We are going to defeat BJP together: Rahul Gandhi ahead of Opposition meeting 2
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said all Opposition parties are going to defeat the BJP in the 2024 general elections unitedly.
Accusing the BJP of working to ”divide India and spread hate and violence”, he asserted that a fight of ideologies is going on in India.
On one hand, there is the Congress’ ‘Bharat Jodo’ ideology and on the other the BJP and RSS’ ‘Bharat Todo’ ideology, Gandhi said.
”You know that hate cannot be countered with hate. It can be defeated only with love. The Congress is working for uniting the country and spreading love,” he said. ”That is why we have come to Bihar because the DNA of the Congress is in Bihar,” Gandhi said.
”All Opposition parties have come here and together we are going to defeat the BJP,” the former Congress chief said, adding, ”In Karnataka, the BJP leaders gave speeches and went everywhere but the result is there for you to see.” ”As soon as the Congress stood united, the BJP disappeared in Karnataka. I am saying it from this stage that the BJP will be nowhere in Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and the Congress will win,” Gandhi claimed.
Eknath Shinde would have 'shot himself in head' had his revolt failed: Min Deepak Kesarkar 4
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde would have “shot himself in the head” if his revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership had failed last year, cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar has claimed.
Reacting to the sensational claim of Kesarkar, who was among the rebel MLAs led by Shinde, made on Tuesday, rival Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said the minister should be taken into custody for being aware of someone’s suicide plans.
Kesarkar alleged Shinde, who was a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet, was insulted on the Shiv Sena foundation day (June 19) last year.
The school education minister, a key member of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said the chief minister is a true Shiv Sainik.
“Shinde saheb is a genuine human being and a true Shiv Sainik. He (Shinde) had said ‘if my revolt failed, I would have sent all the (rebel) MLAs back… I would have made a call (to Matoshree — the private home of Thackeray family in suburban Bandra) and said I made a mistake, but the MLAs are not at fault and then I would have shot myself in the head’,” Kesarkar said.
The minister said a person who thinks on these lines is all together at a different level as he has the maturity to understand that not a single MLA’s career should be politically ruined because of him, even at the cost of his own life.
Latching on the statements, Raut said police should take Kesarkar into custody.
“Police should take Deepak Kesarkar into custody because someone is thinking about committing suicide and Kesarkar is aware of it. If tomorrow he (apparently referring to Shinde) commits suicide after the Assembly Speaker gives a decision (on disqualification of MLAs), then Kesarkar should be taken into custody immediately,” the Rajya Sabha MP added.
On June 20 last year, 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde, revolted against the leadership, leading to a split in the party and collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Days later, Shinde took over as new chief minister with the BJP’s support.
Will fight together, like a family: Mamata in Patna ahead of oppn meet 6
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that opposition leaders were gathering in Patna to fight the BJP together, ”like a family”.
She was talking to reporters outside the residence of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, where she met his father and RJD president Lalu Prasad.
The Trinamool Congress chief was accompanied by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, an MP.
”We have come here as we will fight together, we will fight like a family,” she said.
Fitch raises India's GDP forecast to 6.3% for current fiscal year 8
Fitch Ratings on Thursday revised upwards its FY24 economic growth forecast for India to 6.3 per cent from 6 per cent it had predicted earlier.
This is primarily because of a stronger outturn in the first quarter and near-term momentum.
The growth forecast compares with 7.2 per cent GDP expansion in FY23. In the previous fiscal year (FY22), the economy had grown 9.1 per cent.
”India’s economy has been showing broad-based strength – with GDP up by 6.1 per cent year-on-year in 1Q23 (January-March) and auto sales, PMI surveys and credit growth remaining robust in recent months – and we have raised our forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2024 (FY23-24) by 0.3 percentage points to 6.3 per cent,” the rating agency said.
Fitch had in March lowered its forecast for 2023-24 to 6 per cent from 6.2 per cent citing headwinds from elevated inflation and interest rates along with subdued global demand.
For 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years, it estimated a growth of 6.5 per cent each.
Inflation has moderated since and the domestic economy has picked up.
Stating that GDP growth in January-March was higher than expected, Fitch said there has been a recovery in manufacturing after two consecutive quarterly contractions, a boost from construction and an increase in farm output.
In expenditure terms, GDP growth was driven by domestic demand and a boost from net trade.
Recent high-frequency data point to sustained near-term momentum as highlighted by rising PMI indices, higher car sales and increased power consumption.
The economy also continues to benefit from high bank credit growth and infrastructure spending (with more to come from the latter).
”The stronger outturn in 1Q23 and near-term momentum have prompted us to upgrade our FY23-24 growth forecast to 6.3 per cent…one of highest growth rates in the world,” it said adding India’s economy will be affected to an extent by slowing global trade.
The rating agency said the full impact of 250 basis points increase in interest rates by RBI (since May 2022) is still to be felt.
”Consumers have also experienced a drop in purchasing power as inflation increased sharply in 2022 and household balance sheets have also been weakened through the pandemic.
”At the same time, the government’s push on increased capital expenditure, moderation in commodity prices and robust credit growth are expected to support investment. Slowing inflation should also start to help consumers over time and households have now turned more optimistic about future earnings and employment,” it said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept policy rates at 6.5 per cent since the start of the year, while headline inflation eased from a peak of 7.8 per cent to 4.3 per cent in May, a figure that is already within the RBI’s tolerance band of 2-6 per cent.
Wholesale price index based inflation (WPI) has also fallen to its lowest in more than seven years to (-) 3.48 per cent in May.
Nevertheless, while inflation has eased there are near-term upward risks in 2H23, given the monsoon outlook and the potential impact of El Niño, Fitch said.
”With growth expected to moderate further, and inflationary pressures easing, we expect the RBI to pause its rate cycle for the time being before cutting early next year – a change from our previous call of one more 25bps increase to 6.75 per cent,” it added.
UP: Woman kills two daughters, ends life following altercation over family dispute 10
A woman killed her two daughters and ended her life by consuming poison following an altercation with her mother-in-law in the Gangoh area in Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.
Mamta (26) gave poison to her three daughters Archi (5), Sona (3) and Arvi (2) and consumed it herself also after a heated argument with her mother-in-law, Additional SP (Rural) Sagar Jain said.
All four were rushed to the hospital where Mamta and her two daughters, Archi and Arvi, died during treatment, the official said.
The condition of Sona is stated to be stable. A probe into the matter was underway, police said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday said he had warned China against using force to achieve territorial changes, particularly against Taiwan.
Scholz hosted a large Chinese delegation led by Premier Li Qiang in the first face-to-face summit since the pandemic this week, at a time of rising geopolitical tensions between the West and China.
Political fight erupts between CPI(M), Cong in Kerala over fake certificate issue 13
The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and the opposition Congress are engaged in a war of words over the fake certificate issue in the state with the latter on Thursday accusing the Left front of protecting those involved in illegal activities.
The CPI(M) on the other hand refuted the allegations against it on the issue and also came to the aid of its student wing SFI, whose two former members are facing charges of using fake certificates.
While expelled SFI leader Nikhil Thomas is accused of submitting a fake certificate for admission to the M.Com course in a college in Kayamkulam area of Alappuzha district of the state, former SFI member Vidya K Maniyodi is facing charges of furnishing a fake teaching experience certificate to secure a guest faculty post in a government college.
Vidya, who was absconding for nearly two weeks, was arrested on Wednesday night from a village in Kozhikode district and Thomas was expelled from SFI’s primary membership on Tuesday.
Dissatisfied by the delay in police action against the accused, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday alleged that the ruling Left government in Kerala and the police were protecting the accused and giving them time to destroy evidence.
”That is why it took 15 days to arrest Vidya. She had 15 days to destroy evidence against her. If the police wanted to, it could have caught her within hours.
”Now Thomas is also in hiding. He will be caught after giving him sufficient time to destroy evidence,” he alleged while speaking to reporters at Kasaragod.
Chennithala further contended that use of fake certificates, trying to pass exams without studying, going into hiding to destroy evidence, all these incidents are ”leading the higher education in Kerala to anarchy”. Denying the Congress’ allegations, senior CPI(M) leader and former state minister A K Balan contended that the opposition was more concerned over such minor issues instead of criticising the Prime Minister for going abroad and doing yoga there ”when a state in the country is burning”.
Balan was referring to the violence in the state of Manipur.
He also defended the Students Federation of India (SFI), saying it cannot be blamed for what Vidya and Thomas did. He said that SFI expelled Thomas on getting to know what he had done and there was nothing more it could have done.
Balan, speaking to reporters at Thiruvananthapuram, also said that SFI has a strong presence — of around 72 per cent — among the students irrespective of their religion or political background and that is why it was being attacked.
He said just like the making of fake currency, there are people behind the fake certificates too and the police and the state government will root them out and take appropriate action against them.
”Since the police are looking into the matter, let them ascertain why Vidya did what she did,” he said, adding that her arrest indicates the government’s stand on the issue.
Balan also came to the defence of his party secretary M V Govindan who is facing flak from the Congress for his recent remarks against KPCC chief and MP K Sudhakaran in connection with a POCSO case in which controversial self-styled antiques dealer Monson Mavunkal was sentenced to life term in jail.
Balan said that Govindan only commented about a news report and he was well within his rights to do so.
”However, the remarks against him subsequently were undignified,” he said.
He also said that while Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sudhakaran was a friend, he cannot save the Congress in this lifetime.
He said there was an agenda to isolate the Kerala CM, the CPI(M) state secretary, remove the Left government from power and destroy the SFI which was responsible for strengthening the CPI(M) party base.
Balan further said that SFI was responsible for the downfall of the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) and relegating it to a corner and hence, the attacks on the left wing students’ organisation.
The KSU, the student organisation of the Congress, has been claiming that Thomas failed in the B Com degree course at MSM college but during M Com admission, he provided a certificate from Kalinga University in Chhattisgarh.
Vidya was booked by the police under sections 465 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine), and 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of government colleges in Ernakulam and Palakkad.
According to the complaints, the woman claimed in the ”fake certificate” that she was a guest lecturer at Maharajas College in 2018-19.
Jaipur court permits husband to pay wife maintenance of Rs. 55,000 in 1 and 2 rupee coins 15
In an unusual case, a man named Dashrath Kumawat was granted permission by a Jaipur court to pay his wife Rs 55,000 over the course of 11 months in one- and two-rupee coins as maintenance after his family brought the money to the court after his arrest for non-payment. The money was packed in seven sacks, weighing 280 kg.
While the counsel for his wife objected to it, terming it “mental harassment”, the judge allowed the payment but asked the man to count the coins in court to make packets of Rs 1000 each and hand them over to her at the next hearing on June 26, according to lawyers from both sides.
The couple’s divorce case is being heard in a family court. The court had directed the husband, Dashrath Kumawat, to pay the maintenance amount of Rs 5000 per month, but he had not paid it for the last 11 months.
Dashrath, a resident of the Harmada area in Jaipur, was arrested on June 17 after family court number 1 issued a recovery warrant against him for non-payment of maintenance.
“Since the husband refused to give the amount, the police arrested him. The family court was closed due to holidays, so he was produced in the link court of Additional District Judge (ADG) number 8.”
“In the court, the family members of Dashrath reached with coins worth Rs 55,000 to give to his wife,” Raman Gupta, the advocate of the husband, told PTI on Tuesday.
He said that the coins were in the denominations Re 1 and Rs 2 and were stuffed in seven sacks.
The advocate of his wife objected to this, but it was argued on behalf of the husband that these coins are legal tender and no one can refuse to accept them.
“The court then allowed the husband to give the coins after counting them on the next hearing in the family court on June 26. Until then, the coins will remain in the custody of the court. The husband will have to count the coins and make packets of Rs 1000 each before handing them over to the wife in court,” he said.
Wife Seema Kumawat’s advocate, Ramprakash Kumawat, said that giving coins to the woman was “equal to mental harassment”.
“It was done in a preplanned manner just to harass the woman. However, the court has permitted him to give the coins,” he said.
India slams China at UN for blocking move to designate 26/11 accused Sajid Mir as 'global terrorist' 17
India has hit out at China for blocking a move to designate Pakistan-based LeT leader Sajid Mir as a “global terrorist” by the UN, saying it shows a lack of genuine political will to fight the scourge of terrorism.
China on Tuesday blocked a proposal moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mir is wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
In a strongly-worded statement, Joint Secretary at India’s permanent mission in New York Prakash Gupta said on Tuesday if efforts to ban terrorists fail due to “petty geopolitical interests”, then “we really do not have the genuine political will to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism”.
”The first and most critical gap we feel addressing is avoiding double standards, and this self-defeating justification of good terrorists versus bad terrorists. Terror act is a terror act, plain and simple. Any justification of any kind being used should not be countenanced by anybody,” he said at United Nation’s counter-terror meeting.
Gupta said in this day and age of accountability and transparency, can evidence-based listing proposals be blocked without giving any reason.
He said India has fought against terrorists in practically real-time on a daily basis.
”While the 9/11 terror bombings in this iconic city of New York had changed the landscape of the global counterterrorism architecture, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks shook the collective conscience of the world’s largest democracy,” he said.
Gupta also played an audio clip of Mir in which he can be heard instructing terrorists from Pakistan during the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks.
Ten fully armed assailants from across the borders well trained in conducting urban warfare, descended on the shores of Mumbai and wreaked havoc for three days. The carnage resulted in the killing of 166 innocents, including 26 foreigners.
”Justice still continues to elude the victims of the Mumbai terror attack,” he said. Mir was listed as a proscribed terrorist under the national laws of India and under the laws of the United States and several other countries globally, he said.
”But when the proposal for listing him did not go through the Security Council sanctions regime, we had strong reasons to believe that something was genuinely wrong in the global sanctions regime, as manifested in the Security Council,” Gupta said.
”If we cannot get established terrorists who have been proscribed across global landscapes, listed under the Security Council architecture for petty geopolitical interests, then we really do not have the genuine political will needed to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism,” he added.
Gupta rued that 15 years after the Mumbai terror attacks, its masterminds in Pakistan have not yet been brought to justice.
Mir, believed to be in his mid-40s, is one of India’s most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of USD 5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
In June last year, Mir was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan.
Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the action plan late last year. Mir is a senior member of the Pakistan-based LeT and is wanted for his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
A court in Maharashtra’s Thane has sentenced a mason to 7 years in jail after holding him guilty of attempting to murder his 12-year-old stepdaughter by throwing her in a river.
Thane Sessions Judge Dr Rachna R Tehra also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on convict Tulsiram Sunaram Saini, a resident of Vartak Nagar area of the city.
The copy of the order passed on June 17 was made available on Tuesday.
Additional Public Prosecutor Vinit A Kulkarni told the court that the girl’s mother was married to Saini but began living separately after she learnt that he was already married and had children. On June 29, 2016, Saini took his stepdaughter on a motorbike and threw her into the Ulhas river in his bid to kill her, the Kulkarni told the court. The girl survived after she held on to a tree branch and remained there an entire night. She was rescued the next day after a passerby spotted her. Advocate Kulkarni said the court examined 10 witnesses, including the girl and her mother, during the trial.
In the order, the judge said that the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt all the charges against Saini. “Throwing a minor girl in a river would naturally bring a prudent person to conclude that the intention must have been of killing only. It would lead to no other conclusion than that the victim was thrown into the river with an intention to kill,” the court said in the order.
The judge convicted Saini on several counts under Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder), 363 (kidnapping), 364 (Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 507 (criminal intimidation) and sentenced him to varying terms, with the maximum being seven years. The court said that since Saini has been in jail since 2016, the time already done by him can be set off against the sentence.
