Yadav had recently visited to have Darshan and the holy dip at the Triveni Sangam. However, his visit to the University was a political visit and his government had received input that it might cause law and order situation.

Another letter by the district magistrate of Prayagraj accessed by Republic also mentioned that the university administration had requested not to allow any political leaders to address events in the campus due to past instances of violence and law and order situations. He had instructed police officials to take steps to prevent the political event being addressed by Akhilesh Yadav.

The Prayagrajj SSP Nitin Tiwari claimed that necessary approvals were not sought by the Samajwadi Party chief from the University administration and hence he was stopped.

He left NDA for his own political survival, now blaming NDA to cover his own failures : Amit Shah slams Chandrababu Naidu in open letter

OpIndia Staff
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He left NDA for his own political survival, now blaming NDA to cover his own failures : Amit Shah slams Chandrababu Naidu in open letter

BJP President Amit Shah has written an open letter to the people of Andhra Pradesh following CM Chandrababu Naidu’s allegations against the NDA which were followed by some personal remarks against Prime Minister Modi.

Shah came down heavily on Naidu for not just making personal remarks against the PM but also lacking the courtesy to receive the PM when he visited Andhra Pradesh. Shah wrote: “He is going too far by personally attacking Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, and even did not have the courtesy to receive the Hon’ble Prime Minister when he came to the state.”

Shah accused Naidu of betraying the people of Andhra Pradesh by supporting Congress, the very same party against which his father-in-law N T Rama Rao had founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

“In his lust for power, the TDP leader has destroyed the very anti-Congress foundation on which the party was built by its founder, Shri N T Rama Rao. Congress betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh while dividing the state and now TDP leader wants to work for bringing back Congress to power. His actions smack of political opportunism.”

The BJP President went on and said that Naidu had severed ties with the NDA for his own political benefit and he was blaming the Centre for his own failure of not implementing the populist promises he had made to the people of Andhra.

“Ever since he had snapped ties with NDA for his own political survival, he has been letting loose a deluge of disinformation against the NDA government. In a bid to cover up his own failures and inability to implement the populist promises made by him to the people, he has been blaming the Centre without any rhyme or reason.”

Shah questioned the UPA for not including the provision of ‘Special Category Status’ (SCS) in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Shah said that Naidu does not have the moral right to criticise the Central government.

“Had there been even an iota of sincerity towards the people of Andhra Pradesh, UPA would have included the provision of ‘Special Category Status’ in AP Reorganization Act. Similarly, why did it not facilitate speedier implementation of Polavaram project by transferring the seven Mandals located in Khammam district to Andhra Pradesh? Why did it not promulgate an ordinance in this regard? Let Shri Naidu and the Congress answer the above questions before accusing anybody. Till then, they have no moral right to criticize the Central Government”, Shah wrote.

Shah did not even spare the media for helping Naidu spread his “false propaganda”. He reminded Naidu that the same Congress party had dismissed his father-in-law N T Rama Rao in 1984.

“Now with the support of a section of willing media, he has been indulging in false propaganda at all forums and virtually made the TDP subservient to the Congress. The TDP leader joined hands with a party which had imposed Emergency and had dismissed his father-in-law—the popularly elected Telugu Desam founder and former Chief Minister, Shri  N T Rama Rao in 1984.”

Regarding Naidu’s demand of SCS for Andhra Pradesh, Shah said that the Central government had worked out special assistance for the State with the State government as 14th Finance Commission recommendations did not distinguish between special and general category states for financial support and tax devolution.

“As regards granting Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh, the Centre has been constrained by the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, which did not make a distinction between special and general category states for financial support and tax devolution. As a result, the Centre in consultation with the state Government worked out special assistance for AP. The Central Government has agreed to give a special assistance measure for Andhra Pradesh for five years, which would make up for the additional Central share the state might have received during these years, i.e. 2015-16 to 2019-20, as envisaged in the then Prime Minister’s statement dated 20.2.2014”, his letter mentioned.

He listed out various development projects of the Central government which are underway in the State. He concluded by accusing Naidu of breaking the trust of the people and expressed faith in the truth.

“In the end, I would like to say to all of you that Shri Chandrababu Naidu has broken the trust of the people of Andhra Pradesh. His delusional politics is about to end. Our full faith and belief is in ‘सत्यमेवजयते’. Let us jointly contribute to the development of Andhra Pradesh and India.”

Shah had written a detailed open letter to Naidu earlier when he had exited the NDA.

Naidu, who is in Delhi currently organising a protest against the central government, has stated that the central government is hitting him “below the belt” and they (PM and Amit Shah) have to “maintain the decorum”.

It is notable here that Naidu’s Delhi protests faced condemnations yesterday after derogatory posters mocking the Prime Minister’s humble familial backgrounds were displayed by the TDP.

Chhattisgarh: Congress government removes Pt Deendayal Upadhyay, puts Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi names in schemes

OpIndia Staff
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Chhattisgarh: Congress government removes Pt Deendayal Upadhyay, puts Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi names in schemes

In a display of loyalty towards the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, the newly-formed Congress government in Chhattisgarh has renamed several schemes named after late Jan Sangh leader Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya by the previous BJP government with names of former Congress leaders Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

The Chhattisgarh Congress government has renamed four out of five schemes introduced by the previous BJP regime with either Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, while one scheme has been renamed in the honour of the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr. B.R.Ambedkar.

As per the order, Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Swavlamban Yojna has been renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Swavlamban Yojna while Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Sarvasamaj Manglik Bhavan Yojna will now be known as Dr. B R Ambedkar Sarvasamaj Manglik Bhavan Yojna, an official said. The official added that order to rename the schemes was issued on Monday night by the state government.

Similarly, Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya LED Path Prakash Yojna has been rechristened as Indira Priyadarshini LED Path Prakash Yojna, Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Ajivika Kendra (livelihood center) Yojna is now Rajiv Gandhi Ajivika Kendra Yojna while Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Shuddh Peyjal (clean drinking water) Yojna has been named as Indira Priyadarshini Shudhh Peyjal Yojna, he added.

However, the opposition party, BJP has expressed its unhappiness over renaming of the schemes, stating that the step indicated “political vindictiveness”. The former chief minister and senior BJP leader Raman Singh said they would protest against the government’s move during the ongoing session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly.

“The state government deliberately rechristened schemes named after Pt Deendayal Upadhyayaji on his death anniversary, which was observed on Monday (February 11). This reflects Congress’ mentality,” Singh said in a statement.

He further asked whether the incumbent Congress government had done anything to make these schemes better. “Without making any new provisions, they have just renamed the schemes which clearly indicates that it’s a new episode of ‘Badlapur’ (vindictive politics),” he alleged.

It may be noted that during the long rule of Congress in the center in various states, thousands of schemes and institutions were named after members of the Gandhi family. This includes awards, national parks, educational institutions including an IIM, sports stadiums, apart from numerous government schemes. After Congress losing power in most of the states, few of them have been renamed, but most still remain.

JNU Ph.D Scholar claims professor forced him to project Hindi as a ‘Communal Language’

OpIndia Staff
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JNU Ph.D Scholar claims professor forced him to project Hindi as a ‘Communal Language’

A 35-year-old research scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has approached the Delhi High Court accusing his professor of forcing him to carry out his research to endorse a view that Hindi is a ‘communal language’, reported The Indian Express.

Ashutosh Kumar Roy, pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences at JNU has alleged that his professor “arbitrarily” suggested him to change the course of his research to state that Hindi is a ‘communal language’ and demanded him to endorse the same.

Justice C Hari Shankar of the Delhi High Court heard the petition, issued a notice to the JNU and the associate professor in question while directing them to file their responses by April 23. While seeking to enforce his fundamental right under the Constitution, the petitioner had sought directions to the university to assign him a PhD Supervisor for grant of registration in the Winter Semester 2019.

Dibyanshu Pandey, the counsel representing Roy, has filed a petition seeking an inquiry into the denial of registration by JNU and its authorities to carry out research pertaining to research on ‘Hindi Public Sphere (1870-1970): Debates on Nationalism’, which deconstructs significant prevailing ideas pertaining to the Hindi language.

The petition contends that the acting supervisor’s and others’ actions “coax the petitioner to carry out motivated research against the Hindi language, against stalwarts of Hindi language, and the arbitrary denial of permission to pursue PhD is a blatant violation of his fundamental rights as well as university rules”.

The petitioner also states that after his previous research supervisor left, his requests to grant a new supervisor did not receive any reply from the university authorities. Roy says he continued his work without any supervision and submitted his PhD synopsis last year, which was approved by faculty members with some verbal suggestions for changes.

However, upon submission of the work to the Committee for Advanced Studies and Research, a professor allegedly derided the pro-Hindi nature of the work and stated, “There is no place for such pro-Hindi research in JNU! You better go to Delhi University….and idolise Bhartendu Harishchandra!”.

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