After the recent renaming of Prayagraj, few other states have decided to take an initiative to restore the historical names of several cities in the country. The Himachal Pradesh government is now considering to rename Shimla as ‘Shyamala’ in an attempt to eliminate the “symbols of British rule”, a report said.
According to the reports, the demand by some sections to restore the historical names of certain cities to regain the lost glory has been doing rounds recently. The groups like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad and also Health Minister Vipin Parmar has been pushing the state government to restore the historical name of ‘Shimla’ after the Uttar Pradesh government decided to rename Allahabad as ‘Prayagraj’. Vipin Parmar said there is no harm in changing the name of Shimla to ‘Shyamala’
The VHP had long demanded the renaming of the city of ‘Shimla’. The former Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had rejected the demand of the VHP to restore the name of the former British Summer capital-Shimla.
“Slavery can either be physical, mental or cultural. Sticking to names given by oppressors is a sign of mental slavery. Changing names of town is a small but significant step. The country had done away with several symbols of British rule after independence, but in Himachal, several names remain of the colonial time,” VHP state president Aman Puri said.
Aman Puri further added that the Britishers changed the earlier name of Shyamala to Shimla as they couldn’t pronounce the former.
The renaming or restoring of historical names of the cities has gained traction after the recent decision of the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath to restore the name of ‘Prayagraj’ ahead of Kumbh Mela in 2019. Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Naik on Saturday approved the renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj with immediate effect.
This renaming of the iconic places is not new, as Yogi Adityanath government earlier had renamed the Mughalsarai station of the Uttar Pradesh as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction in an attempt to revive the legacy of one of the greatest leaders of the country.
In a shocking incident, a speeding train ran over a multitude of people gathered to watch Ravan Dahan near the Jora Phatak area in Amritsar last evening. As per the reports, at least 61 people have died and 72 were injured in the accident. People in hundreds had gathered around the ground near Jora Phatak area to watch the Ravan Dahan when the unfortunate incident happened.
It is being reported by several media outlets that permissions for burning Ravan’s effigy were not sought by Congress leader who arranged the function from the local administration, nor was the railways informed about the event. As the effigy was set on fire, the crowd swelled and a large number of enthusiastic people took to the railway tracks nearby to watch and film the Dahan on their mobile phones, oblivious to the fact that the tracks were active railway tracks. It is also reported that Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife, Dr. Navjot Kaur was the chief guest of the ceremony and was midway between her speech when the unfortunate accident happened. Sensing ensuing anarchy, she is accused of fleeing the scene immediately instead of being there and helping the authorities in taking stock of the situation.
Within hours of this agonizing incident, some self-proclaimed investigative journalists cracked the case and established the culpability for this horrendous accident. Rajdeep Sardesai, who by his own admission is half-way around the world questioned the accountability of the authorities involved and insinuated the government’s negligence for “unmanned” crossing responsible for the catastrophe.
Rajdeep says unmanned crossing responsible for the catastrophe
But as per the news reports, there was no crossing at the scene of the accident and the closest railway crossing was manned. He quickly retracted the tweet and issued another tweet implying that the incident was caused by sheer negligence and could have been avoided if safety systems were in place, yet again pinning the blame on Railways for the tragedy. Instead of apologizing to his followers for blatantly lying in his previous tweet, he simply assumed that the deletion of his tweet indicated that he no longer holds those views and he has no moral responsibility to inform his readers about the same.
Another troll masquerading as a journalist, Swati Chaturvedi blamed Piyush Goyal for being away in the US at the time of tragedy as if he was clairvoyant enough to have known about the train mishap.
Similarly, Shekhar Gupta and Rohini Singh jumped the gun and blamed the railways of negligence, taking the opportunity to take cheap potshots at the Union Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal. This is a pattern, we have seen of-late, espoused by eminent journalists to disparage Modi government and take every opportunity to fling dirt at them and playing politics over the dead bodies.
But according to the latest reports, it was discovered that the cause of the incident has been established as gross public negligence and the Railways absolved themselves of any blame, stating that the driver took all the steps required and the cause of the accident was trespassing of the railway tracks. The driver has been arrested and his inquisition is underway. Even the Minister for State Railways Manoj Sinha asserted that it was wrong to blame Railways for the accident. Echoing Manoj Sinha, Ashwani Lohani, Chairman Railway Board, contended that it wasn’t Railways’ fault and that the two manned level-crossing on that track were both closed.
It would be wrong to say that Railways is responsible for this accident. There are two manned level-crossing on that track, both were close. It is a main line. There is no speed restriction there: Ashwani Lohani, Chairman Railway Board, on #Amritsar train accident pic.twitter.com/yGJI32gvXb
Although, no action has yet been taken against the Congress leader who organized the Ravan effigy burning event without informing the local administration as well as Railways of the said event. Though several senior Congress leaders have expressed their anguish over the incident, none of them have come forward to condemn their own leader’s autocratic decision making. In fact, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of Congress minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was also the chief guest at the event, reportedly went a step ahead exhibiting egregious insensitivity by admonishing the people perished, claiming that she didn’t force them to sit on the tracks or order the train to mow them down. A video has surfaced where the organizers are seen boasting about the massive crowd and scores of people standing on the railway tracks to watch the effigy burning.
Nobody from the eminent circle of journalists is yet to register their concerns as the details of the tragedy have gradually emerged. It’s anybody’s guess why these eminent journalists, who don’t take a fraction of second to squeak and scream against the Modi government have not once insinuated, let alone blame the Congress leader for this tragic accident.
The Uttar Pradesh police are said to be in a dilemma as a bizarre case emerged where the family of a 70-year-old man who was allegedly stoned to death by monkeys have asked the police to file an FIR against the latter.
The incident took place on October 17 in Tikri village of the district. According to the circle police officer Ramala Rajiv Pratap Singh, the deceased was sleeping near a pile of bricks when some monkeys jumped on the bricks. The pile of bricks collapsed and fell on Dharampal, leaving him injured. He was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
However, the deceased’s brother, Krishnapal Singh, had a different story to tell. In his complaint, he said that Dharampal was collecting woods for a havan (ritual wherein offerings are made into a consecrated fire) when he was attacked by the monkeys. Bricks were thrown at his head and chest, and he succumbed to injuries at the hospital.
Dharampal’s brother said that though a written complaint had been filed, the police were terming the incident as an ‘accidental death’. Angered by this the family claimed that they would meet the senior officials and request them to initiate an action in regard to the same.
Terming the family’s demand as illogical, the police have said filing of an FIR against the monkeys will make them an object of ridicule. The police have, however, sent Singh’s body for postmortem.
The Sabarimala issue has been an emotional flashpoint after the Supreme Court order that allowed the entry of women between the ages of 10 to 50 into the temple. Thousands of devotees, especially women, took to the streets to protest the order and ensure that no women enters the shrine.
While the flashpoint was at its zenith and the police brutality of the communist Kerala government was on full display, many people were angry over Asianet’s coverage of the issue and especially the protests.
#Sabrimala@AmitShah boycott watching Asianet news Malayalam channel . The TV is entirely opposit to real Ayyappa devotees and telling activists as Ayyappa devotees. Their news reading is entirely against our Sabarimala customs.
Great read. Know folks who work for his media properties testifying that he never interferes with editorial direction. But on Sabarimala issue, Republic/Asianet have been toxic to say the least. Do request him to consider restoring a semblance of sanity and balance. https://t.co/nZFKGKNldN
As the anger has been simmering against the coverage by Asianet and also Republic, which has BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar as an investor, today it has emerged that the Asianet website was hacked by presumably, Sabarimala devotees.
This website is of Asianet Satellite Communications Ltd and it is not the media arm of Asianet, however, the media website, https://www.asianetnews.com, seems to be functioning fine.
It seems like the activists wanted to hack the media arm of Asianet, but have ended up hacking another website altogether.
Molestation charges were framed against environmentalist and Former Director of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), R K Pachauri by the Saket Court, Delhi on Saturday as per reports.
Pachauri will be tried for the offences punishable under sections 354 (outraging modesty), 354 A (making physical contact, unwelcome and sexually coloured remarks) and 509 (teasing and using vulgar gesture and action) of the Indian Penal Code. Pachauri, who was present in the courtroom when the charges were framed, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
Requesting the court to conduct a speedy trial, Pachauri said, “I am over 78 years old. I have been subjected to four years of vicious trial. Please have a speedy trial. Media is already conducting a trial of its own. Even today the victim released a statement today to the media,”
Metropolitan Magistrate Charu Gupta, had ordered framing of charges against Pachauri last month. The charges were to be formally framed on Oct 20 i.e. today. The next hearing in the case is to be held on January 4, when the complainant will record her statement and will be cross-examined by Mr Pachauri’s lawyers.
Pachauri was accused of making sexual towards a female researcher who was working directly under him. This had led to his resignation as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a post he had held since 2002. The female researcher had accused Pachauri of sexual harassment in February 2015. A charge sheet of over 1400 pages was filed by the Delhi Police on March 1, 2016, saying there was ‘sufficient evidence’ against Pachauri that he had sexually harassed, stalked and threatened the complainant. TERI had sent Pachauri on an indefinite leave in 2016 following which Ajay Mathur was appointed as the new director general of the research institute.
PM Modi will join freedom fighters and Indian National Army (INA) veterans and followers of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose who plan to raise the Indian tricolour at the Red Fort on October 21 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Azad Hind Government as per reports.
Netaji’s grand-nephew and BJP Bengal vice-president Chandra Kumar Bose and Chairman of SNSMT Suparno Satpathy had requested the PM to inaugurate the Azad Hind museum at Red Fort on October 21 and hoist the Tricolor there to commemorate the occasion. The PM has reportedly accepted the invitation.
PM Modi in his address to BJP workers has stated that the stories of many great freedom fighters have been neglected and his government is trying to give the great legends who made a lot of sacrifices for the people of India their due.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government had unveiled some of the classified files dealing with Bose after coming to power in 2014.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had managed to escape from the clutches of the British rule. He believed that an armed struggle was needed to throw out the British from India. He went on to form his Azad Hind military force. On October 21, 1943, he had established the provincial Azad Hind Government in Singapore. On August 14 the next year, the Bahadur brigade of INA, led by Col Shaukat Ali Malik, captured Moirang, a town in Manipur on the Indo-Myanmar border. Moirang remained under the control of the Azad Hind Government for nearly four months during which its currency and stamps too were used.
The PM will also launch work for a museum in the special barracks of the Red-Fort where the British government had held trials for the INA soldiers.
The Azad Hind Government had then been recognised by 11 countries and it had its embassies in other countries too.
Dussehra this year was marred by a tragic accident in Amritsar where dozens of people were slaughtered in a calamity which appears to have been totally avoidable. As per reports, people were watching the Dussehra celebrations standing on the railway tracks when they were run over by a speeding train.
Now, a video has emerged which indicates that the organizers of the event, who are, as per reports, the family of a local Congress councillor, were completely aware of people standing on tracks and yet did nothing to caution them. Even more, they appeared to be encouraging them to stand there. Even more shockingly, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, appeared complicit in the negligence that led to the deaths of so many people.
TIMES NOW has accessed a video that says it all. Organisers knew about the safety lapse. Lives risked to please Mrs Sidhu. ‘Chamchagiri’ at the cost of your LIVES. More details by @RShivshankar#SidhuStepDownpic.twitter.com/JoG3Eu5Vch
“Madam, look here. These people don’t care about standing on tracks,” the event organizer can be heard saying in the video. “Even if 500 trains pass by, over 5000 people will be standing on the tracks for you,” he said, apparently addressing the wife of the Congress politician.
Soon after the incident, when media reports claimed that Navjot Kaur had fled from the scene after the incident, she had denied the reports and has stated that she has left 15 minutes prior and had even stated that the organisers and herself cannot be blamed because neither had they made the people sit on tracks nor had they made the train mow them down. Navjot Kaur had also indirectly blamed the railways saying that the train did now slow down.
The video completely demolishes Navjot Singh Sidhu’s argument that the whole incident was ‘Parmatma ka Prakop’ (wrath of the almighty). It is quite evident that the whole accident reflects the monumental failure of authorities at several levels and reflects criminal negligence. From the organizers of the event which was conducted without prior permission from concerned authorities to the chief guest who did not take any initiative to ensure the safety of attendees even though it appears that everyone was well aware of people standing on railway tracks.
After several reports and speculations, Swami Paripoornananda, head of the Kakinada Sri Peetham finally joined BJP. BJP President Amit Shah in presence of General secretary Ram Madhav termed induction of Paripoornananda as an infusion of new energy to BJP and its election prospects.
After joining the BJP, Paripoornananda reportedly said, ‘’I have joined the party as a Karamyogi’’.
Swami Paripoornananda had met Chief Amit Shah and MLA NVSS Prabhakar, earlier this month to have ‘detailed deliberations’ over future plans. However, commenting upon earlier rumours of projection of Paripoornananda as CM face of BJP, NVSS Prabhakar said that decision is not taken yet.
Swami Paripoornananda had courted controversy after he launched a protest against film critic Kathi Mahesh’s adverse comments on Hindu Gods. Paripoornananda was externed from entering Hyderabad, however High court had lifted the ban subsequently on September 4 this year. He was welcomed with grandeur, by thousands of his supporters in a huge public rally along the Vijayawada-Hyderabad national highway.
Paripoornananda’s image is seen as akin to Yogi Adityanath, and has earlier written a book on PM Narendra Modi named ‘Third Eye’ and also has launched a TV channel Bhaarat Today, which telecasts news from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. There have been also speculations that the spiritual guru might lead the BJP’s poll campaign in Telangana.
Reports also suggest Paripoornananda can contest from Greater Hyderabad assembly seat which is considered a bastion of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.
BJP has decided to go solo in elections in Telangana. It currently has five seats out of 119. It previously was in coalition with Chandrababu Naidu TDP.
Dates of polls have been announced and Telangana is to go for elections on December 7.
A student of JNU has accused a prominent ‘activist from Jammu’ who was at the forefront of the protests over the Kathua rape and murder case, of brutally raping her in Delhi on 27th April this year.
The victim, who has shared her ordeal in an exclusive article in Firstpost.com, has chosen to remain anonymous and has stated that ‘the activist’ had not only caused her lasting bodily harm but also a great mental trauma.
The victim has further written that she did not speak up earlier due to apprehensions that such shocking revelations about a ‘hero’ could jeopardise the Kathua child rape-and-murder case.
In the article, the victim has stated that ‘the activist’ was being frequently invited to speak at events organised by institutes like JNU as he had risen to prominence as an ‘anti-rape crusader’. She also mentions that this ‘activist’ was being invited to speak at students’ union events in JNU, AMU and MANUU even before the charge sheet in the Kathua case was filed. As per the victim, ‘the activist’ spoke not just about the Kathua rape and murder case of the child, but also on the problems that the Gujjar-Bhakerwal community faced in the state.
As per the Firstpost article, ‘the activist’ was invited to speak in JNU on March 27, 2018, and afterwards, he maintained a regular contact with the students who had invited him, the victim being one of them. The victim further narrates that after he was attacked in Udhampur on April 13, the students were cautious about his safety. On 27 April, ‘the activist’ reportedly arrived at JNU and insisted the victim should meet him. The victim narrates that it was the day there were altercations in the campus between student groups over the screening of ‘In The Name of Love’, a movie made on love jihad cases of Kerala, and many students, including the victim, were at the police station filing complaints against ABVP members.
The victim states that ‘the activist’ insisted on the victim coming to meet him and when she did, (after 40 phone calls), took her to an apartment in the Batla house area where he raped her brutally, despite her repeated attempts to fight him off. She narrates that ‘the activist’, all the while when he was forcing himself on her, was saying that he will do ‘Nikaah’ with her.
The victim does not divulge the identity of her rapist, only mentions that he is actively promoted by media and has a strong support behind him. She also states that ‘the activist’ was jailed recently on charges of raping a female relative and his own wife has also complained of domestic abuse and dowry harassment by ‘the activist’. She writes that her rapist has recently been released on bail. She mentions that had it not been for the recent campaign named ‘Decolonial Feminist Statement on MeToo in Kashmir‘ she would not have been able to come forward and shared her ordeal because there is an ongoing attempt in Kashmir to gag female voices speaking against sexual harassment. In a shocking revelation, the victim also claims that she later got to know that she was not the only person assaulted by ‘the activist’.
The first person account of the victim’s ordeal and her suffering after the harrowing incident can be read in the Firstpost article.
The Amritsar train tragedy absorbed the life of more than 60 people yesterday as the Jalandhar-Amritsar DMU ran over people gathered to watch Ravan Dahan near the Jora Phatak area in Amritsar last evening.
As the mishap leaves families of the deceased mourning, a series of accusations and counter-accusations have emerged. While the chief guest to the event and wife of Congress leader, Navjot Singh Sindhu, former lawmaker Navjot Kaur Sidhu blamed railway authorities for not issuing directions regarding movement of trains near the tracks, the Indian Railways have countered the allegations and insisted that it will not be giving any compensation to victims of the Amritsar mishap as they are not including it in the list of train accidents.
Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, stating that people should restrain from organising such events near railway tracks has already said that there was no need for Railways to hold an enquiry into the mishap.
Ppl should restrain from organising such events near tracks in future.Drivers are given specific instructions on where to slow down.There was a curve, driver couldn’t have seen it.About what should we order an inquiry?Trains travel in speed only: M Sinha on #AmritsarTrainAccidentpic.twitter.com/5s1PMrZCHV
After the news of the mishap spread yesterday, several prominent media names had blamed it on the railways and even held the railway minister accountable. But as the details of the case emerged, it was later cleared that the organisers of the event, the family of a local Congress councillor, had not sought the necessary permissions from the municipal body, neither had they informed the railways about it.
It would be wrong to say that Railways is responsible for this accident. There are two manned level-crossing on that track, both were close. It is a main line. There is no speed restriction there: Ashwani Lohani, Chairman Railway Board, on #Amritsar train accident pic.twitter.com/yGJI32gvXb
Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani had said in a statement that the Railways was not intimated about a Dussehra event along the tracks. He said that the accident occurred at a stretch between two stations, Amritsar and Manawala, and not at a level crossing. He added that if the driver had applied emergency breaks, there could have been a bigger tragedy.
However, Punjab police have registered an FIR against unknown persons under section 304, 304A, 337 and 338 of the IPC at the GRP Police Station on Saturday.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered an enquiry into the tragic Amritsar train accident and declared one-day mourning in the state.
