Modi can get through 2019 but 2024 will be a distant dream

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November 13, 2018

Politics is a tricky wicket, where the ball spins squarely both the sides and it is up to the capability of the batsman to tackle the situation. Just like that the ups and downs, fortunes in politics must be tackled in a clever way. The coalition government in the Indian political scene had a bad track record so far. At present, the united opposition derails the ruling BJP in by-polls and that is news. Fourteen by-polls and one message is a clear indication for the ruling party to make up the lost time and make amends as early as possible and repair the damages. Still, there is sufficient time to make up lotus to bloom again.

Landslide victories are ruled out as no party is having a firm grip on voters. Anyway, it is time to wake up and play a positive role in main issues concerning the people. Oil price rise connected to the rise in prices of various commodities is to be controlled to make a forceful comeback. Public memory is short and so plays a pivotal role and brings back the lost glory. The NDA ministers should be asked to quit the post and go to the grass root level to address the problems of people in a swift action. It is also time to take the coalition partners like AIADMK into confidence and offer them ministerial posts. Shiv Sena was taught a lesson for showing over enthusiasm and it is time to show the opposition where the ruling party stands in the turnaround in the Indian political scene.

The by-poll results are a major setback for the BJP. The continued poor performance of the BJP, particularly in UP, sends strong signals. The Congress, on the other hand, has improved considerably in these by-elections. The polls in the four states later this year are certain to be tough for the BJP. Whenever the opposition parties united, there is a problem to the ruling party. Basic issue before the ruling party at the centre is to look into the ground realities, to keep the promises made and to lower the present price rise of petrol and diesel.

An important development in this time by-election, most discouraging also, is the malfunctioning of EVMs. While the indispensability of EVMs can hardly be over-emphasised, given the 2019 poll schedule, the authorities concerned, particularly the Election Commission, should come out with an immediate action plan to get everything set Alright in just Right Time. All by-poll results once again confirm that no individual party can win against BJP independently even in their own State.

From the by-poll results, it is now becoming clear that BJP is slowly losing peoples’ support. Modi should break his silence on various issues concerning the country. Prime Minister Modi has to act more prudent and his actions should be timely. In 2019 elections, BJP may not enjoy as much majority as they are having today. In UP, Amit Shah is sure of getting all seats in 2019. But the trend shows otherwise. Whatever our country requires is a healthy opposition for the ruling party. Can we have it? Possibly yes! Let us wait and see whether good days are going to come or not for the Indian people.

Pleased to learn that the Marxist Party has won the Kerala by-election by a huge margin. Chengannur is a Christian and upper-class Hindu dominated assembly which has been historically held by Congress. A Marxist win there is a recognition by the Kerala people to Pinarayi Vijayan’s popular policies and his firm stand against fascism. Thus, there is a clear indication of changing the trend and no individual party can rule the roost as in the past. Coalition politics taking shape after the Karnataka election results and now it continued in the by-poll results as well. The saving grace for BJP was the Palghar win over Sena. BJP needs to work for the welfare of the people in the remaining months to gain the confidence of the people and repose the faith the voters gave them in the 2014 elections. It is indeed a now or never situation. The parliamentary election in 2019 will have a pressure cooker situation for all political parties. Despite setbacks, Modi’s leadership is having a better chance. But it is too early to predict what will happen in the year 2024.

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

Marvel legend, Spider-Man creator Stan Lee dies at 95

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Afternoon Voice

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November 13, 2018

Stan Lee, the man credited with bringing in a new renaissance in comic books with his many flawed, relatable superheroes such as Spider-Man and Iron Man, has died after a lifetime spent in redrawing the boundaries of the literary genre.

Lee, who heralded a new pop culture in the US in early ’60s with his complex and often morally twisted superhero characters, died early on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, Lee introduced dozens of characters in collaboration with artists such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko during his stint at Marvel Comics.

In his collaboration with Kirby, Lee co-created the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and the X-Men, characters who formed an instant connection with the young audiences due to their social relevance.

It was through his uncle, Robbie Solomon, that Lee started his career at the age of 17. He became an assistant at Timely Comics, which eventually became Marvel.

He adopted the pseudonym “Stan Lee” and started writing comic books. His first credit as a writer was a Captain America story in 1941.

When Timely editor Joe Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby departed from the company in 1941, Lee was made interim editor by publisher Martin Goodman.

He served in the United States Army after enlisting in early 1942. He was a member of the Signal Corps, repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment.

Seeing the rise of DC comics, a breath of fresh air in the world of comics, Goodman asked Lee to introduce a new superhero team. The result was Fantastic Four that he created in collaboration with Kirby.

The two afterwards would work on a number of characters. Their process was that Lee would come up with a short plot outline and Kirby then would design and illustrate a comic based on a mixture of that synopsis and his own ideas. Lee would return to fill in the dialogue and captions.

He also worked with artist Everett, creating Daredevil. Through his work with Ditko, Lee introduced the world to Doctor Strange and Marvel’s most successful character, Spider-Man.

All these characters have now been turned into major film franchises that have earned Marvel billions of dollars in profits.

Lee left Marvel in 1972, but retained the title of chairman emeritus throughout his life. His fame and influence as the face of Marvel, even in his nonagenarian years, remained considerable.

Lee appeared in cameos in several Marvel movies, where he is often shown avoiding falling on concrete, watering his lawn, delivering the mail, crashing a wedding, playing a security guard or driving a school bus.

He leaves behind his daughter JC and younger brother Larry Lieber, a writer and artist for Marvel. Another daughter, Jan, died in infancy. His wife, Joan, was a hat model whom he married in 1947. She died in July 2017.

“J.C. Lee and all of Stan Lee’s friends and colleagues want to thank all of his fans and well-wishers for their kind words and condolences,” a family statement read.

“Stan was an icon in his field. His fans loved him and his desire to interact with them. He loved his fans and treated them with the same respect and love they gave him,” it added.

The past few years were tumultuous for Lee. He filed a lawsuit against his company POW entertainment and later abruptly dropped it.

Earlier this year, a report in The Hollywood Reporter claimed that the nonagenarian was being subjected to elderly abuse by his daughter JC. It also said Keya Morgan, a memorabilia collector, was isolating Lee from his trusted friends and associates following his wife’s death to get access to his wealth, estimated to be worth $50 million.

Dabholkar case: CBI invokes terror charges against accused

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Afternoon Voice

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November 13, 2018

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has invoked UAPA sections pertaining to acts of terror against the accused arrested in connection with the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

The CBI made a submission to this effect before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) S M A Sayyad here in Maharashtra on Monday.

“The central probing agency told the court that it has invoked sections 15 and 16 (acts of terror) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against the accused persons,” public prosecutor Vijaykumar Dhakane said.

So far, six people, including Hindu Janajagruti Samiti member and ENT surgeon Virendrasinh Tawde, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the killing of Dabholkar.

The CBI had earlier filed a charge sheet against Tawde in 2016 under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder), among other charges.

The 90-day period for filing the supplementary charge sheet against the other five accused arrested a few months back is getting over on November 18, Dhakane said.

“Now, since the UAPA sections have been invoked, the CBI will get an extension of another 90 days to file the charge sheet against the accused in the case,” he said.

According to the CBI, Andure and Kalaskar had allegedly shot Dabholkar on August 20, 2013 when he was on his morning walk on the Omkareshwar bridge in Pune.

The CBI had earlier claimed that Tawde was the “mastermind” of the conspiracy to kill Dabholkar and veteran CPI leader and rationalist Govind Pansare.

Pansare was shot at by unidentified assailants at Kolhapur in Maharashtra on February 16, 2015. He died of his injuries four days later.

Besides Andure, Kalaskar and Tawde, the CBI had arrested Rajesh Bangera and Amol Kale and Amit Digvekar in connection with the Dabholkar killing case.

Bangera and Kale are also accused in the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.

BJP MLA Anil Gote announces resignation from Assembly

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Afternoon Voice

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November 13, 2018

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Anil Gote has announced his resignation as member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as well as from the BJP, alleging that “criminals” were being inducted into the party.

Gote, who represents the Dhule Assembly seat in Maharashtra, said on Monday that he will tender his resignation next week.

Last month, another BJP legislator had resigned as member of the state Assembly and from the party.

Gote has been opposing induction of some leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) into the BJP.

“I am going to tender my resignation to the Assembly Speaker on November 19, first day of the state legislature’s winter session, and also quit the party,” he said.

“Despite my opposition, senior party leaders have been inducting people with criminal background into the BJP ahead of Dhule Municipal Corporation election,” Gote said.

If these people get elected, they will “ruin” Dhule city with their corrupt practices, he claimed.

He also said that he will contest the mayoral election in the Dhule civic body next month.

Gote had won the 2009 Assembly election as an Independent and joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 state polls.

He was arrested earlier in connection with the counterfeit stamp paper scam involving kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi, and is now out on bail.

Last month, BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh, a staunch proponent of separate Vidarbha state, had resigned as member of the Assembly and from the party’s primary membership.

He was an MLA from Katol constituency in Nagpur district.

Fresh pleas on Sabarimala will be heard after review petitions decided: SC

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Afternoon Voice

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November 13, 2018

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that fresh pleas relating to the Sabarimala Temple will be heard only after it decides the earlier petitions seeking review of the judgement allowing entry of women of all age groups into the shrine in Kerala.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that a five-judge bench is scheduled to hear in chamber the review petitions at 3 pm today.

“Writ petitions will be heard after the orders in the review petitions,” the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said while hearing the three fresh petitions filed by G Vijaya Kumar, S Jaya Rajkumar and Shailaja Vijayan challenging its September 28 verdict.

If the apex court decides to review the verdict then three fresh petitions will be heard along with review petitions.

If the court rejects review petitions then fresh petitions will be heard independently on merits.

A batch of 48 petitions seeking review of the judgement would be taken up for consideration in-chamber by a bench of Chief Justice Gogoi and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.

On September 28, a five-judge constitution bench headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala Temple saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination.

Rakesh Asthana case: Delhi HC dismisses bail plea of middleman Manoj Prasad

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Afternoon Voice

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November 13, 2018

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of middleman Manoj Prasad in a bribery case allegedly involving CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

Justice Najmi Waziri denied the relief to Prasad, saying the allegations against him were serious in nature.

Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee and Advocate Rajdipa Behura, appearing for the CBI, opposed the bail plea on the grounds that investigation was at a crucial stage and Prasad’s case was different from that of other accused.

Bollywood ‘Creating Religious Fuss’ for Big Hits?

By

Moumita Mukherjee

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November 12, 2018

After the rigmarole around movies like ‘Padmaavat’ and ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’, Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan starrer ‘Kedarnath’ too has found itself in the pool of controversy or you may call it a political controversy. While a senior BJP leader demanded a ban on “Kedarnath” alleging that the movie, which is set against the backdrop of a catastrophic deluge that hit the Himalayan shrine in 2013, hurts the sentiments of Hindus and promotes Love Jihad, Congress too objected to a kissing scene in the movie stating that violates the belief of the Hindus.

While a large part of the society is going with the trend and blaming the movie for hurting the religious belief, the other part beliefs such protests are unnecessary and the objectors are the one who craves to get into the limelight. With these, we are missing out on what might be the approach of the moviemakers? Can we rule out the possibility that all these are scripted and being used as a marketing tool for creating the much-needed buzz before the release? Yes, there are many who’ve raised this question too while posing a doubt whether creating controversy has become a new marketing tool!

Actor and Filmmaker Anant Mahadevan expressed, “These days it is difficult to believe anything at the face value as there is fake news goes going hand in hand along with the real news. So according to me, this Kedarnath controversy will just blow over as it always does in most of the cases. I suggest one shouldn’t take Hindi films seriously because there are more important issues occurring which are to be taken care of.”

Talking about a film being attacked or a film hurting sentiments of the audience, he said, “All these have become so common like a joke now! I feel that this kind of topics should be ignored and it will die naturally.”

On Saturday, Uttarakhand BJP’s media relations team member Ajendra Ajay wrote to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman Prasoon Joshi arguing that despite being picturising one of the worst human tragedies, Abhishek Kapoor directed ‘Kedarnath’ is all about making fun of and disrespecting the Hindu sentiments. Besides that, a kissing scene and the poster of the movie that read ‘Love is a Pilgrimage’ too received his criticism; as per Ajay, these are attacks on the religion and the place which is the holy epitome of the Hindus. He also accused the yet to release film for promoting Love Jihad as the love story develops around a Muslim porter and a Hindu pilgrim. And with a much-expected move, Producer Ronnie Screwvala and Director Abhishek Kapoor on Monday denied the presence of any offensive content in their upcoming release.

“People watch teasers and form an opinion. Let the film open up a bit, let them watch the film. Once they see it they’ll realise there’s nothing in it which is offensive. The film has lots of love and faith. I don’t think people will be disappointed,” Screwvala said.

“Kedarnath” features Sushant Singh Rajput and marks the debut of Sara Ali Khan. It is scheduled to be released on December 7.

Author Roxy Arora asserted, “It is often observed that the public choose to pick up on any controversial thing — many people without knowing the actual scenario, just jump on to the conclusions and start giving expert advice. I really don’t think that the filmmakers create such outrage deliberately as they also face many issues like their monetary loss, movie’s release date gets delayed, actors get trolled, and they get life threats which are not jokes! Even if they create controversy on purpose, if the film is not worth it, it will not work at the Box Office.”

Whatsoever, all these are no new to the Bollywood audience. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed and Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Shahid Kapoor starrer Bollywood epic Padmaavat had prompted months of protests across India. While the film was the story of 14th Century Muslim emperor Alauddin Khilji’s attack on a kingdom after he was smitten by the beauty of its queen Padmavati, who belonged to the Hindu Rajput caste. Various Hindu groups and Rajput caste organisations allege that the movie includes an intimate scene in which the Muslim king dreams of becoming intimate with the Hindu queen. Episodes of controversy managed to grab the headlines for days, the movie shattered worldwide Box office records hitting Rs 400 crore mark, and we didn’t hear any protest from the same group any further.

What do all these indicate? Are we really into the era where the entertainment industry has started to create controversy around their ventures to gain enough reach and for that, they are not hesitant to use the most sensitive issue of a society? What if the guesswork by the netizens gets proved to be true? While marketing liberty and creative liberty are unquestionable but it’s not too late when the creative part of the industry should come up with new ideas to reach audiences rather than using religious and caste sentiments as their marketing tool.

BMC hands over possession of land for Thackeray memorial

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Afternoon Voice

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November 12, 2018

Two years after the plan to build a memorial to Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray was announced, the Mumbai civic body has handed over the possession of the land earmarked for it to the trust which will construct the structure.

The land selected for the proposed memorial, announced in November 2016, currently houses the bungalow of Mumbai mayor located near Shivaji Park in Dadar, central Mumbai.

According to a civic official, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) handed over the possession of the land to the Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Public Trust on last Tuesday.

“Built in 1928 in an area spread over four acres, the possession of mayor’s bungalow has been officially handed over to the trust,” said Parag Masurkar, assistant municipal commissioner (estate department), BMC.

“Now physical possession will start as and when the current mayor vacates his official residence and we get further instructions,” he said.

“The plot, ad measuring 11,500 sq metre, has been handed over to the trust on a nominal lease of Re 1 per annum for 30 years,” he said.

Another official said as Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar is expected to vacate his official residence by the end of this year, the trust may organise the ground-breaking ceremony at the site on January 23, 2019, the birth anniversary of the late Sena founder.

The BMC bought the sprawling bungalow in 1962 for use as the official residence of mayor and B P Devgi was the first mayor to occupy it.

The official added, “All administrative decisions have been taken to shift mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar to a bungalow built in the premises of the zoo at Byculla in South Mumbai.”

Shivaji Park holds an important place in the history of the Shiv Sena, founded by Thackeray in 1966.

The Sena patriarch held the first rally of his party at Shivaji Park. He also addressed the party’s annual Dussehra rally at the iconic ground year after year.

Now, no election: Sharad Pawar on contesting 2019 Lok Sabha polls

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Afternoon Voice

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November 12, 2018

“Now no election” was Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s one-line reply on being asked whether he would consider contesting next year’s Lok Sabha polls from Pune.

Pawar and former Tripura governor Srinivas Patil were being interviewed by Sudhir Gadgil at a function here Sunday to mark the launch of “Pune Ekekali”, a coffee-table book on Maharashtra’s second-largest city.

The question came up after Pawar told the gathering about his long association with Pune, including having won polls for four consecutive years while studying in a local college.

“Perhaps, the elections fought and won in college were the foundation of my 52 years of electoral politics in Parliament and the (Maharashtra) Assembly,” the NCP chief said.

It was then that Gadgil asked the former Union agriculture minister if he would consider contesting next year’s general election from Pune since he had such a long association with the city.

“Now no election,” Pawar replied.

Addressing the function, the former Maharashtra chief minister also hailed acclaimed engineer Narhar Ganpat Pawar, who is credited with designing several landmark buildings of Pune.

“Narhar Ganpat Pawar built several iconic buildings, including that of the Sir Parashurambhau College (SP College at Sadashiv Peth in Pune). However, unfortunately, many Punekars do not know about his contribution,” Pawar rued.

Maharashtra CM, state Congress chief condole demise of Ananth Kumar

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Afternoon Voice

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November 12, 2018

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state Congress president Ashok Chavan paid tributes to Union minister Ananth Kumar, who died in Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday.

Fadnavis said he was “shocked and deeply pained” by Kumar’s “untimely” demise.

“His contribution towards society, service to the people will be remembered forever. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, followers, karyakarta,” the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said in a tweet.Senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan also took to the micro-blogging site to express grief over Kumar’s death.

“Deeply saddened by the passing of Union Minister, Shri Ananth Kumarji. My condolences to his family & friends. May his soul rest in peace,” the former chief minister of Maharashtra tweeted.

Kumar, 59, a six-time parliamentarian, died at a private hospital in Bengaluru after battling lung cancer for several months, hospital authorities said.

He is survived by wife and two daughters.