Quintessential Gandhian: Congress hails Shastri's contribution on his birth anniversary 2
The Congress paid rich tributes to former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birth anniversary on Monday, with Rahul Gandhi saying that he empowered farmers and soldiers with his ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ slogan.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge paid floral tributes at the memorial of the former prime minister at the Vijay Ghat here.
In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said, ”From land reforms to laying the foundation of the milk and green revolution, from abolishing the third class in railways to providing seats for women in buses, from the 1965 war to serving the country with Gandhian ideas—our ideal—we remember the extraordinary contribution of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri ji.” ”The simplicity of Shastri ji’s life and the richness of his thoughts will always be inspirational for us,” he said.
“देश की तरक्की के लिए हमें आपस में लड़ने के बजाए गरीबी, बीमारी और अज्ञानता से लड़ना होगा”
~ लाल बहादुर शास्त्री
भूमि सुधार से लेकर दुग्ध व हरित क्रांति की नींव रखने तक, रेलवे में थर्ड क्लास को ख़त्म करने से लेकर बसों में महिलाओं के लिए सीट का प्रावधान देने तक, 1965 की जंग से… pic.twitter.com/T050t6LYST
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh hailed Shastri as the ”quintessential Gandhian”. ”He (Shastri) represented the noblest values in public life. His tenure as Prime Minister was brief but very consequential. He took over at a most critical juncture and guided the country firmly and resolutely, especially in matters of defence and agriculture immortalised by his call to the nation — Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. C.P. Srivastava’s biography remains the best account of his life,” Ramesh said on X.
Lal Bahadur Shastri whose birthday also we celebrate today was the quintessential Gandhian. He represented the noblest values in public life. His tenure as Prime Minister was brief but very consequential. He took over at a most critical juncture and guided the country firmly and… pic.twitter.com/bKA1RbXTJx
The Congress, in a post on X, said, ”We pay our sincere tribute to India’s second PM and Bharat Ratna awardee, Lal Bahadur Shastri.” ”A man of simplicity, he gave us the iconic slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan!’. For his utmost dedication to the nation, we honour his legacy,” the party said.
In another post, Kharge also recalled the contribution of former party chief K Kamraj on his death anniversary.
”Revered by the people of Tamil Nadu for his social welfare schemes, we pay our tribute to a great son of India, K Kamarajar. ”One of the tallest leaders of the Independence movement, Former Congress President and Bharat Ratna recipient, Kamaraj championed the cause of social justice, for he was the first one to launch the Mid Day Meal scheme, a catalyst to educate our disadvantaged,” Kharge said.
High levels of hypertension result every fourth death due to heart disease 4
According to the shocking revelation of BMC’s birth and death registration data, 25% of the deaths registered in the Mumbai Metropolitan region in 2022 were due to heart disease and hypertension. The city had registered 94,500 deaths in 2022. Heart problems are usually the leading cause for deaths in the city. In 2022, roughly three Mumbaikars succumbed to heart-related complications every hour in 2022, according to the BMC data.
The officials urged Mumbaikars to adopt healthy habits. The survey conducted in 2021 among citizens aged 18 to 69 years found that 34% had high blood pressure and 19% had diabetes. Nine out of every 10 Mumbaikars eat less fruits and vegetables than required. For early detection and treatment of heart diseases, the BMC in August 2022 started screening centres in its various hospitals and has so far tested 2.5 lakh people above the age of 30 for blood pressure and diabetes.
The BMC’s door-to-door screening programme for hypertension has so far covered over 10 lakh people. While 68,000 were suspected to have hypertension in the house surveys and sent for further confirmation, only 9,600 were found to be actually suffering from it. One of the reasons for high levels of hypertension and subsequent heart disease could be excessive consumption of salt, said the civic health data. While the national average for daily consumption of salt is 8gm, an average Mumbaikar consumes 8.6gm daily.
The WHO recommends only 5 gm of salt consumption daily. To promote healthy lifestyle among Mumbaikars, the BMC has been providing dietary counselling which over 20,000 patients with high blood pressure and diabetes have received so far. A similar number have benefitted by participating in the 138 yoga centres started by the BMC in 2022.
Meanwhile, the annual deaths that registered a rise during the Covid pandemic years seemed to have decreased to the pre-Covid levels in 2022. The total deaths were 1.11 lakh and 1.08 lakh in 2020 and 2021 respectively, while it dropped to 94,550 in 2022 which is closer to the deaths in 2018 (92,041) and 2019 (90,339)
According to a civic official roughly 23,000 cardiovascular deaths in the city in 2022, around 17,000 were due to heart attacks. In Mumbai many deaths occurred due to cardiovascular diseases in 2022, revealed the civic health department.
Asian Games: Indian men's badminton team suffers big blow, HS Prannoy to miss historic final 6
Indian men’s badminton team faced a big blow just before their historic match for the first-ever gold medal at the Asian Games as in-form shutter HS Prannoy will miss the final after he suffered injury on Sunday, as per Olympics.com. Mithun Manjunathan has replaced the ace shutter in the men’s singles clash.
The India versus China men’s team badminton gold medal tie will begin at 2:30 PM IST. The Indian men’s badminton team on Saturday created history by defeating South Korea 3-2 in an exhilarating semifinal to enter the team events final for the first time at the Asian Games.
India were assured of a medal in this event and now they will aim for gold as they face China. Prannoy had a great game on Saturday where he took on South Korea’s Hyeokjin Jeon. The world championships bronze medallist was pretty deceptive in his approach and he scripted a fine comeback win of 18-21, 21-16, 21-19 against Hyeokjin Jeon.
Indian Team matches: Lakshya Sen vs Shi Yu Qi, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty vs Liang Weikeng / Wang Chang, Kidambi Srikanth vs Li Shifeng, Dhruv Kapila / Sai Pratheek vs Liu Yuchen / Ou Xuanyi, Mithun Manjunathan vs Weng Hongyang.
Centre notifies amendments in GST laws, to tax 28 pc on online gaming, casinos from today 8
The central government has notified the amendments in GST legislation passed by the Lok Sabha in August so as to impose a 28 per cent tax on online gaming, casinos, and horse racing. The amendments will come into effect as was earlier announced — from October 1. The amendments in the GST acts were made after they were proposed by the GST Council to make way to levy 28 per cent taxes on such items.
On August 11, the Lok Sabha, during its final session of the monsoon season, passed amendments to two Goods and Service Tax (GST) laws with a voice vote and minimal debate. These amendments relate to the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023. These provisions inserted into the law will deal with the liability to pay GST on the supply of online money gaming from foreign suppliers to Indian customers, along with measures for blocking access to any related information in case of non-compliance.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam had earlier said the move to impose taxes on such items would be reviewed after six months after it was implemented. The time frame for this would start from the time it is implemented, the Finance Minister had clarified. At a July 11 meeting, the GST Council decided to levy a uniform 28 per cent tax on full face value for online gaming, casinos and horse racing.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) was earlier constituted to look into the issues related to taxation on casinos, horse racing and online gaming. The GoM submitted its first report in June 2022 and it was placed before the GST Council in its 47th GST Council meeting wherein, it was decided that the GoM may relook into all the issues once again. The GoM submitted its report and it was placed before the recently held 50th GST Council meeting. The GoM, in its second report, recommended that since no consensus could be reached on whether the activities of online gaming, horse racing and casinos should be taxed at 28 per cent on the full-face value of bets placed and left it on the GST Council to decide.
The next meeting of the GST Council will be held on October 7 in New Delhi, though the agenda is not yet known.
Bharatiya Adivasi Party gears up to challenge BJP, Congress in Rajasthan's tribal belt 10
A new political outfit—formed by tribal leaders following a split in the Bharatiya Tribal Party—has thrown the gauntlet to the BJP and the Congress in Rajasthan’s tribal belt, forcing senior leaders of the two national parties to make frequent visits in their attempts to shore up support ahead of the assembly polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, among others, have made several visits to the tribal region in an attempt to solidify their parties’ support bases.
Assembly elections in Rajasthan are due later this year.
On Monday, Modi will visit Chittorgarh district, which has a sizable tribal population, and address a public rally.
Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Satish Poonia laid focus on the region and made regular visits to the tribal areas during his tenure as the BJP’s state unit chief. His successor CP Joshi, a Brahmin face, is the party’s Lok Sabha MP from Chittorgarh.
Banswara, Dungarpur and Pratapgarh are fully tribal districts while Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Sirohi, Pali are partly tribal areas in the state’s southeast.
The new outfit — the Bharatiya Adivasi Party — is managed by youngsters, similar to the Gujarat-based Bharatiya Tribal Party, which won two seats in the 2018 assembly elections.
Its formation caused a complete split in the Bharatiya Tribal Party, with most supporters and leaders jumping ship to the new outfit. The Bharatiya Adivasi Party’s formation was announced in September by MLAs Rajkumar Roat and Ramprasad Dindor — who won the 2018 polls on a Bharatiya Tribal Party ticket.
Only a few leaders, including state unit chief Velaram Ghoghra, have remained with the Bharatiya Tribal Party. The new outfit is already drawing huge crowds of tribal people to its meetings, reflecting its influence in the region.
Local BJP leaders also believe that the Bharatiya Adivasi Party is now the leading force in the tribal belt.
MLA Roat told PTI, ”We have formed a new organisation to work for the tribal people. We will be fielding Bharatiya Adivasi Party candidates from around 18 seats in the region.” He claimed the Bharatiya Tribal Party, which he and many others had joined ahead of the 2018 polls on the basis of its ideology — no longer worked along the expected lines, leading to the split.
”We will try to defeat both the Congress and the BJP,” he said.
Roat said if the Bharatiya Tribal Party does not interfere in the 17-18 seats where his party will contest, the Bharatiya Adivasi Party will not interfere in Gujarat.
”We appeal to all regional parties that (we) all have one objective and we should not fight among ourselves. We have asked the Bharatiya Tribal Party not to interfere in the Rajasthan assembly elections and we will not interfere in Gujarat,” he said. ”If they do not consider this, then the party with a clear vision and a strong ideology will move ahead. Our vision is clear and ideology strong and we will move ahead,” the legislator from Chorasi in Dungarpur added. The BJP also sees the Bharatiya Adivasi Party’s emergence as a challenge.
Leaders of the saffron party believe they cannot solely rely on anti-incumbency against the state government in this region where educated tribal youngsters associated with the Bharatiya Adivasi Party are proactive and mobilising people towards it. ”The Congress’ existence in the region is on the verge of extinction. The Bharatiya Adivasi Party is leading in the region while the Congress will finish third in the assembly elections (in the tribal belt),” local BJP leader and former minister Sushil Katara said.
The Bharatiya Adivasi Party is capitalising on the sentiments of the tribal people, he added. ”They are educated, active on social media and mobilising the tribal people in their favour,” Katara, who was defeated by Roat in the 2018 polls, said. Both Roat and Dindor had supported the Gehlot dispensation during the 2020 political crisis, caused by a rebellion by his then deputy Sachin Pilot. They had also supported the Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections. Ghoghra, the Bharatiya Tribal Party’s Rajasthan unit chief, however, said the tribal region did not gain anything from it.
He blamed the split in the party to the ”egoistic approach” of some leaders, apparently referring to Roat and Dindor and their supporters.
”They may have announced a new party but the Bharatiya Tribal Party will contest from more than 20 seats in Dungarpur, Banswara, Pratapgarh, Pali and Barmer,” he said.
He attributed the frequent visits to the region by Modi, Gandhi and other leaders to the impact of the Bharatiya Tribal Party.
”No matter how hard they try, the tribal people will not vote for them,” he said.
A Congress leader from Banswara district, however, said the state government worked to develop the region and said the party will have an edge in the elections. ”The chief minister recently cleared a proposal to prepare a detailed project report to develop Mangarh Dham, a sacred place for the tribal people in Banswara, as a national monument. He also announced development works at the ‘dham’ at a cost of Rs 100 crore in August,” the Congress leader said.
Local leaders said employment opportunities, infrastructure development and proper implementation of constitutional provisions with regard to the tribal population will be the key poll issues. Rajasthan’s tribal belt, comprising the Vagad and the Mewar regions, has 37 assembly seats. Of these, the BJP holds 20 and the Congress 11 while three seats were won by Independent candidates in the 2018 polls. One seat in Udaipur is vacant since Gulab Chand Kataria — the sitting MLA — was appointed as Assam governor earlier this year. Roat and Dindor are the two other members of the House from the region.
Jet fuel or ATF price on Sunday was hiked by 5 per cent—the fourth straight monthly increase since July, and commercial cooking gas (LPG) rates were raised by a steep Rs 209 per 19-kg cylinder, in line with the firming up seen in international benchmarks.
However, the price of domestic LPG—the one used in household kitchens for cooking purposes – remained unchanged at Rs 903 per 14.2-kg cylinder.
Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was increased by Rs 5,779.84 per kilolitre, or 5.1 per cent, in the national capital to Rs 118,199.17 per kl from Rs 112,419.33, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
The increase comes on back of the steepest-ever 14.1 per cent increase (Rs 13,911.07 per kl) effected on September 1, and a 8.5 per cent or Rs 7,728.38 per kl increase on August 1.
The fourth straight increase in prices of jet fuel, which makes up for 40 per cent of an airline’s operating cost, will increase the burden on already financially strained airlines.
On July 1, ATF price had gone up by 1.65 per cent or Rs 1,476.79 per kl. In four increases, ATF prices have gone up by a record Rs 29,391.08 per kl.
Alongside, oil firms raised the price of commercial LPG – the one used in establishments such as hotels and restaurants – by Rs 209.
A 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder will now cost Rs 1,731.50 in the national capital and Rs 1,684 in Mumbai.
The increase reserves most of the Rs 157.5 per cylinder cut in commercial LPG price effected on September 1 and Rs 100 cut effected from August 1.
Saudi contract price (CP), the benchmark used for pricing of LPG, has increased following a firming up trend in crude oil prices witnessed in last few weeks over supply concerns.
Oil companies, which had on August 30, cut domestic LPG rates by Rs 200 per 14.2-kg cylinder, did not change the price of 14.2-kg cylinders.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) revise cooking gas and ATF prices on the 1st of every month based on the average international price in the previous month.
Petrol and diesel prices continued to remain on freeze for a record 18th month in a row. Petrol costs Rs 96.72 per litre in the national capital and diesel comes for Rs 89.62 per litre.
State-owned fuel retailers are supposed to revise petrol and diesel prices daily, based on a 15-day rolling average of benchmark international fuel prices, but they haven’t done that since April 6, 2022.
Prices were last changed on May 22, when the government cut excise duty to give relief to consumers from a spike in retail rates that followed a surge in international oil prices.
I-T department attaches second property in benami assets case against Mukhtar Ansari 14
The Income Tax department has attached a second land property worth about Rs 10 crore in Lucknow as part of its ongoing alleged benami assets possession probe against gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his family.
The department’s Benami Assets Investigation wing, headquartered here, has codenamed the comprehensive probe Operation Panther. It has found that the ‘benamidar (in whose name a benami property is standing)’ of the 3,234-square feet plot at 13-C/3 in Lucknow’s Dalibagh area is a Ghazipur-based woman named Tanveer Sahar.
Official records accessed by PTI show that the department attached the plot under Section 24(3) read with Rule-5 of the Prohibition of Benami Properties Transaction Act on September 29 as it found that the linked people are ”very influential” and that the property is located in a prime location and can be disposed of clandestinely.
While the plot’s stamp valuation is just over Rs 76 lakh, official sources pegged its market value at about Rs 10 crore.
In April, the department attached the first property in the case against Ansari, located at Mauja Kapurpur NZA under Sadar tehsil in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district, and identified his alleged associate — Ganesh Dutt Mishra — as the benamidar of this about Rs 12 crore-worth land.
The taxman unearthed the latest asset (in Lucknow’s Dalibagh) after prolonged questioning of Mishra and records obtained from the Uttar Pradesh Police and the revenue department and financial documents from various agencies, including banks.
It found Mishra mortgaged the Dalibagh property as collateral for a Rs 1.60 crore loan taken from the Union Bank of India in 2014 by a company named Aaghaaz Project and Engineering Private Limited, whose shareholders were Ansari’s wife Afsan Ansari, son Abbas Ansari and father-in-law Jamshed Raza.
The property was released by the bank after the loan was paid back and it was transferred to the alleged benamidar Sahar in November 2020.
The tax department suspects that Sahar — the wife of Niyaz Ahmad and a resident of Mahanagar in Lucknow — is an associate/aide of the Ansari family.
The Income Tax department found that Sahar has never filed an Income Tax Return and did not have a sufficient source of income to purchase the Dalibagh plot that has been attached under the anti-benami law, apart from a few others.
The department concluded that Sahar was a ”dummy owner or benamidar” of the property. The tax officials also summoned her for questioning but she is yet to depose before them.
Income Tax department sources had earlier said that they were working to attach about 20-21 more alleged benami properties of Ansari’s family, estimated to have a market value of over Rs 100 crore, as part of Operation Panther.
Ansari, lodged in the Banda jail, faces 61 criminal cases in different states. He has so far been convicted in six.
A Varanasi court in June sentenced him to life in prison for the murder of Awadhesh Rai, Congress leader Ajay Rai’s brother, more than 30 years ago.
In April, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail by a court in Ghazipur under the Gangsters Act.
RBI extends deadline to exchange, deposit Rs 2,000 notes till Oct 7 16
The Reserve Bank on Saturday extended the special drive to withdraw Rs 2,000 bank notes from the system by another week, till October 7. The public has returned Rs 3.42 lakh crore of the Rs 2,000 notes since May 19, the RBI said in a statement posted on the last day of the drive to withdraw the notes.
These notes were either deposited or exchanged at bank branches till September 29, and represent 96 per cent of the outstanding currency in circulation as on May 19 this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.
The Rs 2,000 notes shall continue to be legal tender even after October 7, but can be exchanged only at RBI offices, the central bank said, adding that they cannot be deposited or exchanged at bank branches.
Ambadas Danve has OBC certificate despite being Maratha, alleges Wadettiwar; Sena (UBT) leader demands proof 18
Amid the ongoing reservation row in Maharashtra, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar on Saturday alleged his counterpart in the Legislative Council and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve has a Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificate despite being a Maratha.
Wadettiwar’s Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT), to which Danve belongs, are allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi as well as the opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Several outfits have been protesting over the past few weeks demanding that Marathas not be included in the OBC segment for reservation purposes.
Speaking to reporters here, the Congress leader alleged around 28 lakh people in Marathwada were secretly given OBC caste certificates for money.
Reacting to the allegation, Danve, however, clarified he does not have an OBC caste certificate and demanded Wadettiwar produce proof.
”All the allegations against me are completely false. If he (Wadettiwar) has such information, then he should present proof in front of everybody. It will bring the facts to the fore,” Danve said in a release.
Wadettiwar should first get the exact information before levelling such allegations, Danve added.
Asserting he is a proud Shiv Sainik, Danve said, ”I am not a leader of any caste and have never taken benefit of any reserved post. I have been selected from the ‘open category’ right from the time I became a corporator to being the leader of opposition in the Council,” Danve said.
Addressing a press conference, Wadettiwar also termed the Eknath Shinde government as ”worthless” for being unable to give even Rs 2,000 to beneficiaries of various welfare schemes.
”These worthless people have not distributed Niradhar Yojana money to beneficiaries for the last five months. It is a worthless government. These people do not have funds to give Rs 2,000 to beneficiaries of Sanjay Gandhi Yojana, Shraavanbal Yojana, and pay Anganwadi Sevikas and ASHA workers,” the Congress leader claimed.
Wadettiwar questioned how Other Backward Classes leaders were content with the government’s oral assurance about reservations and not giving OBC certificates to Marathas.
The OBC community should ask the government why it was doing this drama of holding meetings to discuss the issue of reservations, Wadettiwar said.
Speaking about the incident of a man being assaulted for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Mumbai, Wadettiwar claimed Muslims were also similarly beaten in Buldhana and a Dalit youth was beaten in Dombivli (in Thane district near Mumbai).
”The BJP is doing all this to polarise votes by instigating the youth because it won’t be easy for them to win the elections. Hence, they want to create this dispute again of Dalit against Hindu, Muslim against Hindu. The government has done nothing in the past nine years and people are annoyed,” the Congress leader alleged.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said India and Canada should talk to each other to resolve their differences over the death of a Khalistani separatist, but the larger issue of the Canadian government’s ”permissiveness” to terrorism, extremism and violence must be flagged and addressed.
During an interaction with Indian journalists here on Friday, he said India was ready to look into the information related to Canada’s allegations of the ”potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia.
“The issue is as follows, which is that the Canadians have made some allegations. We have pointed out to them that this is not the government of India’s policy, but if they are prepared to share with us specifics and anything relevant, we are also open to looking at it. So in that sense, that’s where the matter stands,” Jaishankar said.
“But what we do not want to see is an incident treated in isolation because then that somewhere does not convey the right picture,” he said.
”Let’s not normalise what is happening in Canada. What is happening in Canada, had it happened anywhere else, do you think the world would’ve taken it with equanimity?” he asked.
Jaishankar said India has had an ongoing problem with Canada and its government for some years now, and the problem really revolves around the ”permissiveness” regarding terrorism, extremism and violence.
“This permissiveness is also reflected in the fact that some important extradition requests have not been responded to from their side in the fact that there are individuals and organisations who are clearly involved with violence and illegal activities in India who themselves declared it. I mean it is not a secret that they continue to carry on with their activities in Canada,” he said.
Jaishankar said one of the problems is that no incident is isolated and the totality as there is a context for everything.
”There are multiple problems out there. So, I guess in the case of individual incidents, the concerned governments will have to talk to each other and see how they sort of take it forward,” he said.
“But there is a larger issue. And I think it’s important that the larger issue should be flagged. The larger issue is this permissiveness that I have spoken about,” he said.
He said he discussed the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“Most important, the fact that our diplomatic missions and our diplomatic personnel have been consistently and continuously intimidated in Canada to a point where today it is not safe for them really to carry on with their work.
”The fact that we’ve had to temporarily suspend our visa operations, it’s not something we would’ve liked to do. It is just that they made it very difficult for us to operate those services,” Jaishankar said. Tensions flared between India and Canada following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s explosive allegations of the ”potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on his country’s soil. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.
India angrily rejected the allegations as ”absurd” and ”motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
Earlier in the day, Blinken told reporters he hoped that this issue would be resolved by Canada and India.
“We are very concerned about the allegations that have been raised by Canada, by Prime Minister Trudeau,” he said.
”We have been in close contact with Canada about that. And at the same time, we have engaged with the Indian government and urged them to work with Canada on an investigation, and I had the opportunity to do so again in my meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister Jaishankar,” Blinken said.
“Those responsible need to be held accountable, and we hope that our friends in both Canada and India will work together to resolve this matter,” he said.
When asked if there is a deadlock between India and Canada on resolving the issue, Jaishankar said: “I don’t know if I would use the term deadlock.” He said India’s point is that today there is a climate of violence and an atmosphere of intimidation.
“Just think about it. We’ve had smoke bombs thrown at the mission. We’ve had our consulates, violence in front of them. Individuals have been targeted and intimidated. There are posters put up about people,” he said.
“So tell me, do you consider this normal? Would, I mean for a moment, okay, this is about us. If this had happened to any other country, how would they react to it? I think it’s a reasonable question to ask. Jaishankar said it is necessary to call out what is happening in Canada.
He also asserted that it was not acceptable to make threats and intimidate diplomats in the name of freedom of speech.
“We don’t need to learn from other people what freedom of speech is about. But we can tell people this. We don’t think freedom of speech extends to incitement, to violence. That to us is a misuse of freedom,” Jaishankar said.
”It’s not a defence of freedom. I always ask people one question, how would you react if you were in my shoes? If it was your diplomats, your embassies, your people, what would be your reaction?” he asked.
Jaishankar said if there is a requirement for India to look at something, the country is open to it.
He said a lot of Americans are astonished if they are told what most Indians know that there are people in Canada who are advocating violence and separatism.
“I suspect very few Americans notice. So in a way, a lot of what I said at the meetings I think was new to the Americans. When Americans look at Canada, they see something. When we in India, look at Canada, we see something else.
”And that’s part of the problem. So it’s also important that we talk it out with the Americans. After all, they are very close to Canada. They are good friends of ours,” he said.
“So it’s important that they also have an accurate picture, that they have our point of view on this matter as well. I’m not pre-judging issues. I’m not taking absolutist positions. What we have taken is a very reasonable stance,” he added.
Jaishankar said the entire debate should not focus only on issue one and not on issue two and the bigger picture, which has been going on for some time and which is a very serious picture.
“After all, I was thinking back when was the last time that any of our missions was intimidated to a point where it could not continue with its normal function? I will really have to think back. And if someone says this could happen in a G-7 country, in a commonwealth country, it gives you a lot to think about,” Jaishankar said.
