After outrage, Abu Azmi clarifies his controversial comments on rape

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April 13, 2014

After making controversial comments on rape, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi clarified his statement saying he never said that rape victims should be punished.

“I never said that the girl who is raped should be punished. I said rapist should be punished and girl is a victim. I said that all of us should show solidarity with the girl,” Mr. Azmi said in Mumbai. “I will never make such statement, only a mad person will say such things,” he added.

On Friday, Mr. Azmi said, “Under Islam, rape is punishable… any woman if, whether married or unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent, should be hanged. Both should be hanged. It shouldn’t be allowed even if a woman goes by consent.”

The Samajwadi Party leader earned widespread criticism for his controversial comments, including condemnation at home from his son and daughter-in-law.

Mr. Azmi’s son Farhan, the Samajwadi Party’s candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from the Mumbai North-Central seat, said, “consensual sex is a private matter, it’s a freedom given to us by the constitution.”

“We cannot be discussing these things in front of TV cameras. I have spoken to my father about the comments. I stand against every person who is insulting a woman,” he added.

Farhan’s wife and Bollywood actress Ayesha Takia tweeted, “if wot im reading about my father in laws statements r true then me and Farhan are deeply embarrassed n ashamed…(sic).”

Responding to the criticism from his son and daughter-in-law, Mr. Azami said that everyone has the right to say what they feel.

One killed, three injured in factory explosion

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Afternoon Voice

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April 13, 2014

One person was killed and three others critically injured after a boiler exploded in an industrial scrap godown in Mumbra near Thane, police said.

According to Regional Disaster Management Control (RDMC) of the Thane Municipal Corporation, the explosion took place at a unit in Gothegar on the Mumbra-Panvel Road on Saturday afternoon.

Santosh Kadam, Chief of RDMC said a person present inside the godown died due to the fire while three others received severe burn injuries.

The injured have been admitted to Thane Civil Hospital while the deceased is yet to be identified, fire brigade sources said.

Meanwhile, the Shil Diaghar police have booked the owner of the godown, identified as Ajmal under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.

Doctors at the civil hospital said the injured have received 100 per cent burn injuries and are battling for their lives.

The injured are identified as Phoolchand Prasad (35), Ramlal Yadav (32) and Navman Yadav (32).

Making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh

By

Vaidehi Taman

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April 13, 2014

Literally, Sanjaya Baru’s book stabbed Congress’s fortunes and expressed appalling condition of Sardar Manmohan Singh as a Prime minister. “Accidental Prime Minister: Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh”, claims the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was “defanged” by Sonia Gandhi, in the second term of the UPA. The issue has hit headlines by triggering all sorts of controversies. Manmohan Singh feels “Stabbed in the back. It is well-known that ‘Non-sense’ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also subjected to insult by Gandhi family who were ‘de-facto’ power center of the government. What happened to Sitaram Kesari when he was removed as President of Congress Party? The political power enjoyed by Gandhi has given them the arrogance. The book claims the Prime Minister was “defanged” by the Congress and its president, Sonia Gandhi, in the second term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Manmohan Singh is just a recent example. If we look into the history, then Prime Minister late PV Narasimha Rao was humiliated by Sonia; she can never match to his wisdom and experience. Her only qualification is, she is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi. Sanjaya Baru’s book is a clear indication that this book is written with an intention to make money. Whole country knows who takes Prime Ministerial decision. Sonia Gandhi is the final authority over decision, then why he wrote a book? Whatever Baru has written is known to the world, everyone knows how PM was speechless and helpless. Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. But it is not the case with UPA. Everyone knows who has been the “de jure” PM (Dr.MMS) and who is the “de facto” PM (SoGa) for the past ten years. SoGa fooled the Indians in 2004 by declaring that she was not interested in premiership. She created the NAC and as its Chairperson, has been ruling the country as its SuperPM, with the active connivance of a coterie of most pliable and submissive senior Congress leaders. Various appellations are already in vogue – Rubber Stamp PM, Remote Controlled PM Etc, while referring to Dr. MMS. There is nothing new in S. Baru’s revelations, except that it has appeared in print with a stamp of credibility and authority.

Apparently, Baru wrote to the Prime Minister a week ago stating that he was traumatised by the events of 2009 when he came back from Singapore in the expectation of a government job, which did not come through. Meanwhile, in an official response, the PMO accused Baru of misusing a privileged position for a commercial gain. Hopefully, the BJP will reward the author with a cushy post, and again hopefully it should be worth at least 30 pieces of silver.

The relationship between Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is like correspondent-principal relationship in a school. The principal has to dance according to the tunes of the correspondent and the latter’s ego prevails in almost all the decisions. The subordinates have to adjust with two bosses (rather ride on two horses) and find the going very difficult. The Congress has been debited with policy paralysis because in the second innings of the Congress-led UPA government in particular because of strained relationship between Mr. Singh and Mrs Gandhi. Baru’s book only corroborates what we already know – the “dual centers” of power of the Congress party which is responsible for all the worst things that happened in the last ten years. I do not see any surprises here. The Congress and the PMO of course can cry foul. Sanjaya Baru also exposed himself while trying to expose Manmohan Singh. He measures his success by the reaction.

A narrow view of the case indeed! Let’s assume that Baru used his position in the PMO for his personal benefits, we also note that the PMO is not accusing Baru of writing falsehood in his book. In cocktail circuits in Delhi and Mumbai, the PMO was referred to as Palace Minions Office with another. The PM felt rightly that he has been stabbed in the back by his former media adviser because it is unfortunate that book has been released with all its negative observations about PM and Chairperson-UPA. The political battle is going and this might affect the Congress Party. The timing of the release of this book shows active deliberation to cause maximum hurt to both PM and Congress Party. It’s not about Congress or any other political party. Nation is ashamed for the incident. The PM is the utmost innocent and ignorant person on the Indian soil. He was a slave in the hands of Sonia Gandhi for ten long years. Narendra Modi will be saved and released by Manmohan as soon as possible. Not only Singh, every Indian is an absolute slave under the Sonia’s command. Every Indian is not an Indian under an Italian lady’s command. It is shame. It is the legacy left by Nehru family for India.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s comment uncalled for

By

Lopamudra Ghosh

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April 13, 2014

In a shameful, regressive, derogatory and humiliating statement, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav made a much controversial and sexist statement just prior to the LokSabha elections.While delivering a speech for his election campaign, he reduced the crime of rape to a mistake and said that boys sometimes make mistakes. They should not be hanged. Mulayam went further ahead and said that he will amend the law in this regard if he comes to power. One question which arises in my mind is who is his vote bank, rapists? Which particular segment of population is he seeking to appease?

Why such an attitude, no one knows. Would he say the same for women he loves? Abu Azmi, his party member in Maharashtra went one step ahead and said that women who have sex outside marriage should be hanged, even if the sex is forced upon the girl and happens without her consent. In short, he seemingly is trying to imply that rape victims should be hanged. Although his son and daughter-in- law are against his views, this does not better his mindset. Such patriarchal attitude of men should be done away with. One cannot live in a society which is so insensitive towards women.

Causing a public outrage with the National Commission of Women (NCW) sending a notice to the SP chief, Mulayam soon retracted from his statement saying that no party respects women more than his own. Giving absurd, wrong, character assassinating, sentiment hurting and sexist statement by minister in speeches has become a common occurrence today. They lack broader outlook. It is saddening to know that such people are representing us nationally and internationally. What message are we trying to propagate to the masses? What about the illiterate, loyal population who take their word as Gospel? Imagine if such speeches influence them.

Celebrities reacted strongly against Mulayam Singh’s and Abu Azmi’s comment. Ayesha TakiaAzmi used harsh words against her father in law. To quote her exactly, “If what I’m reading about my father-in-law’s statements is true then me and Farhan are deeply embarrassed and ashamed… We surely do not share this mindset… It’s disrespectful to women. If these statements are true then it’s sad.”FarhanAkhtar took to social networking site to rant over the issue – “Cannot get over MS Yadav’s comment on rapists- ‘Boys will be boys.. They make mistakes’. It’s pathetic! Abu Azmi meanwhile, wants to hang women who willingly have sex. I think he needs to hang up his boots and seek medical attention ASAP.”

Women politicians have also come out in the open to express their disbelief over his comment. According to Brinda Karat, “One may oppose the death penalty for rape offenders, but to trivialize rape as a “small mistake” as the Samajwadi Party President ShriMulayam Singh Yadav has done, is most shocking and condemnable. It underlines the urgent necessity for a code of conduct for political leaders against sexist and anti-women remarks.”

He also faces the ire from women activists. So no doubt he retracted under pressure. As for voters, we surely deserve better politicians.

After Baru, ex-coal secretary’s new book showers more embarrassment on PM

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 13, 2014

After ex-PMO media advisor Sanjaya Baru’s book, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, created a furore with highly sensational claim that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi superseded the government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ex-coal Secretary PC Parakh has now come up with a book which is set to give more jolts to PM’s image.

The book titled “Crusader or Conspirator: Coalgate and Other Truths” reveals that Manmohan had very little to no control over the government of which he is in-charge.

Parakh in his book claims that PM’s image took a serious blow with 2G spectrum and coal allocation scams.

Earlier, BJP senior leader Arun Jaitley targeted the PM over rubber stamp claim in Baru’s book and said that it only confirms what the country ordinarily suspected.

Jaitley said that the PM has to get most of his decisions approved and ratified from the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, adding that the book shows that the institution of a prime minister has been minimised.

Though Baru’s book was dismissed as “cheap fiction” by the Congress party dubbing him as “an out of job, disgruntled turncoat”, Jaitley said that he’s been reading the book for past two days and Baru is like a witness.

Latching on to the book to target the ruling Congress party, another BJP senior leader, LK Advani, hit out at the PM saying that the revelation are not a surprise. Lot of things that everyone already knew have been authenticated by someone who the PM chose as his media adviser, Advani told.

The new book also revealed that despite corruption scandals, economic slowdown, the UPA-II government couldn’t retire Manmohan Singh due to repeated failures of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

After the release of the book, Congress had accused Baru of serving the political agenda of BJP in the midst of the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala while rejecting the book as a cheap fiction had said “Baru’s current proximity to a strategist of Shri Narendra Modi is well known. Timing of his allegations establish whose political agenda he is seeking to serve.”

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that “the mother-son duo (Sonia & Rahul) deliberately compromised the dignity of the office of Prime Minister so they could rule without being held accountable.”

Using the book to take potshots at Congress and Singh, Prasad said that the BJP will not give an accidental Prime Minister to this country and that the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will work more like a leader of India.

Robert Vadra will go to jail if NDA comes to power, says Uma Bharti

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 13, 2014

Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti said that Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has been involved in “several falsehood” and if the NDA comes to power at the Centre he “would go jail”.

“Son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi had been involved in several falsehood and after the election if NDA comes to power then you must be sure that he would be in jail,” she told reporters in Jhansi.

Reacting to this, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, “There is freedom of expression in the country…Let them come to power first.”

Meanwhile, Ms Bharti also alleged that the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh was trying to win the election with the help of police.

Ms Bharti alleged that the ruling party promoted the policemen and in return they were helping the party.

Gujarat model of development may not be applicable to every state: MM Joshi

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 13, 2014

While Bharatiya Janta Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is busy pitching his state’s model of development at his elections rallies, the upper echelons of the party still seem to be divided. Senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday said that the Gujarat model of development may not be applicable to every other state.

“It is now the developmental model of the country as presented by BJP. In a country like India, what developmental model is true for Jammu and Kashmir or Arunachal Pradesh, may not be true for Kerala. So some good points may be there, some good points from the government of Tripura will also be there, it is not some straitjacket model,” he added.

Joshi also said that the suspension of Jaswant Singh from the party could have been avoided. “Jaswant Singh episode could have been avoided,” he said in an interview to Manorama news channel.
In statements that could fuel another controversy within the party, he also observed that there was no Modi wave in the country but only a BJP wave.

“Modi is a representative of the party as a PM candidate so it is not a highly personalised thing (the wave). It is a representative wave. He gets support from different parts of the country, from sections of the society and from all leaders of the BJP,” he said.

This is not the first time that differences between Joshi and Modi have come out in the open. Earlier, there were reports that the BJP’s manifesto was released late because of differences between the two leaders.

In another controversy, Joshi, who had to vacate Varanasi seat for Modi, was reluctant to contest from any other seat from Uttar Pradesh. Joshi is the sitting MP from Varanasi but has been shifted to Kanpur as BJP has fielded Modi from Varanasi.

Joshi, however, had played down all the reports relating to differences within the party. “My shifting to Kanpur was a decision of the party’s parliamentary board and I am happy with it,” he had said.

PMO to seek Modi’s views on disclosing his letters with Vajpayee

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 13, 2014

The Prime Minister’s Office will take the nod of Gujarat government and Chief Minister Narendra Modi for releasing the correspondence exchanged with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the post-Godhra riots in 2002.

The information was earlier denied by the Central Public Information Officer of the PMO SE Rizvi citing section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act, without giving any reasons, which exempts information that would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

The decision was overturned during the appeal before his senior Krishan Kumar, Director PMO, where the applicant had objected to the response of the CPIO saying he failed to give germane reasons behind denial of information.

The applicant had also underlined that the correspondence was 11 years old and was not likely to have an impact on the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of offenders.

Upholding the reasons given by the applicant, the appellate authority directed the CPIO to provide additional details with regards to the case.

“As regards contention that the grounds for exemption claimed under section 8(1) (h) are not tenable, CPIO PMO is directed to obtain fresh inputs in this regard and provide the same to the applicant within 15 working days,” Krishan Kumar, Director and Appellate authority had decided.

In the latest response to six-and-a-half month old RTI application, Rizvi said after the decision that the matter was referred to the office for fresh inputs.

“It is informed that third party (Gujarat Government and Modi in the present case) consultation under Section 11(1) of the RTI Act is underway on a similar request and response regarding disclosure of information in this regard will be provided to you after due process as envisaged in section 11 of the Act is completed,” he said.

According to the section 11 of the RTI Act, a notice seeking views of the third party have to be taken within five days of filing request but CPIO did not issue any such letter within the period.
The matter of third party consultation was raised citing an existing process which has been on seeking the views.

“The Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall, within five days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to such third party of the request…,” the Act says.

Stop appeasement of Muslims

By

Mahendra Singh

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April 13, 2014

Indian secularism today is governed by the fear of the Muslims.

When the draft of our Indian Constitution was finalized and adopted we had some great Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan etc. On the other hand, today we have Muslim leaders like Azam Khan, Imam Bukhari etc. There is a huge difference between their thinking. Ideally, when Pakistan was formed along religious lines ( my personal opinion) Muslims should have been granted equal rights but they should not have been give voting rights.

Leaders belonging to Hindu and Muslim community would have never thought that after 50-60 years this fear psychosis will set in among the Indian masses. They would have never expected that there would be a degradation of morality and selfishness takes precedence. During that period, not only politicians but even the Muslim ICS officers were large hearted and pious. Over the years, the quality of Muslim IAS officers also has been deteriorated. Now we are riding a lion whose name is “ secularism” while our backside pains but we cannot overcome it. For resolving this issue we need pious Muslims and Hindus .

Today we have leaders like Azam Khan who said that victory on Kargil heights was achieved by the valor of Muslim soldiers and not Hindus. Mulayam Singh is only trying to appease Muslims for the sake of gaining their votes. To lure Muslim voters, Mulayam Singh can go to any extent and even support rapists who were repeated offenders and were awarded death sentence by the Mumbai Sessions Court. The Court must book Mulayam and Azam Khan and punish them for contempt and their candidature for Lok Sabha must be nullified by the Election Commission.

Muslims should realize that they are good, talented and strong community and it is unbecoming of them to set up shops ( the clerics) to sell votes. They are destined for higher accomplishments. They must stress on education, liberalize themselves and compete for jobs in all sectors, defense, government jobs, teaching, employment in private companies etc; where they are bound to succeed. They should stop running after Samajwadi party, Congress and AAP. Their alliance ( if any) with AAP contains possibly a sinister design bordering on separatism and it is the duty of all saner elements among us to wean them away from this path. If the BJP comes to power it should partner with Muslims for the nation’s development. They should punish the mischief makers among Muslims and encourage the liberal and pragmatic elements amongst them.

Raj Thackeray must not use Modi’s name to seek votes: Munde

By

Afternoon Voice

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April 11, 2014

BJP leader Gopinath Munde said on Friday that the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) should not seek votes using name of Narendra Modi and thus mislead people in Maharashtra.

Munde’s statement came just a day after BJP president Rajnath Singh snubbed the MNS for using Modi’s name in its campaign, asking the MNS either to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or merge with the BJP.

“The MNS should not use Modi’s name and mislead people while seeking votes for its candidates”, Munde told in reply to a question.

Raj Thackeray has made a public statement that would be MNS MPs would support Modi for prime ministership after Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP leader said that he and former party president Nitin Gadkari had tried to bring Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray together, but it proved to be a futile exercise.

He said that a vote for the MNS would amount to supporting the Congress.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP President Devendra Fadnavis told reporters here today that names of over one lakh voters from Sangli district had been included in voters’ lists from slum colonies in the Pune Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP had filed a complaint with the Election Commission, he said.

Anil Shirole, the BJP candidate contesting the Pune seat is pitted against Congress nominee Vishwajeet Kadam who hails from Sangli.