In a setback to the BJP in Rajasthan, the party’s MP from Dausa Harish Chandra Meena joined the Congress on Wednesday.
Meena joined the Congress in the presence of former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot and AICC’s state in-charge Avinash Pande.
“I am happy that Harish Meena has decided to join the Congress in such times. I welcome him in the Congress fold,” Gehlot said at a press conference.
Pilot and Gehlot said both of them will contest December 7 polls along with other senior leaders of the state.
“We are all united. It is BJP’s conspiracy to spread false news that the Congress is divided,” Gehlot said.
In his remarks, Pilot attacked Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, saying she had betrayed the trust of the people of the state.
Pilot said the tension was evident in the BJP camp with many senior leaders sidelined and not given tickets, showing that “all is not well”.
Once again the Rafael deal issue took a new turn after the statement of Dassault Aviation that there is no wrong-doing in the contract while the Congress is dismissing his claims as “manufactured lies”. Why is the Congress still not ready to admit the reality while it has always alleged that Prime Minister put Rs 30,000 crore in Ambani’s pocket? Although Rahul Gandhi has been accusing the government for several months though he is yet to give strong evidence against PM Modi. Rahul Gandhi’s all allegations are baseless. If he has some serious objections over the deal, he should go to the court and prove that.
– F.R.Murad
2) Women’s cricket has come of age
Convincing wins in the first two matches of the World Twenty20 put Team India on the top of the table. After disposing of the challenge of New Zealand in the first match, they outplayed Pakistan in every department of the game to achieve a seven-wicket victory. The Indian bowlers were able to restrict Pakistan to 133 despite several fielding bloopers and got a penalty of 10 runs even before a ball being bowled in Indian innings. Senior Mithali Raj and other batsmen played to a plan and made an easy task of the target. Indian bowling was up to the mark to trouble Pakistani batswoman and but for 93 runs for the fourth wicket, there was not much of a resistance. H Kaur handled the side with tact and it they play in the same spirit, the Indian team is likely to enter the semifinal stage and the final will be a hurdle for an all-round side. The Women’s Team has come of age in World Twenty 20.
– Calicut CK Mani
3) Temple Tantrums
Dharmadesh, a two-day meeting of the Hindu seers organised for National integration and the temple tantrums, held in the capital city. The seers were soliciting political support and called for support to PM Modi for a second consecutive term to make the dream of building Ram Temple in Ayodhya a reality. Though the seers were hurt that the way Ram Temple on Ramjanmabhoomi was not taking shape, but they are satisfied with the works done by the current government in the field of religion, culture, national security, and pride. The country hoped to solve all the problems with BJP, the Saffron party winning with a majority once again and fulfill all the wishes of people including the building of Ram temple at Ayodhya.
– Chitra Rugmini
4) PM moves forward
Whatever may be the outcome of upcoming elections in four states, the country is looking forward to PM Modi as a visionary Prime Minister and that was revealed in his developmental programme introduced in the last four year. PM’s infra push with the inauguration of the first multi-modal terminal on the River Ganga in Varanasi. If he is given a chance, he is going to make the country most forward country in the world and reduced the gap of over 20 years we faced all these years comparing to other developed countries. Now it is a historic day for all of Kashi, east India and the whole of India. The whole country has become the witness to that work of development which was supposed to have been done long ago. We look at the future with bright prospects and the PM moves in that direction very well.
– Anandambal Jayanthy
5) Govt-RBI tussle unfortunate!
RBI is an autonomous body and the government led by the Finance Minister has no business to criticise India’s apex bank. The government feels that the RBI has not done enough is an unfair assessment. Just because RBI is not following the government’s guidelines, that doesn’t mean it has erred in its duties. Bleeding banks in our country led by PSUs is a result of diktats given the government to former bank heads that have resulted in a liquidity mess the financial sector is facing at the moment.
The government-RBI tussle needs to be resolved at the earliest; else, the Indian currency would be turned into a toilet paper in the days to come. The US currency is heading higher in spite of Trump whom most Americans hate as his policies are haphazard, but their economy is doing well because their Central Bank functions independently. Let’s not try to clip RBI’s wings if India has to march on the path of development which means economists and their decisions need to be respected!
– S.N.Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
In most of the cities/towns footpaths are in a state of neglect. Apart from wearing a dangerous and unkempt look, they have been made narrow by encroachments and pavement hawkers. Footpaths on both sides must be at least 1.5 metres wide, with even wider footpaths at bus stops. Footpaths in the cities pose an everyday challenge to pedestrians, with garbage and debris dumped on it, apart from encroachment. As a result, the footpath is not usable and pedestrians are left to fight for space with the heavy traffic.
On the pedestrians’ part, a question being asked is ‘where are the footpaths’? Pedestrians are forced to share the roads with speeding vehicles. No doubt, the authorities are forced to reduce the space for footpaths as the vehicular traffic has also increased. But, there are no footpaths despite the area being the hub of the city due to its location. A person has to walk on the sides of a road and when two or three vehicles from the opposite directions come it is quite difficult for a pedestrian to give way to the vehicles. Is this not a strange situation in Indian towns and cities?
All over the city, builders are too converting footpaths into parking places or approach roads for their buildings. Cities have no systematised footpaths for easy flow of pedestrians. One may walk along one footpath in an area, which simply vanishes at the next turn. City’s biggest affliction is that footpaths are encroached on: by shops, STD booths, bus-stops, garbage dumps, you name it, they have. Most of the city bus shelters in Indian cities are on footpaths. Most of them even use it as a permanent address for business by placing mobile tiffin centres, pan shops, puncture repairing shops, etc. For old people, it becomes very difficult and unsafe if they have to walk on the road as footpaths hardly exist. It does not matter if only a few people per day take it but the footpath is an entitlement of all citizens. They have to be kept clean, stumble-free and devoid of any obstructions.
Residents living in the cities say that the footpath is direly needed. However, with no walkways, pedestrians end up walking on drain covers, which are dangerously uneven. It’s just that, the footpaths are less for man and more for manholes. They become the street dwellers’ accommodation, the street vendors’ outlet, the public garbage dumping ground and a lot more except a pedestrian’s freeway. Pedestrian footpaths in most parts of the city are under illegal occupation by shopkeepers and vendors or are used as a parking area for vehicles by people visiting commercial establishments. Corporation officials say that encroachment eviction drives are held periodically but encroachers return quickly. Why?
One of the main reasons for pedestrian casualties is the encroachment of footpaths by not only commercial establishments and hawkers, but also by motorists. There are incidents that two-wheelers ride on footpath during peak traffic on roads and most of the two-wheelers who ride on footpath disrupt those walking on the pavement with the horn.
Pedestrians are losing space on roads and on-street parking often takes precedence over pedestrian infrastructure like paved sidewalks. The absence of adequate numbers of public toilets facilities in Indian cities is also creating public urinal problems. Pedestrians have no choice but to walk on the road, thereby disrupting traffic flow. If we look at the percentage of fatalities in accidents, pedestrians come first, followed by two-wheeler riders. On the road, the right of the pedestrian should come first.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday paid tributes to India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his 129th birth anniversary.
Nehru was born to Motilal Nehru and Swaroop Rani on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and his birthday is celebrated as Children’s Day. He remained in office until his death in 1964.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee, former vice president Hamid Ansari, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Gandhi paid their respects to Nehru at Shantivan.
“Remembering Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, on his birth anniversary,” read a post on the official Twitter handle of the President Kovind.
Remembering Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, on his birth anniversary #PresidentKovind
Modi recalled Nehru’s contribution in India’s freedom struggle and during his tenure as Prime Minister.
“Remembering our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary. We recall his contribution to our freedom struggle and during his tenure as Prime Minister,” he tweeted.
Remembering our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary. We recall his contribution to our freedom struggle and during his tenure as Prime Minister.
Tricolour balloons were released amid playing of bands and singing of patriotic songs by school children at Nehru’s memorial Shantivan.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan led parliamentarians in paying tributes to the first Prime Minister at the Central Hall of Parliament.
Besides Mahajan, senior leaders L K Advani, Sonia Gandhi, Gulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Union minister Vijay Goel, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda among others paid homage to Nehru.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed self-styled preacher Daati Maharaj’s plea for review of its decision transferring the probe in the rape case against him to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao passed the order on Maharaj’s plea seeking review of the court’s October 3 order.
The court had on October 3 transferred the probe to the CBI from the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch on the plea of woman who had alleged she was sexually assaulted by the preacher.
The high court had said that the manner in which the probe was carried out by police “casts a shadow on the investigation”.
The bench had said the police did not arrest the accused in the case even after recording the complainant’s statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Daati on November 2 had told the high court that the CBI has lodged a fresh FIR in the matter against followed norms.
The Delhi Police, represented by additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose, had told the bench that its probe into the case was not partisan as alleged by the victim and added that the preacher was interrogated eight times during the investigation.
Police, however, had said that it was not challenging the transfer of probe to the CBI.
After hearing all the sides, the bench had reserved its order on Daati’s plea for review of the court’s October 3 decision.
The plea against the October 3 order was initially filed in the Supreme Court which had asked the self-styled preacher to approach the high court with his grievance.
The CBI had earlier submitted before the high court its status report of the probe in a sealed cover. The agency had registered a case of rape and unnatural sex against Daati on October 26.
The complainant’s plea was earlier being heard by a single judge bench of the high court, but was transferred to the division bench after a PIL on the issue was filed.
A complaint was filed against Daati Madan Lal alias Daati Maharaj on June 7 and an FIR was registered on June 11. On June 22, police questioned the accused, who has been charged with rape of a disciple at his ashrams in Delhi and Rajasthan.
The accused has claimed that he was being framed.
The complainant has filed the case against the preacher, his three brothers and a woman at Fatehpur Beri police station in South Delhi. The case was later transferred to the crime branch.
The complaint said the FIR against him has been registered for alleged heinous offences of rape, unnatural sex, molestation and common intention under the IPC.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stay its September 28 verdict allowing entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked a lawyer, who was seeking stay on its Sabarimala verdict, to wait till January 22 when the Constitution bench will hear review petitions.
The matter was mentioned by lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara, who has filed the review on behalf of the National Ayyappa Devotees(Women’s) Association.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who is known for his strong stand against the North Indians migrating from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and working in Mumbai, has accepted the invitation for an event being organised by the Uttar Bhartiya Mahapanchayat Sangh, a representative body of North Indians. Ahead of the elections, this move gives the impression of being one of his political tactics to mend ways with the North Indian community.
The Uttar Bhartiya Mahapanchayat Sangh is a forum which claims to work for the welfare of the North Indians living in Mumbai, had in the last month invited Thackeray for its annual meeting that is scheduled to take place on December 2 in suburban Kandivali, Mumbai, and share his views on the North Indian community people working in Mumbai. On Monday, MNS spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande confirmed the acceptance on Twitter. He tweeted, “Rajsaheb has accepted the invitation. He will be present in the December 2 meeting at Kandivali.”
In a conversation with AV, MNS leader and spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande asserted, “The people who are accusing MNS for taking a U-turn for electoral benefits, I wonder and also want to ask them if they already know or have presumed themselves what Raj Thackeray will be addressing on the event! Let December 2 come and all these doubts will get their answers.”
मा.राजसाहेबांनी उत्तर भारतीय मंच ने दिलेले आमंत्रण स्वीकारले असून दिनांक 2 डिसेंबर 2018 रोजी हा कार्यक्रम कांदिवली येथे होणार आहे
He further expressed, “The North Indians whose third and fourth generations are staying in Maharashtra and those who have immense love for the Marathi language, we are always by their side. If PM Modi can visit Pakistan to wish former PM Nawaz Sharif on his birthday and former President Pranab Mukherjee can attend RSS event, I wonder why people are making a fuss about MNS attending this event.”
However, this surprising move is believed to have taken place after Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray’s announcement to visit Ayodhya on November 25. As it is quite known that over a decade ago, Thackeray had shot to infamy for his tirades against the North Indian community and since then, he has kept his anti-North Indian stand consistent. Also, in the past, the MNS, which advocates ‘sons-of-the-soil’ theory, had launched a series of agitations against the North Indians living in the financial capital. Now, in the wake of the upcoming elections, Thackeray advocates his need to expresses his thought on North Indian community migrating to Mumbai.
BJP chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari chose not to comment saying that these are irrelevant issues while Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande also refrained from commenting on the same.
As an opposition party, Congress played the role of an opportunist as the state president Sanjay Nirupam left no stones unturned to take a dig on Thackeray over his decision to accept the invitation calling it a political gimmick and also demanded an apology saying, “He was the person who asked that North Indians be beaten in Mumbai. Now he is attending the meeting. He should first apologise to the community.” However, the party leaders have also welcomed Thackeray’s decision.
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Dr. Raju Waghmare said, “Pre-election period changes a lot of equations. With changing time and situation, one’s political views change. Though accepting an invitation doesn’t reveal what MNS chief is going to say in the particular event, but if the change in MNS’s viewpoints is on a positive side, we have to welcome it. If there is a voluntary change in someone, there’s no point taking that thing negatively.”
Many eyebrows have been raised on Raj Thackeray’s step to meet the North Indian community. Nonetheless, December 2 meeting has now created a curiosity among various political parties considering the revelation of the bona fide agenda behind this move by the MNS chief.
BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar stated, “I don’t think that MNS is supporting the North Indians but on the eve of the election, MNS might have accepted the invitation. We will prefer to wait for his speech. Let’s see what he addresses in the event first before saying anything further on his issue.”
With the flops and miserable rejection by the people of Maharashtra, finally, Raj Thackeray has realised the importance of the North Indian population of the state.
After targeting the migrant population in Mumbai, since the formation of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) 12 years ago, now he would be addressing the North Indian population for the first time on December 2. The MNS had objected to the instances of non-vegetarian Marathi families not being allowed to buy a flat in the residential societies dominated and constructed by the Jains. Well, Raj Thackeray has opened communication doors with the North Indians to remain in the electoral politics but he was never dishonest in putting his apprehension wide open and loud. Raj always said that the numbers of migrants from outside the state of Maharashtra are mostly Biharis and UPites. He went on to explain that Nitish Kumar had jailed many criminals immediately after becoming the Chief Minister, keeping in mind the increase in the number of perpetrators in Bihar. He further explained that many of these perpetrators have escaped and migrated. He claims that most criminals who are in police custody in Maharashtra or the ones who have been jailed in Maharashtra are Biharis and UPites. So, seeing it as a risk to the safety of Maharashtra state, he has his views about these people. He may have extreme views, but one thing commendable about him is that he owns up to what he has said. He is bold and undeniably a great orator.
I am born here in Mumbai; I have many Bihari as well as UPites friends and have been living in Mumbai for many years. It’s not only Biharis and UPites but the South Indians too faced discernment from these Marathi political parties, who are committed to making Maharashtra of its own people. This was very much prevalent during Bal Thackrey’s heydays. It’s actually pointless in discussing something that disturbs the public harmony. But blaming Raj would not be fair; what we need to focus on right now is his message to the North Indians on December 2. Most of the media portray Raj Thackeray wrongly — what he says in Marathi is different from what is translated in Hindi and English. His basic question is that “if so much of population from UP and Bihar is flowing into Mumbai and Maharashtra, then where should citizens of the land of Maharashtra go? Why can’t politicians of UP and Bihar develop their own states and avoid congestion and burden on other cities including Mumbai? His emphasis is always on politicians in UP and Bihar to develop their own state and not burden the other states. There have been a similar uproar from Delhi, Bangalore, Assam, Gujarat, Punjab, Tamil Nadu against the migrants of UP and Bihar. For that matter, even UP people don’t like Biharis. And even Western UP doesn’t like Eastern UP people.
Earlier, Raj took up the point that the Railways Recruitment Advertisement was not published in Maharashtra by Lalu Yadav and the fraud that was done in Railway Recruitment. He brought to the notice of local Maharashtra that how they were deprived of rightful opportunities. Probably his main concern is protecting the Marathi culture. A language is a part of culture and North Indians have a tendency to impose Hindi language saying it is the Rashtra Bhasha (National Language) that is what Junior Thackeray always says in his speeches. Whereas, Gujaratis, Marwaris, Sindhis, Punjabis, Kannadigas, Tamilians, Malayalis, and Bengalis pick up Marathi language and speak it but UP and Biharis, even if they have stayed in Maharashtra for 50 years, don’t speak much in Marathi.
As we all know that each state has its distinct identity. Maharashtra has its own identity but this is one capital city where people from all the states have equally contributed, rather dominated every sector. Raj thinks the imposition of too much Hindi is a loss of the culture of the state. He took up the cause against the hawkers who crouch anywhere. MNS believes that there is no place to walk on Mumbai footpaths and the citizens from UP and Bihar just come and squat, slowly converts it into a shop and then grabs the land. He has no issues with Marathi hawkers doing so as it’s to be believed that the state belongs to them. This is what happened in Gujarat — many Biharis were hushed out from the state. They were brutalised by the localities. The Bihari migrants and labourers are an inevitable part of the industry but they are not much respected due to their conduct. Political parties like Shiv Sena and MNS have their focus on Marathi Manoos because they are the voters of these parties; if they don’t show concern, they will lose voters. In case of MNS, since its inception, their agenda is to shun the North Indians out of state and give justice, job, and opportunities to the son of the soil. MNS’s inconsistency in taking up this issue gave them miserable fate in the Lok Sabha elections.
On a daily basis, there are thousands of migrants from UP and Bihar and other places who land in Mumbai; imagine the encroachment, mess, and burden on the city. If the UP and Bihar governments had created employment opportunities, then the other four metropolitan citizens would not be hampered. Not only UP or Bihar people, but he also poses attacks on Gujarat too. He spoke against the Bullet Train because the city needs basic infrastructure, which is not there. Most of the Mumbaikar supported this opinion. Apart from migrants, he had issues with Aazan. Though he said that he doesn’t hate the Muslims and in fact, he has a huge Muslim support also within Maharashtra. What he is against is the LOUDSPEAKERS, which play extremely loudly five times a day all 365 days which is almost 1,800 times year. Many also support this view but nobody has the guts to speak. Only he has the guts. He also spoke against the bullying behaviour on the power of money by Gujarati people. Gujarati people have a lot of money because they have been Business Community/traders from the beginning due to their Ahimsa philosophy and not participating in the war culture. If you listen to Raj Thackrey, he picks up all these issues minutely and makes his point clear. Perhaps, this is the reason he is criticised by most of the outsiders. In such circumstances, Raj Thackeray should be taken optimistically and it will be good for the entire country. In order to win an election in India, the candidate must come up with his own agenda for luring people on his side. It creates hope in them that the situation will change after voting for such a person. As a politician, if he is doing what is expected from him, I will call it a good move but will expect some consistency in his actions and some considerations too. Let’s see, by meeting the North Indians in Mumbai, how his fate changes for 2019.
(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)
As many as 12 people were killed and five others received injuries in separate accidents on railway tracks in the city and its neighbouring areas on Monday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) said on Tuesday.
A railway official said the casualties were due to people being run over by moving train while crossing tracks, falling from overcrowded local trains, slipping in the gap between train and platform, and also committing suicide.
Three people each were killed on railway tracks in the neighbouring Thane district and its Kalyan town on Monday, while two persons died in Mumbai’s Wadala area, the GRP said in its report of deaths and injuries compiled daily.
Besides, one person each died on tracks in Kurla, Mumbai Central and Bandra areas of the megacity, and Dombivali town of Thane, it said, adding that all the deceased were men.
Although suburban railway is considered as the lifeline of Mumbai, it is increasingly becoming a ‘death trap’ for commuters as 3,014 people lost their lives in accidents on rail tracks in the city in 2017, the GRP had said in reply to an RTI query earlier this year.
National Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Monday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government saying that it failed to formulate right policies for farmers.
Addressing a gathering here, Pawar said that in spite of discussing the issues being faced by the farmers, Ram temple has become the priority of the ruling dispensation.
He even accused the central government of diverting people’s attention. “Be it loan waiver or other policies, this government failed in formulating right policies for farmers. Today farmers’ problems are not being discussed, Ram temple is being discussed. This government has worked towards diverting people’s attention. We have to be aware of this,” he said.
Pawar had earlier targetted the Prime Minister Modi government over the Rafale deal signed between India and France.
