Ram Temple right ahead of 2019 poll

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January 14, 2019

Ram temple issue cropping up again and again and it is giving PM Modi sleepless nights ahead of the 2019 polls. He made it clear that any decision on bringing an ordinance on the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya could be considered only after the judicial process got over. Recently, there has been a renewed pitch within the party as well as by its sister organisations in the Sangh Parivar for expediting the process of construction. This demand pre-empted PM to clear his mind and made the supporters wait for some more time. Neither the Supreme Court nor an Ordinance, but only a true leader, someone like the Father of the Nation, who brought freedom, can bring the desired result. Truths are the simplest.

It is nice you show some signs that you need to accept the wisdom of the wise. You have inflicted enough and more injuries and sufferings to certain sections of the Society because of your inclinations and uncompromising beliefs. Remember India had so many Philosophers and real Sadhus who have promoted coexistence of all people with love and respect for their beliefs, habits, culture, and traditions. The matter will be heard by the Supreme Court on January 4. Petitions have been filed in the court for the day-to-day hearing.

When a minority bench said to bring law and till the time we arrive at a decision, we should obey Supreme Court order. PM Narendra Modi is right the issue of Ram Mandir is not a political issue the opposition parties are creating this issue as a political issue this issue is under Supreme Court and we all have to wait until Supreme Court declare the final order and I think this is not a political issue and I beseech the opposition parties please stop politics on this issue. Nobody can deny that those sitting in the governments in the last 70 years have tried their best to stall a solution to this Ayodhya issue. It seems from the interview that all is set that the verdict may come as per his desire.

The statement uttered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is clearly indicating that he is respecting the Judiciary Process on the issue of construction of Ram Mandir, as the matter is in subjudice. Further, passing of ordinance in this regard may go against the BJP government in forthcoming elections to be held during this year. In addition, it may invite chaos and unrest across the country, which is democratic and secular.

The striking imbalance between the haves and have nots can be bridged if communal preferences in the delivery of quota are banned and in its place, economically backward people should be given quota. When each dominant community is delivered quota for vote bank the meritorious of the general category are picking pocketed. If BJP fails the outcome will be in favour of some parties. The majority-minority disparities will polarize. Better ban communal delivery of quota and maintain a monopoly of intelligentsia irrespective of caste religion and gender.

Well said PM. He is the only Indian for PM. Is there any person other than M is capable to be PM? The Sangh Parivar organisations are unhappy over the delay in resolving the matter and there are demands for an ordinance, similar to the one issued on triple talaq, to facilitate construction. The demand has been made even by the BJP’s ally, Shiv Sena.

Recently, there has been a renewed pitch within the party as well as by its sister organisations in the Sangh Parivar for expediting the process of construction. The better council should prevail in the sensitive issue. Archeology and ancient monuments are clear cut and existence of Sri Ram, whatever happened later is manmade and can be moved to another location without affecting sentiments of communities that co-exists.

C.K. Subramaniam

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

Keep Crowd Under Control at Kumbh

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R K Sinha

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January 14, 2019

The Kumbh festival begins on Sankranti day. Come on January 15, the sound of conch and slokas would reverberate on the banks of ‘Sangam’, the confluence of Ganga, Jamuna, and Saraswati at Prayagraj. Hundreds of thousands of devotees and pilgrims would take the Holy dip that day to herald the Kumbh this year. Pilgrims would converge at the Kumbh from all over the country and from abroad. Many will come as ‘tourists’ to watch the humongous assembly of people at one place.

The legend has it that anyone who with pious thought takes three dips in Sangam attains the ‘Moksha’, freeing oneself from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Organising a religious congregation of this scale where millions of people gather is a big challenge for any government and administration. Preparations for Kumbh begins the year ahead of the event. Interestingly, there is little or no publicity of Kumbha Mela except for few advertisements in newspapers, journals, and television in form of greetings. Yet, millions of people are drawn to this event. It is a challenging work for those officers, staff, and workers responsible for security and safety of pilgrims and visitors to prevent any untoward incident. The situation has to be kept under control. The risk factor is overcrowding of the place. Managing the crowd by keeping the people under control is the first to step to prevent any untoward incident.

In 1954 Kumbh at Prayagraj, many people had died when the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Kumbh for a dip. People approaching the bank of the river were stopped because of the presence of Prime Minister at the site. There was stampede resulting in the death of a large number of pilgrims. A similar incident happened in 1980 when the pilgrims were stopped from going to the bank because of the presence of the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Veer Bahadur Singh.

Such incidents do happen in the religious congregation of large scale. But such an incident can be prevented if the administration and the security forces learn the art of managing and controlling the crowd at the given place.

It has been noticed that most of the incident of stampede happened in the past because there were not enough exit route from the place. When the crowd is huge and the passage for exit is narrow any rumour or accident will lead to a stampede. The event of this scale gives the opportunity to anti-social elements and mischief mongers to create panic causing a stampede. The administration needs to keep a close watch on the situation. There has to be a concrete plan to prevent any such incident.

According to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, all measures have been taken to prevent any such incident. Police, Administration, and Health Department have prepared a joint preventive action plan to ensure a peaceful and uninterrupted flow of pilgrims to the banks of the Sangam. Besides this, the Army and the Air Force will also be on standby during the festival.

On certain days of the Kumbh, some ‘Snans’ (Bath) are important like Shahi Snan. There are eight important Snans during the Kumbh. The first important Snan will be on Sankranti day when Kumbh begins. This is also known as Shahi Snan and Rajyogi Snan. After this, there will be Paush Purnima Snan on the full moon day. Then on Paush Ekadashi day that falls on January 31.

The fourth major Snan will be on the day of Mauni Amavasya. Then another important Snan will be on the day of Basant Panchami which we also celebrate as Saraswati Puja.

The administration will have to ensure enough space for exit route beside emergency or alternative exit points in case of overcrowding. One precaution has to be taken by the devotees also; that is to avoid rushing to a point which is already overcrowded.

One should also know that accident or stampede do happen at any religious event of large scale not only in India but also in foreign countries. In 2004 and in 2006 many people had died during the stampede in the Mecca during an event known as “killing the saitan’.

It is obvious the enemies of humanity and enemies of our country will have evil eyes on the Kumbh Mela. We have to defeat these forces. It was a good step by the state administration to have given training to all those deployed on Kumbh duty by the trainers of Nation Security Guard and the Indian Army.

It is likely that people of the new generation may not be aware of a major stampede in Kumbh in1954. It was the day of Mauni Amavasya, February 3, 1954. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Sangam and decided to take a dip before the Shahi Snan of Sadhus. The Sadhus and others were stopped from going to the Sangam. That led to stampede killing many people. The Nagas (Sadhus) were with their elephants which ran amok. There were other Sadhus also belonging to Akharas who too were also stopped for some time from taking bath. The Sadhus got angry causing the stampede.

Whether they are Netas or Abhinetas (actors), this VVIP class should desist from jumping the queue in all places. But this class of VVIP is in the habit of breaking queue which they consider as their birthright.

The administration has put restrictions on VVIP entering the Sangam for Snan on important days.

(The writer is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha)

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.

#Mission2019: Will Mahagathbandhan circus triumph in UP?

By

Moumita Mukherjee

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January 13, 2019

Foe-turned-friends Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have decided to coagulate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday announced their alliance which is going to be a big turmoil in Uttar Pradesh politics. This alliance can be seen as a historic alliance in the state politics which has been claimed to extend for a long period in other states and for other elections as well by the leaders. This historic seat sharing pact is phenomenal for certain reasons. This alliance can be seen as a desperate survival attempt by both the parties against BJP which is currently ruling the state. Out of 80 seats, SP and BSP have settled for 38 seats each and remaining seats are left for Congress and other allies.

BSP’s Rajya Sabha MP and BSP coordinator for Maharashtra Veer Singh spoke to AV and said, “We are assured of our victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with the Mahagathbandhan of BSP and SP. This alliance will wash off BJP from both the state and centre. We get the mandate of nearly 70-75 seats. This alliance will influence political wind in the other states too. Congress is a weak party in UP and thus not a part of the alliance. Party supremo Mayawati wants Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to win from the Amethi and Raebareli seats and that’s why we have not fielded our candidates there.”

“BJP has spread communal tensions in the country and we don’t want the party to get the power again. 10 per cent reservation in the general category is an election jumla of BJP to disturb communal harmony,” added Singh.

As SP and BSP plan to transfer their vote banks completely to each other in this alliance which is Dalits and Muslim vote banks for BSP and Yadavs and Muslim vote banks for SP; it even shows that both the parties are not very keen to make Congress a part of this alliance but at the same time they’ve decided that they will not be contesting from Raebareli and Amethi which shows the hidden understanding between the three parties.

Congress at the same time will target the upper caste votes by fielding more upper caste candidates which means that the alliance will gather the votes of Dalits, Muslims, Yadavs, and also some part of OBCs. Moreover, the Rahul Gandhi-led party will try to divide the upper caste votes which means that with this stealth plan, Congress is definitely going to give BJP a run for the money if at all this vote transfer and defection happens.

UP BJP spokesperson Sameer Singh stated, “The BSP-SP alliance also happened in 1993 between SP’s Mulayam Singh and BSP’s Kanshi Ram. However, in that UP Assembly polls, BJP won around 173 seats. These two parties are of different ideologies and their vote banks too are different. BSP and SP are trying to bring Goonda raj in the state. Moreover, both the parties are supremely power hungry and the alliance will fail to run long. Where are the other parties in the Mahagathbandhan? This alliance won’t bother the mandate for BJP and we will retain power with a majority.”

He further added, “10 per cent reservation will work towards the benefit of a large number of people in the state and we have got a positive response for Triple Talaq ordinance.”

In 2014 elections, BJP saw 42.63 per cent of vote share which was almost same to SP (20 per cent) and BSP’s (22 per cent) combined vote share of 42.12 per cent. Both BSP and SP have a potential to win 50 out of its 73 seats of NDA and could win around 57 of the 80 seats as per political observers.

While BJP has bucked itself up for the 2019 elections with its announcement to offer 10 per cent quota for the economically backward in the general category which has a 20 per cent vote share in UP, it also eyes for 9 per cent votes of Yadavs which are traditional voters of SP and 12 per cent votes Jatav and Chamar which are the strength of BSP. Non Yadav OBCs (36 per cent) will also be woed by BJP apart from 20 per cent upper caste votes, whereas Dalits, Yadavs, and Muslims can come together under the SP-BSP alliance.

SP National Secretary Rajendra Chaudhary asserted, “The BSP-SP alliance is a historic association and it will wash away BJP from the state. Aligning with Congress for the 2017 assembly polls was an old story; for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, our strategy is to fight the election with BSP.”

Talking about how BJP’s ‘jumla’ of announcing 10 per cent reservation in the general category poor will not make any difference in the SP-BSP mandate, Chaudhary said, “We will win the polls with a majority. We can assure you that not a single seat will go to BJP this time.”

Cow vigilantism has led to communal violence in UP so much so that it has tormented the law and order situation in the state. The BJP voters have lately shown their dissent on Ram Mandir issue as they are disappointed with the saffron party’s inability to achieve their main and age-old agenda which was also reflected in the recent three Hindi heartland state elections.

Congress leader and AIMC General Secretary Nagma expressed, “All the parties in the Opposition are fighting the 2019 election with the same motto of dethroning BJP. We welcome the BSP-SP alliance; however, Congress alone will fight in every seat in the state and will field strong candidates. UP has seen massive unrest against reservation and BJP is trying to mislead people with its recent decisions. All BJP promises are yet to come into existence. All the BJP policies are to mislead the voters and Reservation to the general category is nothing but a political gimmick eyeing the general elections.”

Tough road ahead in UP: BJP needs strong faces to challenge Opposition

By

Vaidehi Taman

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January 13, 2019

In just about three months, India will voice its opinion if Narendra Modi will stay for another term or there will be a new face to hold the reins of the country. In view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the political parties are busy rearranging their organisations in order to bring forth faces that have the potential to win elections. The party leadership is also under deep pressure to repeat 2014 polls performance or give even the best in UP. Meanwhile, internal politics is at its peak in the BJP, where the candidature of both the current Agra and Mathura MPs Ram Shankar Katheria and Hema Malini are at stake. BJP needs real good faces that can challenge the Opposition and make it a huge win for the party. In a bid to win seats, they may have to show a way out to the sitting MPs who have earned the unpopularity among the people in their last term. The party leadership is also under stress to repeat or give even the best performance even as the Modi-magic appears to be on its faded side. Both Modi and Rajnath Singh won from Uttar Pradesh to assume the portfolios of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister but with the Samajwadi Party(SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance almost ready and the Congress also planning to join them, it will be a tough road ahead for the BJP.

BSP supremo Mayawati has already announced her candidates for Agra City and Fatehpur Sikri, while RLD may contest the Mathura seat. Samajwadi Party will soon announce its candidates for the rest of the districts in Braj region and it is quite probable that lacking ground support in this region, it is likely that the Congress will support the candidates fielded by the alliance. Katheria has been a two-time MP from Agra but, third time may not be the same for him as his popularity has fallen among the public. Besides, even in the party circles, the local leaders are trying to convince the party high command that fielding Katheria will be a losing proposition for the BJP. On the Mathura seat, the sitting MP Hema Malini is staking her claim for re-election asserting that she wants to finish the developmental work she had started in the region; however, looking at overall conduct of her as an MP, she has failed to win the confidence of the people. She might have been accepted as an actress but not as a politician; moreover, somehow, she has managed to sail on then Modi magic but this time it’s not the same scenario. UP Energy Minister and local MLA Shrikant Sharma, who was once seen as a chief ministerial candidate for the state, may stake his claim for the Agra ticket. In Firozabad and Mainpuri, votes could go in the favour of the alliance which will probably allot these seats to the SP candidates considering its popularity in the region.

In Fatehpur Sikri, sitting MP from the BJP Babulal Chaudhary has always been at loggerheads with the party leadership and could lose his ticket. Sources indicate that the Congress may field its UP President Raj Babbar from this seat while the BSP has announced the name of Seema Upadhyay, who has already been an MP from Fatehpur Sikri once. The BJP is still in search of a winning candidate. In the meantime, Congress is going to fight on all the 80 seats of Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Lok Sabha Polls. Whereas, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have agreed to contest on 38 seats each. Recently, Congress has done excellent in four core states of BJP and shunted them out of power. Rahul Gandhi is not only gaining popularity but he has also proven his potential. He has matured with the time and many regional parties have all their support for him. This is the first time in Indian politics that Congress is voluntarily supported and endorsed by many state-level regional parties. Somewhere, Modi has utterly failed on his “Congress-Mukt Bharat” slogan; rather people chose to throw BJP out of power straight by slapping against their arrogance. Congress has fully prepared for the elections. Congress emerged No. 1 party in Uttar Pradesh in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, maybe they will fight on their own and win twice those number of seats in the upcoming elections. In 2009, the Congress had won 21 seats in the state. No wonder if the other two regional giants have decided to contest 38 seats each out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. They will not contest Amethi and Raebareli. Although there is no formal alliance between SP-BSP and Congress, the decision to stay away from Amethi and Raebareli is significant since the two seats are old bastions of the Gandhi family. BJP’s Smriti Irani may contest against Rahul Gandhi but chances of her winning are very thin; whereas, the Raebareli voters may hardly switch their loyalties to other political parties. The two alliance leaders also made it clear that the alliance would continue till the next assembly elections in the state. The alliance is likely to be a cause of worry for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had not only swept the state during the 2014 general elections, catapulting it to a historic mandate in Lok Sabha, but had also won the assembly elections in the state with a thumping majority. On a broader note, other regional Opposition parties such as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) congratulated Mayawati and Yadav, on coming together for an electoral alliance. The BJP is also a little worried about them coming together. The entire focus is that if these two parties come together, there could be an amalgamation of OBC, Dalits, and Muslim votes. If these three segments get together, there could be a potential challenge to the BJP in UP. That is why at this moment this new development appears to be important for everybody. In the 2017 assembly election, the BJP benefited from development schemes like Ujjwala Yojana providing free cooking gas. Will it repeat the same now with more developmental projects is not sure, because the killings in the name of cow and Yogi Adityanath’s motor mouth statements have hurt many of his voters? The lower middle class have their own concept of development, the middle class has its own and so does the higher class. When it comes to pumping money in developmental projects, one segment which really benefits is the bureaucracy. There is rampant corruption in UP. It is very difficult to handle corruption in UP under BJP government too. The Prime Minister’s image is another issue, right now the focus is whether this alliance on the ground stands or not. Interesting to see how regional starwort kicks out the ruling party and shunt their chances ahead.

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

Digital platform helps Maha save Rs 12k cr in farm loan

By

Web Team

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January 13, 2019

Maharashtra has managed to save Rs 12,000 crore in farm loan waiver alone by adopting a digital platform that helped eliminate bogus claimants, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday.

The state had, in June 2017, announced a farm loan waiver worth Rs 34,022 crore amid rising incidents of farmer suicides due to crop failures or falling prices and rising input costs.

The scheme made each farmer with a debt of up to Rs 1.5 lakh eligible for the write-off. Maharashtra was following other states like UP, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh among others.

“Our farm loan waiver scheme was executed on a digital platform and by that we could save Rs 12,000 crore just because of digital intervention. Had it been the regular way, we would have ended up paying Rs 12,000 crore more to the people and that is the power of digitisation,” he said at an industry event organised by corporate lobby CII, without offering any details.

He further said that the state is launching a programme which is a virtual life cycle management for every farmer.

“From sowing to harvesting, everything will be managed through a digital platform and that will give advantage to farmers to make this sector more sustainable, predictable,” he said, adding it will be launched Monday.

Fadnavis further said the state has collaborated with the World Economic Forum for Fourth Industrial Revolution and has started pilot project to introduce drones in agriculture.

“We are trying to make agriculture more precision-oriented so that we bring down the cost, make it predictable and connect farmers directly to technology,” he said.

The state aims to cover all the villages under its broadband connectivity programme by the end of this year.

“As part of Bharat Net, we have started our Maha Net, which has already reached out to 60 percent of our targeted villages and by the end of this year we will be reaching rest of the villages. Hopefully our fibre will reach every single village. And with this robust connectivity, we will empower every single citizen to leverage on digital governance and digital economy,” he said.

He further said his government’s Aple Sarkar Service Kendra has also provided internet access to villages.

Man arrested for obtaining passport under another name

By

Web Team

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January 13, 2019

A 30-year-old man who was allegedly trying to leave the country after obtaining passport in a his new name which hadn’t been officially changed was arrested in Latur district of Maharashtra Saturday.

Narsing Jairam Bhuyekar was arrested at Udgir by the Anti-Terror Cell of police, an official said Sunday.

He had allegedly obtained passport with the name ‘Mohammed Rehan Ibne Adam’.

He had converted to Islam in 2010 and took the new name, but as required under the law, he did not notify the change through a government gazette, the police official said.

To get the passport, he allegedly provided documents such as PAN card and Aadhar card which bore his new name.

As the name on the passport application was not his original name, local police submitted adverse inquiry report, but Bhuyekar still managed to obtain passport through an agent, he said.

A native of Medak district in Telangana, Bhuyekar moved to Udgir a few years ago and embraced Islam, the official said. He later married a Muslim woman.

He allegedly told police that he wanted to visit Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage.

A case was registered against him under the Passport Act and also for forgery and cheating under the IPC.

“We are investigating why he did not change his name through government gazette and whether he was in touch with any foreign national,” the official added.

Rohingya and Bangladeshi immigrants must be evicted from Jammu: Bajrang Dal

By

Web Team

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January 13, 2019

Activists of right wing group, Rashtriya Bajrang Dal (RBD), on Sunday staged a demonstration here against illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi immigrants and gave Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik a week’s ultimatum to deport them.

The protesters, some of whom wielded tridents, placards and the national flag, assembled outside a mall along Narwal bypass, not far from where a settlement of Rohingya Muslims is located. They raised slogans in support of their demand for eviction of the illegal immigrants and later dispersed peacefully.

RBD state president Rakesh Bajrangi said that the protest should serve as a “warning” to the governor led administration. He further claimed that the presence of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals in the state posed a threat to the national security.

The RBD has given the governor a week’s time to take measures for the early deportation of the Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals. If the government fails to fulfill the demand then there will be a bigger agitation involving local residents. Bajrangi claimed these illegal immigrants were involved in criminal activities like drug peddling and posed a threat to the region’s culture.

ED arrests ex-manager of Maha co-op society in money laundering case

By

Web Team

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January 13, 2019

The Enforcement Directorate on Sunday said that it has arrested an ex-manager of a Maharashtra-based cooperative society for his alleged involvement in laundering crores of funds using the overseas hawala route.

The agency said Machindra Khade was arrested by it under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)for his “involvement in facilitating illegal cash deposits in various bank accounts of the society which were subsequently layered and then fraudulently remitted to Hong Kong by submission of fake import documents in the guise of import of diamond”.

It said the accused was former manager of Renukamata Multi-State Cooperative Urban Credit Society.

The agency had begun probing the cooperative society based in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on the basis of an FIR filed by the state police.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said its probe found that Khade “opened and operated” multiple bank accounts in the name of persons/company which were used for depositing huge cash in the society’s account maintained with banks having core banking and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) facility.

“In this way, the beneficiaries’ transactions were successfully camouflaged as the RTGS/NEFT transactions would invariably reflect the name of the cooperative society. Khade was instrumental in contacting people and pursuing them in opening bank accounts for monetary consideration,” it alleged.

The agency claimed Khade obtained the signatures of account holders on blank RTGS slips that he kept in his custody.

“As and when there was a demand, the accused would take out these blank RTGS slips and fill the amount and beneficiary details in the slips. He used to take commission of Rs 50 per one lakh of such transactions which involved deposit of cash till the stage of RTGS,” the ED charged.

“In this manner, funds of Rs 120 crore were deposited in these accounts and then transferred through RTGS/NEFT to different shell companies and finally out of India to Hong Kong-based companies on the strength of forged bills of entry,” it said.

Khade at present is in ED custody.

Rajkumar Hirani accused of sexual assault, filmmaker terms #MeToo story ‘malacious’

By

Web Team

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January 13, 2019

Rajkumar Hirani has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked with him on his 2018 film “Sanju” and the filmmaker has denied the allegations, terming them “false” and “malicious” and aimed at destroying his reputation.

In an article on HuffPost India, the woman, who calls herself “an assistant”, alleged that Hirani sexually abused her more than once between March and September 2018.

She detailed her allegations in an email dated November 3, 2018, to Hirani’s frequent collaborator and “Sanju” co-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

After the article went viral on the Internet, the filmmaker released a statement in which he said he was “shocked” when the claims were brought to his notice two months ago.

He said that he suggested the case be referred to a “committee or a legal body” but the complainant chose to go the media instead.

“I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body.

“The complainant has chosen to go to the media instead. I want to very strongly state that this is a false malicious and mischievous story being spread with the sole intention of destroying my reputation,” Hirani said in a statement.

The woman said that on April 9, 2018, the director first passed a sexually suggestive remark to her and later sexually assaulted her at his home-office.

The woman said Hirani was a father figure for her.

“My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months,” the email read.

Chopra’s wife, film critic Anupama Chopra, who is a director at Vinod Chopra Films Pvt Ltd, “Sanju” scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi, and Vidhu Vinod’s sister Shelly Chopra were also marked on the email.

The development comes close on the heels of Hirani’s name been dropped from the new poster and trailer of “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga”, directed by Shelly Chopra.

A still from the film’s teaser, which released on 27 June, 2018, carried Hirani’s name as co-producer.

Hirani’s is the latest name to be called out in India’s #MeToo storm, which has engulfed many a stalwart such as Nana Patekar, Alok Nath, Vikas Bahl, Sajid Khan and former Union minister M J Akbar.

Ranting on public platform not enough, police action needed: Pooja Bhatt on #MeToo

By

Web Team

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January 13, 2019

Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt says she is happy that #MeToo movement has helped women come out with their stories of harassment but believes allegations need to be followed up with serious action instead of “ranting on public platform”.

A string of cases gave birth to India’s #MeToo chapter last September, with women from all walks of life coming forward to demand for a safer work environment.

“One should take names. One should file a case and take the person to court. Just ranting on a public platform with no thought towards the consequences, I think, is a bit too much,” Pooja told agencies.

She contends that the movement should not be limited to social media and rather be dealt properly with the help of law.

“If a man has made an overture at you and is harassing you, there is a law that protects you. Ranting on Twitter and not backing it up with a police complaint (does not help)… I am not interested in a media trial,” she adds.

The actor-director said that she too has been a victim of sexual harassment.

“It’s a fallacy, I have had my share. Which woman has not dealt with somebody putting their hand on the butt? When I used to go to school by train, I have got my butt pinched. But we were trained to take on that person.”

In 2002, Pooja had confessed that she was in an abusive relationship with an actor. She said that she was then accused of washing her “dirty linen in public” by the industry.

“I felt I must talk about it as I represent courage and strength to the world. That time it was not considered fashionable to talk about it. I got a lot of flak for it. Saif Ali Khan and John Abraham were couple of few people who stood up for me. Everyone from Shekhar Suman to Ruby Bhatia said, ‘How can I talk about all this in public?’ For me, it was not about him or me, it was about something larger. We need to empower our women to speak,” she added.

On the work front, Pooja’s home production film “Cabaret” is currently streaming and she is set to make a comeback to acting with “Sadak 2”. The actor will also be seen in a web series based on Abheek Barua’s book, “A City of Death”.