Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that the Congress and its allies are not hurting the BJP but the nation by not letting the Parliament function.

“By obstructing the Parliament, Congress and its friends are doing a great disservice to the nation. They may be thinking that they are hurting Narendra Modi and the BJP but they are hurting the country and themselves,” said Naidu.

“They cannot recover their lost ground by making such obstructions in Parliament. People are feeling when in power they pushed India backwards, now in opposition they don’t want India to move forward,” he added.

He further said that suspending MPs from the House was not a ‘murder’ of democracy.

“I want to remind Sonia ji, that in 1989, when Rajiv Gandhi ji was the Prime Minister, 63 MPs were suspended from the House, was it a murder of democracy?” asked Naidu.

Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan had earlier this week suspended 25 Congress MPs over disruption of parliamentary proceedings under ruling 374 (A), leading to outrage from various quarters.

In its drive to curb crime against women, Delhi Police has roped in religious figures to counsel men found harassing women in public places in the national capital.

Under its ‘Operation Shishtachar’ Delhi Police lady personnel in plain clothes will also patrol public places to keep a watch on men harassing women.

“We have adopted a two-pronged strategy including legal action and counselling. We have also involved religious figures in the counselling besides experts from the field of psychology and law,” said a senior police officer.

Emphasising that Delhi Police is committed to security of women, the officer said, “We have taken several steps specially ‘Operation Shishtachar’ for this. Lady police personnel visit public places in plain clothes to watch out for eve teasers”.

The lady cops in plain clothes also travel in public transport in the city to catch those who target women during their daily commute to work places.

The idea behind counselling is not only to educate the offenders but also to make them aware about the moral and legal consequences of their acts, said a senior police officer.

Religious figures counsel the harassers by quoting from the scriptures, stressing that disrespectful act against women was against religion.

Under ‘Operation Shishtachar’ launched in first week of August, all the district police units in the national capital have started a campaign in their respective areas.

Most of those caught have been given counselling at police stations to respect women and desist from indulging in eve teasing.

Police have acted against over 800 eve teasers during the operation so far.

Posters warning eve teasers are ready and will soon be visible soon on local buses, bus stops and Metro stations, said Madhur Verma, DCP of North Delhi.

Jail terms for various offences against women like touching, abusing, making vulgar gestures, and accosting, ranging from 3 years to 5 years, have also been highlighted in these posters.

A day after the role of Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha was revealed in the Udhampur terror attack, India is planning to make an appeal to the United Nations to impose ban on the family of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chied Hafiz Saeed.

The documents in this concern are being prepared by India.

Apart from son Talha, India is also seeking a terrorist status for Hafiz’s brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki.

According to reports, arrested Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Naved alias Usman had revealed that Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha had played an important role in planning the attack.

He added that the two militants were given training before being sent to India to carry out attacks on Talha’s instruction.

Alka Lamba, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Chandni Chowk, was on Sunday morning was attacked by some unidentified people at Rajghat while she was leading an anti drug-drive.

According to initial reports, the AAP leader was immediately rushed to RML hospital for preliminary treatment and was then released after a short while. She received head injury after allegedly being pelted with stones by the miscreants.

AAP spokesperson Ashutosh tweeted some pictures of Lamba being given the first-aide.

He further tweeted that the assailant was caught from Vishwas Nagar BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma’s shop.

“The man who attacked Alka was caught from a local sweet shop, which is, as per the locals, owned by Om Prakash Sharma, who is MLA from Vishwas Nagar. We want an investigation that whether it is a coincident or a conspiracy. Only arresting the person will not be sufficient,” Ashutosh added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to twitter to praise Lamba and wrote: “Proud of you Alka.”

Hours after the attack, the AAP leaders met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his official residence here.

Besides Lamba, senior AAP leaders Ashutosh, Durgesh Pathak, Kapil Mishra, Dilip Pandey and Kumar Vishwas were among those who met Kejriwal.

Earlier, confirming the news, the AAP MLA herself took to twitter to inform about the incident adding that this attack was a result of her fight against drugs.

Lamba further said that the whole thing smacked of a conspiracy, adding that she was hopeful of a fair probe by the police.

“We were holding discussions with the drug addicts as a part of an anti-drug drive when I was attacked with a stone,” Lamba said.

“I saw a man who had covered himself with blanket, in a room above a local sweet shop. His intention was to disperse the crowd. There is definitely a conspiracy behind it but I am hopeful that the police will conduct a fair probe to find out who is behind this attack,” she added.