Thakre challenges BJP to lure a single Cong MLA on its side

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February 9, 2015

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Manikrao Thakre dared the ruling BJP to lure even a single Congress MLA and get him re-elected on BJP ticket.

He was responding to a claim by state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve that 21 Congress, NCP legislators were planning to defect to the BJP.

“There is tremendous resentment against the BJP in rural areas for its non-performance and neglect of farmers issues. I dare the BJP to lure away a single Congress MLA and get him re-elected on BJP ticket. If it is done, I am willing to pay any price for it,” Thakre said.

The state Congress president also hinted that Danve, who is a BJP MP, had other thoughts when he was not inducted into the central ministry. “We know what his condition was when he was not considered for the ministerial berth,” Thakre said.

He said Congress organised the ‘rasta roko’ agitation across the state today to protest against the “dismal” performance of the BJP-led government in the last 100 days.

“They have failed to fulfil a single pre-poll promise and ignored the interests of the farming community,” Thakre alleged.

Thakre also said international crude prices have come down by 65 per cent. “Accordingly, diesel prices have not been reduced by the government. The benefit has been given to the oil companies and not consumers. Diesel prices should have been less than Rs. 30 (per litre),” he said.

When asked about NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s statement in Pune yesterday that Congress will fade away into irrelevance and NCP should step in to take the opposition seats, Thakre asked, “Is NCP an opposition party? We are on the streets highlighting issues concerning people. It is the NCP’s responsibility to wipe out the doubts about their intentions.

Maharashtra village inks communal amity pact

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

Religious communities of the picturesque village of Burondi in Ratnagiri district have inked a pact to protect ‘communal harmony’ for the next 100 years in Maharashtra, representatives said on Monday.

The pact was formally signed last month by leaders of the local Hindu and Muslim community along with witnesses, duly notarized, and copies were provided to all stakeholders, in the presence of a large number of villagers.

Village head Pradip Rane, 44, said the main objective of the agreement, considered the first of its kind in the country, between the two main communities was to create awareness and importance of communal harmony, especially among the next generation.

“The younger generation of both the communities does not understand the meaning of amity, brotherhood and communal unity which is essential for progress and prosperity of everyone. We have taken the first steps through this agreement,” said Rane.

Concurring, Ashraf Mastan, 43, a fisherman and Muslim leader who has signed on behalf of his community, said the villagers have progressed a lot on the communal amity front in the past 25 years.

“There was a time when we had to virtually struggle to get permission for our religious functions … See the changed scenario when the two communities have agreed to work for each other and jointly progress,” said Mastan.

Both the leaders pointed out that the common masses have been living peacefully together since centuries, but certain forces attempt to create a divide among them for their sinister designs.

Burondi has a total population of around 10,000, with nearly 3,500 Muslims spread mainly across three large ‘mohallas’.

“When we can buy and eat the fish caught by the Muslim fisherfolk, and they eat the fruits and vegetables the Hindu farmers grow, then why can’t we all live together peacefully,” Rane asked.

Accordingly, a community coordination committee was formed to hammer out the issues of differences between the two communities and a detailed three-page consensual agreement was reached.

It was duly signed from both the sides by: Pradeep Surve, Sudhir Powar, Sunil Kule, Bawa Kelaskar (Hindus side) and Ashraf Mastan, Maqbool Mastan, Mahmood Shah Divekar, Imtiaz Harsinkar, Ashfaque Chelkar, Abdullah Shirgoankar (Muslims side) and other villagers, and later notarized.

Rane pointed out that the two communities have been living peacefully since 1987, when the small village – around 215 km south of Mumbai – was disturbed by a communal skirmish.

“Now, we have decided to help celebrate each other`s festivals and join the celebrations, ensure that revellers from both the communities do not disturb the other during such celebrations, counsel and advice the youngsters on the importance of communal unity and peace,” Rane said.

Some of the highlights of the agreement include a code of conduct for Hindu processions will pass and play music only when `namaaz` is not being offered at the three roadside mosques.

Similarly, the annual Govinda processions during `Janmashthami` will pass through the Muslim areas and even pay obeisance at mosques, Hindus would help the Muslims during the annual `urs` (feast) at Karajgaon mausoleum here, Muslims would not object to the festivities which will not disturb their religious practices in any manner.

The members of both communities will wholeheartedly join in organising and celebrating each other`s festivals unitedly and create an overall festive atmosphere in the village.

Besides, in major public programmes conduct by the village, members of both communities would be seated on the dais and the audiences, while seniors from both sides would be felicitated and honoured publicly.

Widows of govt employees to get pension even after remarriage

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

Widows of government employees who choose to remarry would still get their pension, Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said.

According to the Maharashtra Citizen Services (Pension) Act of 1982, the state government pays pension to the widow of the deceased employee as long as she does not remarry.

“The law does not seem right. So we have corrected it. From now on, even after a woman remarries, she will continue to receive pension,” Mungantiwar said.

“Once the governor gives his assent, we will make the necessary changes and issue an ordinance,” said the minister.

HC restrains police from arresting editor of Urdu daily in Prophet’s cartoon row

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

The Bombay High Court on Monday restrained the Maharashtra government and police from taking any coercive steps, including arrest, against the editor of an Urdu daily at the centre of a row over publishing the cover of French magazine Charlie Hebdo that featured a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.

In an interim order was passed by a division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudesai, which came on a petition filed by Shirin Dalvi, editor of the Urdu newspaper Awadhnama, whose Mumbai edition has been shut down following the publication of the cartoon last month.

Dalvi (46), a resident of Mumbra in the Thane district, has sought quashing of the cases against her and clubbing of all cases filed against her following the publication of the cartoon. She had also sought a direction to prevent the government and police from taking coercive action against her, including arrest.

The matter was adjourned till February 11.

The newspaper had reproduced the cartoon published in French Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the target of an attack by Islamist militants last month.

Altogether, five cases have been filed against Dalvi under section 2950A (outraging religious feelings of people with deliberate and malacious intent) of the Indian Penal Code — two in Mumbai, two in Thane and one in Malegaon.

Dalvi had secured a regular bail after her arrest in one case while and anticipatory bail in another, her lawyers Mihir Desai and Chetan Mali told the court.

While seeking interim relief, advocate Desai said the petitioner was not going home as she feared for her life.

Dalvi pleaded she was the only woman editor of an Urdu daily newspaper in India and that due to the events following the publication of the Prophet’s cartoon she is facing threats of physical attacks. Several FIRs have been filed against her and she also had to abandon her home.

Dalvi further contended that her children were forced to discontinue their education and were compelled to go incognito along with their mother out of fear of physical harm.

In January 17, the newspaper had published the cartoon and the very next day it had apologised for carrying it. On January 19, the newspaper closed down citing apprehension of violence. The cartoon had offended several people.

SIT analyses Shiv Menon’s statement, Tharoor may be quizzed again in Sunanda murder case

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on Monday said that Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor may be summoned for further probing in his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death case.

Bassi said that Special Investigation Team (SIT) has analysed Sunanda’s son Shiv Menon’s statement and based on the information gathered, Shashi Tharoor is expected to be summoned again and will be asked to assist in the probe.

Shiv Menon had appeared before the SIT office in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj and was questioned in connection with the murder case. Police sources had said that Menon was asked how the relationship was between Tharoor and Sunanda.

Tharoor along with his staff members and close friends has been quizzed by the Delhi Police so far.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and senior journalist Nalini Singh have also been questioned.

52-year-old Sunanda was found dead in her suite at a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, a day after she was involved in a spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on micro-blogging website Twitter over the latter’s alleged affair with Tharoor.

Will install Gauri-Ganesh in every mosque, says Yogi Adityanath

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

BJP’s firebrand MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath has triggered a fresh controversy by saying that he will install idols of Gauri-Ganesh in every mosque, if given a chance.

Adityanath was speaking at Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ organised as part of its golden jubilee year celebration in Varanasi.

Referring to the Gyanvapi mosque which was contsructed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb after he demolished the original Kashi Vishwanath temple, Adityanath said, “Has it happened anywhere in the world that Gauri and Ganesh are inside a mosque? When Hindu samaj goes for darshan of Vishwanath then Gyanvapi mosque taunts us. If that’s how it is, give us permission, we will install Gauri, Ganesh and Nandi in every mosque.”

Adityanath also said, “Aryavart created Aryans; will make Hindus in Hindustan,” he said.

“Everyone can come to Kashi but only Muslims are allowed in Mecca and Medina,” Adityanath said, adding, “This is the century of Hindutva, not just in India but in the entire world.”

The controversial MP also justified ‘Ghar Wapasi’ and questioned the ‘secular’ brigade, saying, “When missionaries carry out conversion by alluring innocent tribal people and dalits in the name of service to humanity why secular do forces keep quiet?”

On Barack Obama’s statement that acts of intolerance in India would have Mahatma Gandhi, Adityanath said that instead of preaching India, the US President should take note of racial conflict in his country.

Adityanath’s comments in Varanasi comes days after he had criticised the “politics of appeasement”, saying his vision for inclusive growth means equal rights for the majority Hindu community as well as for the minorities.

“Inclusive growth means where a graveyard as well as a crematorium gets money. A Muslim’s daughter gets scholarship as well as a Hindu’s daughter. Where madrasas get grants and also Sanskrit schools. My ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’ involves no appeasement politics,” the MP said while campaigning for the BJP in the recently concluded assembly polls in Delhi.

Recently two other BJP MPs from UP, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sakshi Maharaj had triggered similar controversies.

Both Sadhvi and Maharaj had to apologise in Parliament for their controversial remarks, this after Prime Minister ticked off BJP MPs and asked them to desist from making such statements and asked them not to cross the ‘Lakshman Rekha’.

Law student raped, beaten for rejecting surrogacy in UP

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

In yet another incident of crime against women, a law student was allegedly harassed and beaten up at Jagruti Vihar area here for refusing to be a surrogate mother, police said on Monday.

“22-year-old was allegedly sexually harassed, beaten by a guest house owner and his accomplices after refusing to have a baby of him,” police said.

The cops have registered a case in connection with the incident which had taken place on February 3. The victim was today sent for medical examination, her statement will also be recorded before a magistrate.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, the victim said, “I was beaten up badly and dragged by the guest house staff. They even tried to kidnap me.”

According to the complaint lodged by the victim yesterday, she worked at a guest house owned by Subhash Bharati in Jagruti Vihar under Medical police station area.

The incident occurred a day after a 28-year-old mentally-challenged woman from Nepal was brutally raped and murdered and her body was then dumped in a field at a village on the Rohtak-Hisar highway in Haryana.

As per police, the victim’s naked body was found in a field near the highway in Rohtak, half eaten by animals and with key organs missing. Objects had been inserted into her; sticks, stones and condoms were stuffed into her private parts, cops said.

Afzal Guru’s hanging was ‘wrong, badly handled’: Shashi Tharoor

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

In what can bring in huge embarrassment for the Congress, MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday opined that the hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru was “wrong and badly” handled.

Tharoor, Congress MP from Kerala, wrote on Twitter account: “I think the hanging was both wrong &badly handled. Family should have been warned, given a last meeting & body returned.”

Notably, Guru was hanged by the then Congress-led government on February 9, 2013 inside Tihar Jail in Delhi.

Tharoor’s statement comes after five Jammu and Kashmir lawmakers called Guru’s hanging a ‘mistake’. The Congress MLAs have given a written undertaking admitting that not allowing his family to meet Guru was a mistake.

Meanwhile, several separatists leaders were detained or put under house arrest and prohibitory orders clamped in Srinagar in the wake of protests called by them on the second anniversary of execution of Afzal Guru.

Curfew-like restrictions were imposed in Safakadal, Maharaj Gunj, Khanyar, Rainawari and Nowhatta police station areas in the old city and Maisuma police station area in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk.

Life in rest of Kashmir valley was also affected as separatist groups here called for a strike today and on February 11 on the anniversaries of hanging of Guru and JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat respectively.

A day before results, Ajay Maken takes responsibility for ‘defeat’

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

With all exit polls having predicted Congress’ rout in Delhi, Ajay Maken, party’s campaign chief for the Assembly elections, Monday, accepted responsibility for the defeat.

Maken said that he is taking responsibility for the poll loss and that party vice president Rahul Gandhi is not responsible.

With Maken accepting defeat even before the votes are counted suggests that the Congress is certain of a loss in the high-stakes battle for Delhi.

Yesterday, Maken had said if opinion and exit polls are correct the will of the people should prevail in a democracy and that it was ready to play whatever role people of Delhi entrust upon it.

“Well last time (in 2013 Assembly polls) when AAP got 28 seats, at that time also it seemed people of Delhi wanted AAP to govern them, and many of the votes got transferred to some other symbols like torch…People perhaps wanted AAP, and had it not been for symbol torch, they would have got a majority on their own.

“So, I think people really want to give AAP a chance and if the exit polls, opinion polls are correct, so if that is the case, the will of the people should prevail in a democracy. And, whatever role people decide for us, we are ready to play,” Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken said here.

Delhi exit polls have been near unanimous in predicting a victory for Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. As per the exit poll results, BJP is expected to finish second and the Congress is facing a complete rout.

No end to power tussle in Bihar, both Manjhi, Nitish claim majority in state Assembly

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2015

He may be outnumbered but his spirits are still high. Despite having been expelled from the Janata Dal United (JDU), Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday met the Governor and claimed that he is ready for a floor test to prove his majority in the state Assembly.

“We are not running away from the floor test. We want to prove our majority. Nitish’s election is not valid,” Manjhi said. However, he added that the voting should be done by secret ballot and senior party leader Nitish Kumar should not be present in the House at the time when the ballots are opened. “The ballot boxes should be opened in the presence of two independent observers,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Nitish also met Bihar Governor to claim stake to form the government in the state with the support of 130 MLAs. In a show of strength, Nitish paraded JDU, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress MLAs to the Governor House in Patna.

The former CM’s supporters have threatened to protest in Delhi if the Governor doesn’t allow him to hold a floor test in 48 hours.

After meeting the governor, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said that they have made a unanimous request to make Nitish the CM of the state. “All parties, the RJD, CPI, Congress have given their letter of support to the Governor for Nitish Kumar to form government in Bihar. The Governor heard us and said that Manjhi will also be meeting him today. We have requested Governor to ask Nitish Kumar to take oath as the Bihar CM without delay,” Lalu said.

Nitish also stated that they have urged the Governor to take a prompt decision.

While announcing the expulsion of Manjhi, party spokesperson KC Tyagi alleged that Bihar is not developing but crime has increased ever since he became the CM. “Operation Manjhi is being conducted by top leaders of BJP from Delhi,” he also alleged.

Meanwhile, Manjhi’s supporters have moved the High Court against his expulsion for making anti-party statements. The Bihar CM is gathering his forces and is expected to meet the Governor.