Rohit Shekhar Murder: Cops suspect extra-marital affair!

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April 24, 2019

Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, who fought a seven-year-long battle in court to prove that he was former Uttar Pradesh chief minister ND Tiwari’s son, was murdered by none other than his wife Apoorva Shukla Tiwari, as claimed by the police. The police have arrested Apoorva with the help of scientific evidence and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report. Police suspected that the extra-marital affair was the main reason behind Rohit’s murder.

Additional CP (crime) Rajiv Ranjan has confirmed the arrest of Apoorva. He said that Apoorva, a lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court, has confessed to the crime. Rajiv Ranjan said, “She has confessed. As of now, it seems the killing was not planned. They had a turbulent marriage and Rohit Shekhar and his family members were thinking of separation. All her hopes with the marriage were belied,”

According to the police, Apoorva was questioned for three days in this connection. Police said the needle of suspicion pointed at Apoorva as she kept changing her statements and the CCTV near Rohit’s room was also not working. Rohit was suffocated with a pillow early on April 16.

It is remarkable that Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, 40, was earlier said to have died of a cardiac arrest. He had gone to Uttarakhand to vote on April 11 and had returned to Delhi at the night of April 15. He could be seen on one of the CCTVs in his Defence Colony home in a drunken state.

Rohit had fought a six-year-long battle in court to prove that he was the son of ND Tiwari. ND Tiwari had refused to give his blood sample for a DNA test in 2012 but relented later. In 2014, the Delhi High Court declared that ND Tiwari was Rohit Shekhar’s biological father. The same year, ND Tiwari, aged 88, married Rohit Shekhar Tiwari’s mother. ND Tiwari passed away last year on his 93rd birthday.

A case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered on Thursday after the post mortem examination report revealed that Rohit died an unnatural death due to “strangulation and smothering.” After the revelations of the post-mortem report, the case was transferred to the Delhi Police Crime Branch for the investigation. Rohit’s wife Apoorva, and two domestic help, Bhola, Pappu were interrogated by the Crime Branch as they were in the house when Rohit died.

A team of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had also reached the Defence Colony residence of Rohit and recreated the crime scene and collected evidence in an attempt to unravel the mystery behind the death of Rohit.

Veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari died on October 18, 2018. Just six months on, his son Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was murdered and his daughter-in-law is arrested on the charge of murder. The police have claimed to solve the murder mystery successfully. Unhappy marriage emerged as the reason behind the murder. Rohit’s mother Ujjwala also said that Rohit and his wife Apoorva did not share a cordial relationship ever since they had got married. She alleged that Apoorva and her family want to grab the property of her sons. On the other hand, Apoorva’s father said that she could not kill Rohit. Everything was normal between his daughter and Rohit. Rohit and Apoorva tied the knot in a high profile wedding in the national capital last year. ND Tiwari, a former Congress leader, and his son had both joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2017 ahead of the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.

Apart from Apoorva Tiwari, servants Martha, Golu, and driver Akhilesh were the main suspects in the case. Earlier, Rohit Tiwari’s mother Ujjwala Sharma had denied any foul play and said that his death was natural. Later, she retracted and reportedly told the police that her daughter-in-law and her family wanted to seize his property, reported PTI.

In a shocking twist in the killing of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, his mother Ujjwala Sharma on Sunday levelled serious allegations against wife Apoorva.

Rohit’s mother said that his son met Apoorva on a matrimonial site and was even alerted about her nature by their relative Rajiv Shekhar and his wife Kumkum. Apoorva didn’t share a cordial relationship with Rohit and Siddhartha as they wanted to give a chunk of his property to Rajiv’s son Karthik.

Apoorva Shukla also accepted the fact that Rohit was having an extra-marital affair and she saw them together. Apoorva also discloses the reason for their fight and the reason behind their differences.

Rohit reportedly had an extra-marital relationship with a close relative Kumkum. On April 15, Rohit and Kumkum drank together and after that Rohit came home. An argument between Apoorva and Rohit broke out over him on that eventual night.

She said that she will reveal more about the circumstances surrounding Rohit’s death when the right time will come.

However, the autopsy report of Rohit Shekhar revealed that he died an ‘unnatural death’ due to “asphyxia” as he was strangulated and smothered possibly by using a pillow.

“The medical board unanimously concluded that the cause of death, in this case, is asphyxia as a result of strangulation and smothering. It is a sudden unnatural death, placed in the category of homicide,” the head of the AIIMS’ forensic department, Dr. Sudhir Gupta, said.

According to the report, the post-mortem report states Rohit’s time of death at 1:30 am on April 16. However, he was taken to the hospital around 5 in the evening. This means that he was lying dead inside the house for almost 15 hours.

The family returned from Dehradun on April 15 after casting their vote. Rohit and Apoorva were in one car, while Ujjwala travelled in another car. The family went to their rooms around 11.30 pm. However, Rohit’s phone call details showed that he had made calls to his journalist friend and his sister-in-law Kumkum between 2 am to 4:14 am on the morning of April 16. But none received his call.

Rohit Shekhar — One troubled life finally ended with pain

By

Vaidehi Taman

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April 24, 2019

In 1954, his father ND Tiwari married Sushila, who died in 1991; on May 14, 2014, his father got married again to Ujjwala Tiwari, his long time lover, and mother of his biological son Rohit Shekhar, at the age 88. Tiwari died on his 93rd birthday in New Delhi from multiple organ failure. Tiwari and his wives lived their life to the fullest but Rohit Shekhar Tiwari had to go through a lot of turbulence — he had to file a paternity suit claiming Tiwari to be his biological father. The court ordered that DNA mapping of Tiwari be done, which the court successfully compelled compliance with on May 29, 2012. On July 27, 2012, the Delhi High Court, citing a need to end the controversy, rejected a request from Tiwari’s lawyers to keep his paternity test result a secret. The DNA test results released by the court on July 27, 2012, established that Tiwari was the biological father of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari and Ujjwala Tiwari is the biological mother. When there was no chance to escape, On May 14, 2014, Tiwari married Ujjwala Tiwari, Shekhar’s mother, in a ceremony that took place in Lucknow. After a long fight, he got his table family but till then his ‘bizarre’ childhood and his long legal battle was not easy for him.

Rohit Shekhar’s growing up days was peculiar. He faced a lot of humiliation where many questions went unanswered regarding his father. Then a battle began in 2007. Shekhar, then 28, filed a paternity suit to claim that veteran Congress leader (later joined BJP) ND Tiwari was his biological father. Since then, Shekhar has been running from pillar to post, from one court to another, as his ‘father’ for long evaded court orders.

Shekhar used to be confused and puzzled; he often wondered about the man who met him and his mother secretly, in Delhi and in Lucknow. At times, his mother used to dress him in strange outfits, something one would put on for a fancy dress or in the attire of Lord Krishna to secretly sneak in and meet the man.

As a child, he used to get curious, who is this man. When he turned 11, his mother revealed to him that this man was his biological father. Shekhar claims that his dad showered him all his affection, but only within the confines of his bedroom. Tiwari met Shekhar’s mother Ujjwala Sharma during the late 1960s. As an upcoming leader then, he sought refuge and guidance from her father and seasoned politician Professor Sher Singh. Sharma holds a doctorate in Sanskrit and back then she headed the Women’s Youth Congress wing. Their affair continued for a long time and then they had a son out of their love story.

Tiwari had assured Shekhar’s mother that he would adopt Shekhar when the time was right. However, as the years passed, it became clear to her that Tiwari was not going to adopt him. Furthermore, he broke all ties with her when Shekhar turned 16 in 1995. Years later, Shekhar decided to confront Tiwari and question him about the promises he had made to his mother. He met Tiwari in 2002 and even then, though all party workers knew that he was Tiwari’s son, the leader never let that show in the public. It was the same every time. Behind closed doors, he spoke affectionately but refused to acknowledge him in public. He suffered a massive heart attack when he was just 28. His stress levels shot up, even that time his father never bothered looking into the matter. He was merciless. This is when he thought of knocking the legal doors and the justice was delivered. He got his father and mother back under one roof and this time it was not a secret.

With all the happiness back to life, he met his life partner in Lucknow through a matrimonial website in 2017. They were seeing each other for a year and later took a break in between. Rohit Shekhar maintained distance from her due to some differences. Apoorva Tiwari, the wife of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, was not happy with him. Soon after marriage, they got in minor disputes but still was staying together.

One fine day, Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was found dead in his residence in New Delhi and his wife got arrested for her alleged role in his murder case. She was taken into the police custody for questioning, making contradicting statements during the interrogation. The Crime Branch officials questioned Apoorva for hours. Besides Apoorva, the Delhi Police Crime Branch took Rohit’s two househelps — Martha and Golu — into its custody. The police suspect that the reason behind the murder could be related to their troubled relationship. She was questioned about her entry in their Defence Colony residence, her schedule — what she did during the day and why she did not find it odd when Shekhar was sleeping throughout the day. Shekhar’s brother Siddharth was also questioned since they were also present at his residence at the time of his death. His autopsy report stated that he died of asphyxia due to strangulation. Shekhar’s cousin Rajeev and his wife Kumkum are also being questioned in connection with the case. The police sources said at least five-six calls were made from Rohit’s phone to Kumkum from 2 am to 4 am on an intervening night. Police are trying to ascertain the reason why did Shekhar contact her at the odd hours. Neighbours claimed that the couple often had fights and just last month, a PCR call was made by one of them. They had a fight last month. Ujjwala hit out at Apoorva and her parents alleging they had their eyes on his property. They also discussed mutual divorce several times and later decided to end their marriage in June, she added. Ujjwala said that Apoorva was also against giving a share of the property to the son of Rajiv Kumar, a relative and aide of Tiwari. Apoorva always had issues with Rajiv and his wife, because she suspected Rohit having an affair with Rajiv’s wife. Meanwhile, a forensic team collected two pillows and a bloodstained bed sheet and also seized mobile phones. Among the seven CCTV cameras installed on the premises, two were not functioning. However, still there can be enough evidence; the cops are waiting for the forensic report to solve the mystery behind Rohit Shekhar Tiwari’s unnatural death. Let’s wait and see what has ended the journey of Rohit.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

This is why India lagging behind! — Part III

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 24, 2019

A foreign company was to invest in medical field with the help of an organisation based in Delhi has later found that to invest in the private hospital in India is the most profitable business whereas the condition and the system of the Indian government hospitals are so bad and better if I call worst that the facilities are minimal and almost 70 per cent of patients leave hospital by being more sick than they were before entering that same hospital. This indicates that private hospitals are only obliged to be completely clean. The doctors of almost all of the government hospitals run their own private clinics as well. In this play of money making they give most of their time in their respective private clinics as they charge fee to patients there whereas in government hospitals they don’t as the government doesn’t allow.

This lack of responsibilities and greed for more money leads to the deaths of many poor people. After being oppressed by the system at the government hospitals, if someone complains about it at police station then they also doesn’t take any action against these doctors. This game of doing illegalities continue and the poor keep suffering due to lack of medicines, absence of doctors in emergency and bad behaviours by hospital staffs from doctors to sweepers.

Whatever drama happened in the RBI in last one year was also unprecedented. Invoking Section 7 of the RBI Act is unprecedented and strikes at the very underlying foundations of autonomy of RBI in guaranteeing financial stability. RBI’s independent position on demonetisation, handling of loans, taking over 99 per cent of benefits of the financial regulator every year amid present government and attempt to force Rs. 3.5 lakh crores from RBI’s reserves to contain fiscal deficit are issues undermining the Central Bank. The precipitation of disagreement appears to be triggered by RBI’s stand on denying acceding demand of government to look other way at SBI’s attempt to waive corporate debt to tune of Rs. 1 lakh crore because of power projects in Gujarat. Securing crony capitalist interests has prompted this unprecedented assault on RBI’s freedom.

The immediate gains that Prime Minister and BJP are looking at through this complicit crony capitalism is corporate funding for electoral benefit because widening gap between funding for the BJP and all other political parties are apparent. The amended electoral funding laws make electoral bonds new tax heavens with ruling dispensation to influence policy which would disproportionately benefit them even if this is detrimental to interest of nation in general and poor and working class in particular. Therefore, provision for unlimited and anonymous corporate funding of political parties must be nullified by withdrawing electoral bonds.

BJP has cultivated hate in the society. There has been sharp increase in targeted attacks on Muslims minorities and Dalits. However, for a democratic country like India — most heart-wrenching is that the state government openly endorsed such attacks and attackers. BJP ministers welcome murderers and rapists with garlands. The government supported all those people who were against these particular sections of society. Government has indirectly given them law to take action against anyone they want to.

Thousands cases of lynching, shooting, burning, and killing Muslims and Dalits have been registered in last five years and every time a crime was committed by BJP workers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was silent and at the same time he was vocal about putting his condolences and condemning attacks, deaths, natural disasters in countries other than India. By using Ram Janmabhoomi and Babri Masjid dispute during his 2014 election rallies – Modi was successful in gaining highest mandate from people and he understands it very well that how to play with religious sentiments of Hindus.

In this game of politics, BJP has divided the country on religious lines and has created hatred in its supporters towards Dalits and minorities which is destroying the fabric of our democracy. So the question remains many that, has it become democracy to come into government by making country a republic, are they Indians who robbed country and now claiming themselves to be the real republicans, is Indian nationalism or nationalism limited to just making or breaking government. Is ruling party hesitating to play with country by turning constitution into government, is it easy to run away from country after openly looting it?

The way one gets into government is highly completely (the way election is done) stick to heavy finance which can neither be earned with honesty nor it can be returned without dishonesty. Has India become centre of attraction in this world because it has highest earning or because the way almost 80 percent of Indian population goes with hope of just having bread for a time and don’t care for tomorrow or even the one who failed everywhere can even be benefitted from Indian markets?

Or, India is gradually taking itself to that ancient state where there is no way of development. It wants to give glorious circumstances of past to the government by wrapping it up in a sheet of religion or definition of freedom is carved, slogans of nationalism and freedom or of nationalism is raised under the faith so that citizen could not notice out ruling party while they loot the country, keep dragging it down and down and the measures to do so is still being searched continuously.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

Eradicating malaria by 2030

By

Vinod Dixit

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April 24, 2019

World Malaria Day is observed globally every year on 25^th April, to escalate global efforts for controlling malaria epidemic. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease affecting both humans and animals, causing millions of deaths annually. The focus of the event is to highlight the need to maintain the efforts towards the elimination of malaria and seek commitment from political parties and other stakeholders. Despite the efforts of the global community, the malaria epidemic is far from being completely eradicated with a gradual increase in the number of affected and dead, every year. It is estimated that every two minutes a child dies due to malaria, across the globe. Malaria has also severe consequences on the health and economy of a nation.

Observance of the World Malaria Day reignites the resolve of governments and the general public to fight malaria and seek its elimination. It also helps the campaigns in garnering technical, logistical and financial support to push forward the fight against malaria.

The first symptoms of malaria appear within 10 to 15 days of getting bitten by an infected mosquito. Initial symptoms include high fever, chills, weakness, and headache. When untreated, the symptoms can escalate causing serious illnesses, leading to death.

The most important method of preventing malaria is by controlling the spread of its carriers, that is Anopheles mosquitoes. There are around four hundred species of Anopheles mosquitoes, out of which only 30 are potential carriers of malaria parasites.

Malaria disease is one of the worst public health crises the country has ever faced, endangering one in every six Indians. Death can occur in as little as three days if an FP infection is not properly treated. Nearly 50,000 people die in the country every year due to complications of the disease. While travelling to a malaria endemic zone, anti-malarial tablets may be prescribed to prevent contracting malaria. Immediate diagnosis and treatment can help prevent complications and death. Every time a case of malaria is reported, a mapping exercise is undertaken to intensively fog and spray the pesticides in all surrounding areas. Malaria is preventable as well as treatable, yet the disease claims nearly half a million lives each year. The deaths are mainly attributed to not taking preventive measures and delayed diagnosis. People in lower economic class and remote areas; don’t understand the risk of malaria, unless they get infected. Not using mosquito nets or insecticides only escalates the spread of disease. Though an infectious disease, whether a person contracts malaria or not, also depends substantially on how clean the surrounding environments are. One of the major causes of mosquito breeding is water stagnation. Its rather shocking that Indians having knowledge about the excellent benefits of Neem and cowdung, has not done any research towards the same, in the prevention of malaria.

According to the last World Malaria Report released on November 19, 2018, an estimated 219 million cases of malaria have been reported in the preceding year, causing nearly half a million deaths globally. African countries were the most affected, by being home to 92 per cent of the global malaria cases and 93 per cent of causalities due to malaria.

Though, India accounts for only 4 per cent of total malaria cases reported globally, unfortunately, it also accounts for 52 per cent of the total malaria deaths caused outside the African region. India has set a target of eradicating malaria by the year 2030.

Despite the commendable efforts by the World Health Organisation, respective governments and other relevant bodies in fighting malaria, the global campaign against malaria is facing an acute financial crunch. Eliminating malaria is, and should be the top priority. Grand pronouncements are meaningless as long as manipulated data twist our knowledge and bad governance impedes genuine attempts to fight the disease.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

By 2030 India will replace one of the top 3 superpowers: Rajnath Singh

By

Web Team

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April 24, 2019

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that by the year 2030 India could replace any one of the three world superpowers (Russia, China and America).

“By 2030 or 2031 Bharat will replace any one of the three superpowers Russia, China or America from the list of top three countries of the world in terms of economy and strength,” said Rajnath Singh. He was addressing an election rally on Tuesday at Chatra in Jharkhand. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government has provided an immense boost to the economy of India. He said, “In 2014 we were at ninth place among the top 10 countries in terms of the size of the economy. After four years of governance led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in 2018 we jumped to the sixth position. And I say it with confidence that not in few years but in few months we will be at the fifth place.”

The Home Minister said that the Prime Minister had assured that every paise earmarked for the welfare of the people reaches the common man. Rajiv Gandhi helplessly said that out of 100 Paise given by him only 16 Paise manages to reach the people but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has overcome this and now when 100 paise is sent, 100 paise reaches your pocket.

Rajnath Singh also gave an assurance of completely wiping out Naxalism. “Naxalism which was spread across 126 districts of the country is now restricted to only seven to eight districts. I assure you it will be entirely uprooted from India in the next three to four years,” he said.

Jharkhand has 14 Lok Sabha constituencies which will go for polls on April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Letters to the Editor: April 24, 2019

By

Web Team

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April 24, 2019

Nonavailability of abundant oil resources

This is regarding the recent move by the US to discontinue oil import waiver from Iran whilst reiterating its stand to end the Significant Reduction Exceptions (SREs) renewals. The SREs were granted by the US with a caveat to renew after a six month period post-November 2018 has only come to an end without any hope for further renewal. Though India, which has been impacted by the nonrenewal of waiver, will now be hit hard owing to the current government’s tenure ending shortly. The nonrenewal of waivers will adversely impact the oil prices cascading to increase the petrol/diesel rates a move which will be inevitable for the new government to be formed by June.

India should be highly worried due to nonavailability of abundant oil resources at home and its heavy dependency on imports especially from Iran for its survival in the economy. At a time when the call to the push to switch to EVs is not high in the economy, the petrol prices have now severely impacted the markets affecting the further prospects of the automobile industry.

The de-facto government under the shadow of elections should tread cautiously and make sufficient plans to in the absence of nonrenewal of oil waiver. The Diplomatic patrons and industry experts should now strive hard to tirelessly convince the new government and US to negotiate in an amicable manner. Thus, the move will help the situation to return to the normal and avoid inevitable price rise post elections and formation of the new government.

Varun SD

We remember failed promises

So, Narendra Modi wants to become the Prime Minister of India once again in 2019? After he became the Prime Minister of India in May 2014, we Indians are suffering a lot. He had even promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of every Indian citizen after he came into power in 2014 but he did not keep his promise. He is just making false promises and taking every Indian citizen for a ride. We should think twice before voting for him again.

Jubel D’Cruz

Street named after Mahavir Swamy

It is indeed a matter of pride that the Jain community is honoured by the USA through naming a street in Chicago as Mahavir Marg. Jains are basically in India with the community being the highest contributor of tax per individual. Unfortunately, this community has minimum growth-rate after Parsis where the share of Jains in population has declined to 0.37 per cent in 2011-census as compared to 0.40 per cent in 2001-census with a fertility rate of just 1.2 against replacement rate of 2.1. This vegetarian community is the flag-bearer of nicest ancient Indian traditions in terms of religion, talent, and tax-contributor. Selfless society has in recent past has witnessed much ultra-talented youth and rich families leaving all worldly pleasure to adopt spiritualism which otherwise also is a holy part of Jainism.

Department of Posts should honour the community by issuing a series of commemorative stamps on renowned selfless Jain monks with a special fabric-stamp on Mahavir Swamy like was issued once in memory of MK Gandhi. A silver-alloy commemorative coin together with ordinarily circulated coins in different denominations should also be issued on Mahavir Sawmy.

Madhu Agrawal

Sri Lanka tragedy

It is really very condemnable act what had happened in Sri Lanka where many people lost their beloved ones and many of them have injured badly. As an Indian citizen, I am paying my all the well wishes and heartfelt sympathies on behalf of all Indian to the bereaved families. There is no room for doubt that it is a terror attack and it should be not attached with any religion because terrorism has no link with religion all religions share the same instructions of peace, harmony, love, and affection.

Md Azim

Noteworthy act of an alert citizen

A shopkeeper has displayed a board on his shop at Chiplun (Dist. Ratnagiri) that ‘Candidates and party-workers need not come begging for votes’. ‘Opportunism’ is an inseparable part of most politicians and leaders. It is experienced especially during the election canvassing. During this period, the voter is a king; but it is usual to experience that these politicians and leaders conveniently forget this ‘voter-king’ as elections get over as there is a saying in Marathi meaning ‘sweet talk is over once the need is over’. Guts shown by this shopkeeper should be shown by every wise citizen without wasting much time and opportunity; so that these leaders would have to change their mentality of going to voters only when there is need.

Kishor Auti

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

BJP still relies on Brahminical Chords?

By

Rajesh Choudhary

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April 23, 2019

Although the President of India Ram Nath Kovind is a Dalit leader and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs to OBC, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still considered as an upper-class party, particularly a Brahminical party. This issue is being discussed in the country after a Dalit leader Udit Raj was denied BJP ticket from the North West Delhi constituency, though he is a seating MP. Ram Nath Kovind is the first BJP member who became the President of the country. Similarly, Narendra Modi is the second Prime Minister from BJP and the party’s first OBC face to hold this prominent post. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a very popular leader. He was the first BJP leader who became the Prime Minister. However, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a Brahmin by caste.

Recently, responding to the #MainBhiChowkidar campaign of the ruling BJP, the party leader Subramaniam Swamy underlined his Brahminical status. He said that he could not be a Chowkidar given his Brahminical divinity. He was criticised for this remark. However, Swamy’s Brahmin pride shows the truth about BJP’s politics.

According to a survey last year, of the BJP’s 50 national office-bearers, 17 are Brahmins, 21 are from other forward castes, four are OBCs, three belong to the scheduled castes, two are scheduled tribes, two are from the Muslim community, and one is Sikh. Thus, 76 per cent of the party’s national office-bearers are upper castes, while only 8 per cent are OBCs, and 6 per cent are SC. Such is the poor representation of minorities in the BJP’s highest decision-making body, that of the three Dalits, one is the head of the party’s SC morcha, while of the two Muslims one is the chief of the minority morcha. The BJP was officially established on April 6, 1980. It emerged from the Jana Sangh, which was formed in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

RPI National Secretary Avinash Mahatekar asserted, “We have supported them for five years. I don’t know the reason why tickets have not been issued to the Dalit leaders. If tickets would’ve been allotted to Ramdas Athawale from any controversial seat, it wouldn’t have augured well for the party.”

The BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah has been working hard to expand its footprint across the country; it is using social engineering to woo the so-called lower castes and capture voters who traditionally shunned the party. However, when it comes to its own organisational structure, the 39-year-old party continues to remain predominantly upper-caste, with a far less proportion of backward castes and negligible representation of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other minority communities.

BJP spokesperson Madhu Chavan said, “BJP has the maximum number of SC and OBC people’s representatives. A separate constitutional commission for the OBCs has been formed by the BJP government. Give me one example where you can say that BJP is against the Dalits! Why do you link castes with the election? Do you remember if ever Rahul Gandhi has spoken about flaws in Modi’s foreign policy, security policy, and defence policy? Why is there no debate on these issues? We have allotted Rajya Sabha seat and ministerial berth for Ramdas Athawale.”

It is worth mentioning that BJP on Tuesday denied the ticket of the Dalit leader Udit Raj and announced that singer Hans Raj Hans will contest the Lok Sabha polls from the North West Delhi constituency. On the other hand, Udit Raj, the sitting MP from the constituency, threatened to quit the party. Tuesday was the last day to file nominations for the seat, while voting in all seven seats of Delhi is on May 12. “I am waiting for a ticket, if not given to me, I will do goodbye to party,” Raj had tweeted. He said, “I merged my party in the BJP, crores of my supporters are worried over my ticket.” On Monday night, Raj’s supporters had staged a protest outside the Delhi BJP office. Udit Raj had merged his Indian Justice Party with the BJP and contested the Lok Sabha elections from North West Delhi seat in 2014. Manoj Tiwari is Delhi BJP Chief and he is contesting from North-East Delhi.

Bhim Army Maharashtra president Ashok Kamble said, “BJP is using Dalit leaders to promote their selfish interest and later on they are denied tickets. Dalit and Muslim leaders in alliance with BJP are being denied tickets. Very few people are backing Udit Raj and Ramdas Athawale. They had used Dalits’ rights movement to meet their purpose.”

Earlier, the President of Republican Party of India (A) and Union Minister for Social Welfare Ramdas Athawale was interested to contest the Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha seat. However, BJP denied clearly. This seat went to BJP’s account under the coalition with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. While Athawale sought two Lok Sabha seats for his party, he could not get any.

Former Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh MLA Haribhau Bade said, “Dalits are denied entry in temples. BJP and Congress are indulging in caste-based politics. Both parties deny ticket to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates. They are only interested in winning polls. Dhangars and Koli community has been denied tickets.”

Celebs, actors contesting 2019 have no wave to guarantee win

By

Vaidehi Taman

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April 23, 2019

This year, ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019, from ‘Rangeela’ girl Urmila Matondkar to the 2.5-kg hand actor Sunny Deol has entered the list of actors joining politics. What difference they will bring to their respective political parties would be solely decided by their performance in this new career. BJP is looking at winning seats it hasn’t been able to before. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded a star-studded line-up of candidates including Bollywood stars, young entrepreneurs, Padma awardees, sportsmen, and other celebrities, as the party takes aim at winning a bigger majority than it did in 2014, a similar experiment in 2014 paid off. Singers Manoj Tiwari and Babul Supriyo, actors Paresh Rawal and Kirron Kher, Olympic shooting medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, columnist Pratap Simha, former army chief VK Singh, former Union home secretary RK Singh, former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, and former bureaucrat Udit Raj were prominent among those fielded by the BJP and they all not only won but played a huge role promoting the party agendas. Their presence on social media brought a lot of glory to BJP and Modi. These candidates also helped to create a buzz around the party.

Prominent Bollywood names doing the rounds this time include Sunny Deol, who would be contesting a Lok Sabha seat from Punjab. The Deol family is not new to politics. Sunny Deol’s stepmother Hema Malini is contesting from Mathura seat for the second time, his father Dharmendra Singh Deol had won the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Bikaner constituency in Rajasthan on a BJP ticket. Political parties have always harnessed celebrity’s power on the election trail. Mostly, it works, but sometimes, some celebrities lose their way and the plot in the new political scenario. Last month, actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada showed just that. Jaya Prada, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been fielded from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur Lok Sabha seat. She is pitted against Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan.

Similarly, Congress too has followed the practice of wooing high-profile candidates from other professional backgrounds. This year Urmila Matondkar took a surprising entry into Congress before that Big Boss fame Shilpa Shinde too joined Congress. The actors like Amitabh Bachchan fought from Allahabad on a Congress ticket but his political career was short-lived as he quit before his term ended. Lately, Congress has also given tickets to the actor Govinda and the former Cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin, both of them won. Bollywood is the platform of entertainment and the actors or actresses, those are into theatres and acting, are renowned personalities and their popularity enables the party to gain the support of more and more people; a recognition and trust develop into the common people. Looking at the goals of winning, BJP has been much active in roping-in celebrities. Last year, the BJP ran a ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ campaign where it met several celebrities including Madhuri Dixit and veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar for their support.

In order to serve for the best of the society, a few actors have joined different political parties but a very few among them are the successful politicians. The actor entered politics more than two decades ago and has been on a roller coaster ride ever since. In the 25 years of her political journey, Jaya Prada switched parties, faced suspension, and was mired in controversies. Mathura candidate Hema Malini’s luxurious campaign came up with much criticism. Fighting from Mumbai-North, another actor turned politician Urmila Matondkar also became a subject of social media trolling where fake news around her religious identity popped up. Be it Bollywood or regional cinema, film stars do have a big fan following. However, once they get elected, do they turn out to be good politicians?

Their stardom did bring votes and they won by huge margins. However, their performance after being elected to the Parliament wasn’t a blockbuster. Most of the elected film stars did not engage in parliamentary activities, scored a below average attendance, did not ask much questions and did not participate in debates. At least 20-21 actors contested in the 16th Lok Sabha polls but only 10 got elected. Of the 10 elected actors, six came from the Bharatiya Janata Party, two from All India Trinamool Congress, and one each from Lok Janshakti Party and Aam Aadmi Party each. Late actor Vinod Khanna (BJP) served for the fourth time and Shatrughan Sinha from the BJP served his second term in the lower house of the Parliament. BJP MP from Chandigarh Kirron Kher recorded the lowest margin of victory. Sreemati Dev Varma, aka Moon Moon Sen, had the lowest vote share among the 10 chosen celebrities in 2014. Meanwhile, let us not forget that the 2014 elections were on Modi popularity. In that popularity wave, many won elections and BJP miserably lost elections in several states after that. The scenario has changed and 2019 would be a real test; let’s see who manages to win!

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

This is why India lagging behind! — Part II

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 23, 2019

On the price, the government stated in March 2018 that the cost of basic aircraft is Rs. 670 crores for single jet. But the government in September 2016 had said that it was Rs. 60,000 crores for 36 aircrafts including all increments/changes making it Rs. 1,600 crores for each plane. However, the Dassault CEO has stated that cost of 36 aircrafts is currently equivalent to 18 aircrafts ordered in The Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal earlier. These figures clearly don’t corroborate. In March 2015, Dassault CEO had stated that jet deal was almost done with HAL in line with requirements.

It is now clear that the deal was announced by the Prime Minister in Paris in April, 2015 while defence procurement council met and finalised in May 2015. This is separated from income officially received by inactive Reliance defence account of Anil Ambani. The truth of the scam is well settled now. Nothing less than a Supreme Court monitored SIT probe can bring out truth and fix accountability. This is of a paramount importance in interest of nation and particularly security of the country. The government is responsible for tax payer’s money which it has taken from public exchequer.

Mehul Choksi earlier refused to come to India for investigation money laundering case saying that if he comes to India he might be lynched, had finally left Indian citizenship few months back. However, Supreme Court had heard the plea against the statement and what changes it made, and the answer is nothing. Vijay Mallya, who first described the Indian prison as inhuman, asked to Swiss Bank that “how can you give my account information to the Indian investigative agency CBI, which itself is a scam.”

The line of corporates and industrialists who have not returned the money to public they took from the Nationalized Banks of India, has reached to about 900 million crores and figure has crossed to twelve thousands crores. At the same time, growing debt on the country has reached to 800 million crores. Recent report of Oxfam shows that the earnings or properties of top most only nine Indians are equal to overall earnings or properties of 65 crore Indians.

Modi took so many pledges in 2015. Among these, he said that he would clean Ganga so that businesses can be started, however, the project got lost. Many social environmentalists have sacrificed their lives on hunger strikes to clean Ganga but the government was in deep sleep. Polluted water of Ganga is doing nothing in the economy of India except polluting air which is causing many diseases. On one side, Modi campaigned for his Prime Ministerial candidacy in 2014 with quotes like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ and won the elections with highest mandate and on the other side, BJP leaders were favouring and trying their best to save accused of Kathua and Unnao rape and murder case.

Apart from this, BJP leaders threatened Indian girl students from wearing western clothes, assaulted Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students with help of local police, made inhuman and grave remarks on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati. Girl students of this country have always been demoralised, stopped and given minimal exposure in academia as well as in their working places. These limitations stop these girls from being scientists, doctors, researchers, journalists, film makers and most importantly leaders and this ended up damaging the nation.

The inauspicious improvements undermining the autonomous functioning of the CBI is out in the open for the last some months. The tampering with the functioning of the CBI director is being examined by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) under supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge. There are media reports that stated nothing significant has been revealed to set up any wrong-doing on part of CBI director.

However, on the other hand, facts are clear; in wake of having failed to introduce R.K. Asthana as director, the government had to remain content with positioning him as special director as a result of judicial intervention. Asthana’s record to help ruling party’s cause in past is recorded which ranges from handling 2002 Godhra enquiry to recent Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh among various others. Ongoing CBI enquiry into his role in bribery scam which came in way of government’s intention to put him at the helm of CBI clearly establishes ground for conflict of interest.

Therefore, fight and conflict in CBI clearly suggests it as an excuse to stall and delay enquiry into Rafale deal and crony capitalism at its heart. Refusal of government to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) enquiry into jets deal and even denying Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reporting deal before 2023 is also an instance of undermining the independence of another constitutional entity.

The unique and incredible truth of India is also associated with education where more than 50 percent of children going school cannot even add or subtract. Leave English for a moment, they even don’t know how to read Hindi. Half of the population is just leading their life listening to speakers and choosing right and wrong in-between all the while.

The people who speak are leaders all because they are good speakers. Since they speak very well they are supposed to have license to get votes, even democracy says so: the one who speaks well can run the country and this is what exactly has been and is happening in the country after independence. It also indicates that at the end of all, the questions come to circle where Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister by alleging Nehru clan of scamming and looting the country 2014. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi becomes mature in eyes of his party supporters first for calling Modi as “Chowkidar Chor Hai” (watchman is the thief) and secondly because under his leadership Congress returns to power in many states.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

Letters to the Editor: April 23, 2019

By

Web Team

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April 23, 2019

Pelting stones to our Nukes not for Diwali

Just because Pakistan made a veiled threat by citing its nuclear arsenal, India doesn’t need to join the verbal duel with that country, which is almost in a tattered economy state.

If a country is going to execute a nuclear option on another, the effect is so colossal that the victim-country won’t even be able to retaliate in the way how it thought it would, with its own nuclear arsenal and India has already made it clear that it won’t be the first one to use the Nuclear option.

The N” letter word is something everyone should avoid. Pakistan needs to be exposed to the wider world by India constantly. I still consider the country as a region that will come back to India one day, though even the trace of it is not even remotely visible. The internal contradictions in Pak are increasing every day.

“Our nukes not for Diwali” is a comment not in good humour to be used as mention during the ongoing election campaign. Just because it is NaMo, who used it, it does not get the sanctity.

Informed people need to pull up everyone, who makes even a slip, as it is the meek acceptance to all that is said that becomes poison.

Nickhil Krishnan

No second chance

A few months back, the BJP had lost the elections in some of its stronghold States of India like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and others. The results were seen as a clear setback to the incumbent PM Narendra Modi under whose command, the country has only seen a rising tide of extremism intolerance, especially against Christians and Muslims. We have to use our brains and vote wisely for the right candidate this time or else we will have to suffer again for the next five years under Modi’s rule.

Narendra Modi does not deserve a second chance to rule the country.

Jubel D’Cruz

A Friend in need is a friend indeed!

Mukesh Ambani’s open support to Congress candidate Milind Deora comes as a surprise as we all are aware of his loyalties to PM Modi and towards the BJP. Congress President Rahul Gandhi misses no opportunity to target Anil Ambani over Rafael deal and supporting Congress candidate in spite of all the brickbat is Mukesh Ambani’s way of proving that friendship is bigger than political loyalties. A friend in need is a friend indeed and Ambani supporting Murli Deora’s son is his way of proving that family and friends come above everything else in life.

However, there are no friends & foes in politics and the Ambani family has always been close to Gandhi’s in the past from the days of Indira Gandhi and the great Dhirubhai Ambani. So they may be keeping their options open in case Congress was to get majority which at present looks unlikely. However, Milind Deora should benefit from this support which is good as we need young & dynamic leaders like him in Parliament!

S.N.Kabra

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)