Former Union minister P Chidambaram was questioned once again by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday in connection with the INX Media money laundering case, officials said.
This is the second time that the senior Congress leader has deposed before the agency in the case. He was earlier grilled by the ED in December.
Chidambaram, 73, was asked to depose before the investigating officer (IO) of the case to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was given a time for Monday, they said.
It has earlier questioned him in the Aircel-Maxis PMLA case.
The Delhi High Court, in November last year, had extended till January 15 the interim protection from arrest granted to Chidambaram on his pleas seeking anticipatory bail in the INX Media case lodged by both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The court had also directed him to cooperate with the investigation.
The ED has questioned Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram in the INX Media case in the past and has also attached his assets worth an estimated Rs 54 crore, located in India and abroad.
It had registered a PMLA case in this deal case on the basis of a CBI FIR and had alleged that irregularities took place in the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.
It had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED’s equivalent of a police FIR, against the accused named in a CBI complaint, including Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.
Karti Chidambaram was also arrested on February 28 by the CBI for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007. He was later granted bail.
A report by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan was tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday. However, the bill is expected to be discussed in the lower house on Tuesday. The report was prepared by the Joint Parliamentary Committee by a majority vote as opposition members in the panel had objected to the provisions saying Indian citizenship cannot be granted on the basis of religion and it is against the Constitution.
Some of the opposition members have also given dissent notes over this.
BJP allies, the Shiv Sena and the JD(U), have already said that they will also oppose the bill.
The bill seeks to amend Citizenship Act 1955 to grant Indian nationality to people from minority communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 even if they don’t possess any proper document.
This was an election promise of the BJP in 2014.
The Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI-M and a few other parties have been steadfastly opposing the bill claiming that citizenship can’t be given on the basis of religion.
Various members from opposition parties have been asserting that citizenship is a constitutional provision and it cannot be based on religion, as India is a secular nation.
Rather than resolving the situation in Assam, this bill is making the situation more volatile in the already tense state, an opposition member in the panel had alleged.
Echoing similar sentiments, a Congress member had said if all the proposed amendments come into force, then the Centre has to nullify the Assam Accord under which anyone, irrespective of religion, entering the state illegally after March 1971, should be declared foreigner and deported.
A large section of people and organisations in the Northeast have also opposed the bill saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.
Even the governments of Meghalaya and Mizoram have strongly opposed the bill and adopted resolutions against it.
During the course of its examination and study visits, the committee met a cross-section of people in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam and Meghalaya and heard views of organisations, individuals, experts and others.
The committee also heard the views of the chief secretaries and police chiefs of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the “best” engineers and scientists from cash-strapped HAL will be forced to move to the Anil Ambani group that has the Rafale fighter jet contract.
This will happen as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) does not have enough money to pay salaries to its employees and Ambani needs its talent to deliver on his contract, Gandhi said.
“That HAL doesn’t have enough cash to pay salaries, isn’t surprising. Anil Ambani has Rafale. He now needs HAL’s brilliant talent pool to deliver on his contracts. Without salaries, HAL’s best engineers and scientists will be forced to move to AA’s venture,” he said on Twitter.
Gandhi said this while citing a report whereby cash-strapped HAL has taken loans to pay salaries to its employees.
That HAL doesn’t have enough cash to pay salaries, isn’t surprising.
Anil Ambani has Rafale. He now needs HAL’s brilliant talent pool to deliver on his contracts.
US President Donald Trump said that he looks forward to speaking to the world in his annual State of the Union address later this month in which he has “a lot of great things” to say.
Newly-sworn-in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week invited President Trump to deliver the customary State of the Union (SOTU) address before a joint session of Congress on January 29.
Trump told reporters at the White House, “I will be making the State of the Union on January 29th. I look forward to it. I look forward to speaking, really, before the world. We have a lot of great things to say”.
This would be Trump’s first SOTU address wherein the Democrats would be in majority in the House of Representatives.
“Our country is doing better than any country in the world, right now. Our military is almost completely rebuilt. When I took it over, it was a mess. It was depleted. Our trade deals are going great.
“We have a deal with Mexico, Canada, and South Korea. We’re negotiating with Europe, the European Union. We’re negotiating with China, which is, by far, the biggest of them all. We’re doing very, very well,” the president said in response to a question.
According to the US Constitution, the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”.
Trump’s 2018 SOTU address was watched by more than 45 million people worldwide.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has praised former prime minister Indira Gandhi, saying she did not need reservation to prove her mettle and did better than male leaders in the Congress.
The senior BJP leader said that he was not opposed to women’s reservation, but was against politics based on caste and religion.
He made the remarks at the inauguration of an exhibition by women self-help groups (SHGs) on Sunday.
The BJP has been critical of Indira Gandhi over the imposition of Emergency in the country.
“Indira Gandhi proved her mettle in her party among other dedicated male leaders. Was it due to reservation?” Gadkari said.
Women BJP leaders Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did well in politics sand reservations, he said.
“I am not against women’s reservation. Women should get reservation. I am not opposed to it,” he said.
The Minister said that he was against caste and religion-based politics. A person excels on the basis of knowledge and not because of language, caste, religion or region, he said.
“One makes progress on the basis of knowledge. Do we ask about the religion of Saibaba, Gajanan Maharaj or Sant Tukdoji Maharaj? Have we ever asked about the caste of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar or Jyotiba Phule? I am against politics based on caste and religion,” Gadkari said.
Moments after India marked its victory in the maiden Test series in Australia, India coach Ravi Shastri on Monday hit back at the critics using his tried and trusted ammunition, saying negative comments coming from miles away were blown away by the wind like, what else, but a “tracer bullet”.
The former all-rounder was alluding to Gavaskar’s comments made on air during the fourth day’s play on Sunday.
“I said in Melbourne – I think I mentioned people taking pot shots and firing blanks. I wasn’t joking there, because I knew how hard this team had worked. When you fire from there, by the time it crosses the southern hemisphere, it’s blown away by the wind like a tracer bullet,” Shastri told reporters after the 2-1 Test series triumph over Australia, India’s first in 71 years.
After fellow panellist Murali Karthik called the Perth to defeat a wake-up call, Gavaskar had said, “And how did that wakeup call come? Because of the blanks being fired from thousands of miles away! The blanks made the noise that woke this team up!”
Having achieved as a coach what no other Indian team has in 71 years, it was Shastri’s turn to respond.
Continuing his tirade, he said, “…But lead, with something in it, can be pretty serious. And that’s what we have fired right through the series against Australia. We were committed, and it jolly well bloody made a difference at the end of it all. This is not a team of gods or demigods, seniors or juniors.”
Shastri lavished rich praise on his players after they wrote a new chapter in the Indian cricket history.
“This is an Indian cricket team that will jump over a cliff to win a match for the country. And that’s the determination, that’s the ruthlessness, that’s the mindset with which this team went to play in this series. Hats off to them for showing that courage!”
He was not done there, considering the enormity of the achievement at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“Today I can say I am proud of my boys and I can also tell them one thing, which Virat touched in the presentation, that this team now has an identity to look at any other Indian team from the past in the eye and say ‘We play proper Test match cricket. You did, we did too but without being intimidated’,” Shastri signed off.
A mandir is always built with the cooperation and agreement of one and all through joint ‘Kar seva’. Those who depend on a court order or ordinance are really not “Dharmik”. Modi and Yogi must sit together, call all relevant parties and hammer out a mutual agreement and refrain from excessive publicity and display of bravado.
The biggest job in front of the government and RSS is to worry about rank indiscipline and lack of service attitude (Swabhav) among the masses.
Mahendra Singh
Home’s witness
In a letter written to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a BJP MLA has predicted that the party may face “heavy losses in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls due to corruption by officials”, because of not fulfilling the promises which were promised by the recent government. It is shocking that right now many villagers have been deprived of electric facilities in UP, but the government is deaf and blind. Thus, the mood of the people has turned against the state government. If the corruption is not controlled or promises not fulfilled by then, I am sure that the BJP will be defeated badly in upcoming poll.
NH Haleemi
Aircraft should be reviewed
The recent mid-air scare of Chennai-Kolkata flight owing to technical glitches belonging to a P&W engine of A320 neo aircraft should be given a priority review. That the pilots were able to return to its origin through a normal SOP for landing owing to a technical glitch is highly appreciable, considering the safety of passengers being a paramount factor in the sky.
The technical issue owing to damaged engine blades and other factors should be resolved immediately. AAIB and DGCA should now make a detailed review and find out any otherwise possible factor, for many technical issues emerging from A320 neo aircraft’s engines of late. As it is also known that the issue has been persisting through the past two years, the authorities should now move away from the illusion of ‘isolated incidents’, which is now emerging quite often.
Mid-air scare is a safety issue which may put at risk the lives of both the passengers and crew members. Also as the recent Boeing Max 737 engine incident remains afresh, the safety agencies and aviation authorities in India now, no doubt, are very cautions to red flag even a minor mid-air technical glitch of various engine types. Further, the authorities should mandate periodic safety audits and fix any technical glitch immediately and not on ad-hoc basis. The authorities should also now strive to fix the issue amicably, irrespective of brand, carrier type or MRO- while giving utmost priority to the well-being and safety of passengers.
Varun SD
Why is there a discrimination?
Why are women discriminated against entering certain temples like in the case of the Sabarimala temple in Kerala? Why are some men treating women differently? Weren’t they born from their mother’s womb – who also, is a woman? When Adam wanted a partner, God did not create Eve differently and men should realise this.
Jubel D’Cruz
Factory fire
A wildfire at the Kandivali factory turned into an inferno as lives were lost because of the factory owner’s negligence. The fire audit of these factories ought to have thrown open the danger in a preventive way. ‘Preventions are better than cure’— is applicable to fire accidents as well. As garments were stored in the godown, it easily caught fire. Given these information, it is only fitting to know how the authorities were just overlooking a highly volatile situation. As negligence was observed in dousing the fire, the process became difficult. Three bodies were found in the washroom and that shows callous approach to the pressing problem of fire. It is time to learn from mistakes.
Abhishek Ramaswamy
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
The decision of Noida administration prohibiting the offering of Namaz in public place (Parks) has created an uproar. A section of people is beating chest alleging that the decision is an assault on the religious freedom of the Muslims. It is also being said that secularism in the country is in danger. But why it is that people ignore some responsibility that goes with freedom of religious practice. It appears that the word ‘responsibility’ has lost its relevance.
As the issue became hotly debated, the leader of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi did not miss the opportunity to make a venomous statement. He kept adding fuel to fire. He said that the Police of Uttar Pradesh shower flower on ‘kanwarias’ but see offering Namaz as a threat to peace and law and order. Instead of appreciating the action of U.P. Police, the force is being criticised. Is anything wrong in implementing the order of the Supreme Court of India? The apex court in its order in 2009 has clearly stated that any event of religious nature or holding of prayers and congregation need prior permission of the local police. In the light of the Supreme Court order, it is surprising that people have dragged politics to drain. Little wonder it is ‘gutter politics’.
India is an undisputed country where freedom of religious practice and faith has got so much freedom where people of all faiths can indulge in religious practice without any restriction. People have complete freedom to run and manage their religious institutions and place of worship.
Offering Friday ‘Namaz’ on streets, bazaar, and parks is a common sight in India. Since the preamble of the Constitution of India added the word ‘secular’ during the national emergency of 1975, there was no question of challenging or stopping Namaz being offered in public place. The right to practice religious faith has not come from any court or government. It is a Constitutional right. But it does not mean that any temple can come up under the tree of Peepal or people can offer Namaz on streets and parks. If parks are used for offering Namaz or staging Ramlila, we will not have enough space for children to play.
There is another shameful aspect of the current dispute. After a ban was imposed on offering ‘Namaz’ in Sector 58 of Noida, there was a volley of protest. However, when Police imposed a ban on holding “Bhagwat Katha’ in a public place in Greater Noida, not a single voice of protest was raised. People even did not discuss the matter. The anti-encroachment squad of Greater Noida authority even pulled down the shamiana in Sector 37 but no protest was held. The authorities said that the programme was being held without the permission of the Police. Well, where is secularism now when it hurt the sentiments of the Hindus. Is secularism not in danger when Hindus religious sentiments are offended?
What one can see nowadays is that some people who are active on social media are encouraging ‘intolerance’ in the society in the name of secularism. Actors like Naseeruddin Shah who shoot their mouth off on religious intolerance have the support of this section of the society. Who will tell them that ‘tolerance’ is embedded in the soul of ancient Indian civilisation. Under Hindu civilisation religions like Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam are flourishing in India.
India is secular because the majority community or the Hindus are secular. Those talking of ‘religious intolerance’ should turn the pages of history to see things with open eyes. India has welcomed people from other countries with open arm. No country has given so much religious freedom to its citizens that India has given.
Jews had arrived on the seashore of Malabar way back in 542 B.C. Since then, the Jews in India are living peacefully. Christians started arriving in India in 52 A.D. They first landed in Kerala by sea route. Then came the Parses; they landed in ships saving their life from the Islamic nation of Iran. Parses first came on the seashore of Navasari in Gujarat in 720 A.D. The Muslims also came from sea route in Kerala first. But Muslims had not come to India to make this country their homeland. They had come with an evil design to loot the country and then rule it. They were ruthless aggressors.
The last aggressors to enter India were Britons. They won the battle of Palasi in 1757. But clever and intelligent Britons were more diplomatic than others. They realised that converting Indians into Christianity would not help Great Britain to expand its empire. They can lay the foundation of the British economy and its industrial revolution by taking away raw material from India.
Britain which is a Protestant nation hardly resorted to conversion in India. It is because of this that Protestants are fewer in number.
In India, Catholics are in large number. They were converted to become Catholic by Irish, French missionaries and missionaries of Portugal and Spain. Most of the converts were Dalits among the Hindus who were lured by the missionaries.
If we talk of Hindus converted to Islam, it was done by four ways — first by giving wealth to the deprived and poor, second, by offering a position in Mughal courts, third by exempting them from ‘Zajia Tax’. The last resort they adopted was to kill those who refused to embrace Islam. Can anybody challenge these facts? None!
The real spirit of India is “सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः, सर्वे संतु , सर्वे संतु निरामया”.
Just look at the plight of minorities in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Then you will realise that minorities in India live in heaven. But if someone tries to create unrest and harm the nation, the government has to come with an iron hand to tackle such elements. No individual is greater than the nation.
(The author of the Column 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.
On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal backed the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav slamming the Modi government and said that it is time to throw out “this dictatorial and undemocratic regime” after Modi’s remark for “shamelessly unleashing” the CBI on Akhilesh Yadav.
According to reports, the Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to quiz the Samajwadi Party chief in an illegal mining case.
“In its last weeks in office, Modi govt shamelessly unleashing CBI on @yadavakhilesh is a reminder to all that we must not forget what Modi’s political opponents have faced during last five years. Time to throw out this dictatorial & undemocratic regime (sic),” he tweeted.
On Sunday, Yadav said that he is ready to face the probe agency, but people are also ready to answer the BJP.
The CBI carried out searches at 14 locations on Saturday in connection with its FIR against 11 persons, including IAS officer B Chandrakala, SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and Sanjay Dixit (who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly election on a BSP ticket) to probe alleged illegal mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district during 2012-16.
Yadav, who was the chief minister of the state between 2012 and 2017, held the mining portfolio during 2012-13, apparently bringing his role under scanner, according to the FIR.
AAP senior leader Gopal Rai last month hinted at the possibility of the party becoming a part of the Grand Alliance of opposition parties in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“Besides playing our role in the Lok Sabha election, we will cooperate with others to remove the (Narendra) Modi government.” Rai had said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday suspended three AIADMK MPs and one TDP lawmaker for disrupting proceedings. Mahajan ordered suspension of the members for “abusing the law of the House”.
She had suspended 45 members last week for unruly behaviour. As many as 24 AIADMK members were suspended on Wednesday. On Thursday, she suspended 21 members of AIADMK, TDP and an ‘unattached’ YSR Congress member.
As the House reconvened at noon, the members continued their protest in the Well despite warning from the Speaker.
The Winter session of Parliament is scheduled to conclude on January 8.
Former Union minister P Chidambaram was questioned once again by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday in connection with the INX Media money laundering case, officials said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the “best” engineers and scientists from cash-strapped HAL will be forced to move to the Anil Ambani group that has the Rafale fighter jet contract.
US President Donald Trump said that he looks forward to speaking to the world in his annual State of the Union address later this month in which he has “a lot of great things” to say.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has praised former prime minister Indira Gandhi, saying she did not need reservation to prove her mettle and did better than male leaders in the Congress.
The decision of Noida administration prohibiting the offering of Namaz in public place (Parks) has created an uproar. A section of people is beating chest alleging that the decision is an assault on the religious freedom of the Muslims. It is also being said that secularism in the country is in danger. But why it is that people ignore some responsibility that goes with freedom of religious practice. It appears that the word ‘responsibility’ has lost its relevance.
