The RSS was not involved in the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, BJP patriarch LK Advani said in a blog, quoting Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi on Wednesday.

Advani’s blog ‘Mahatma was perhaps not right’ on Wednesday also said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s contributions have not been acknowledged.

“This book by Rajmohan Gandhi has effectively nailed the Congress party’s slanderous campaign against the RSS in respect of Mahatmaji’s assassination,” Advani wrote.
The BJP leader said that Rajmohan Gandhi in his book on Patel quoted a letter dated Feb 27, 1948, written by Patel to Jawaharlal Nehru.

The letter said: “I have kept myself almost in daily touch with the progress of the investigation regarding Bapu’s assassination case. I devote a large part of my evening to discussing with Sanjeevi (head of intelligence and inspector general of police, Delhi) the day’s progress and giving instructions to him on any points that arise. All the accused have given long and detailed statements… It emerges clearly from these statements that the RSS was not involved in it at all.”

Advani said that anyone who analyses history “readily feels that if Gandhiji had chosen Sardar Patel instead of Pandit Nehru to become free India’s first prime minister, it is quite likely the history of those early years may have been quite different”.

He also quoted Rajmohan Gandhi’s book on Patel, saying “while acknowledgements are fulsome in the case of Nehru, and dutiful in the case of Gandhi, they are niggardly in the case of Patel”.

“But the opinion of some that the Mahatma had been less than fair to Vallabhbhai was a factor in my decision to attempt to write the latter’s life. If a wrong had been perpetrated, some reparation from one of the Mahatma’s grandsons would be in order,” the book said.

The BJP patriarch added: “For Rajmohan, Gandhiji’s grandson, to say openly that Gandhiji had perhaps not been right in the decision he took about prime ministership, and, so merited some ‘reparation’ from one of his grandsons not only revealed his own greatness and magnanimity but also endorsed the general view that Sardar would have been a more appropriate choice.”

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday announced that the National Investigation Agency will probe into the attack on Tuesday in which 15 security men and a civilian were killed in a thickly-forested area of Chhattisgarh.

Earlier in the day, Shinde and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh paid homage to the security men who were killed when Maoists sprang the deadly ambush.

Condemning the attack, Shinde said the attack by the Maoists was on the CRPF team which was going to ensure access to road during the upcoming General Elections. There will be no change in election dates because of the attack, added Shinde. He further vowed to avenge this attack and promised detailed investigation into the security lapses.

The Home Minister though said there was intelligence yet it was not specific. He added that Maoists are scared that their importance is reducing.

“So many jawans have lost their lives in the attack, we will take revenge…the central and state forces are working together on it,” Shinde said.

“We had given the earlier case where leaders were killed to the NIA and similarly this case will also be probed by the NIA,” added Shinde, referring to the May 2013 Maoist attack in which 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, were massacred.

Addressing the media, Shinde said: “Naxal movement is gradually weakening and their numbers are dwindling while (Assembly) Elections were successfully held in Bastar region recently…they are now afraid”.

Shinde arrived here early Wednesday and held a brief meeting with Raman Singh and State Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra over the incident and later went to Jagdalpur.

Tributes were paid to the martyrs at the police parade ground in Jagdalpur, the administrative headquarters of Bastar district this morning, senior police officers told a news agency.

Shinde, Raman Singh, Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt, members of the state Cabinet paid their respect to the martyrs at the wreath-laying ceremony.

Immediately afterwards, Shinde and Singh left for his office, where the Union Home Minister would hold a meeting with the officials and review the situation.

Meanwhile, police officials in Sukma said a combing operation has been launched to trace the Naxals involved in yesterday’s attack.

Also, Singh has refused to tender his resignation in the wake of the attack, saying Naxalism poses a challenge to the nation and the Maoist attack could not be seen from a political point of view.

Over 200 guerrillas ambushed with indiscriminate fire and bomb attack a patrol of 50-55 men from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and state police on a remote stretch of a forested road in Gheeram Ghati in Sukma district, about 500 km south of Raipur in the Bastar region.

The Maoists then walked away with AK-47 assault rifles of the slain security personnel.

After the attack, Shinde had warned that the Centre will take the Naxals head.

“I condemn this attack on the CRPF and the police of Chhattisgarh. We are taking it very seriously and we will fight against the Naxal movement.”

“We will fight against Naxal (Maoist) movement,” Shinde had said, adding it cannot be immediately said “whose failure” it was.

Rebel Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Ram Kripal Yadav, who is keen to contest from the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat in Bihar against RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti, on Wednesday joined the BJP.

BJP president Rajnath Singh made the announcement at the party headquarters here.

The former aide of RJD chief Lalu Prasad thanked Rajnath Singh and the “man who is defining the next era of our nation Mr Narendra Modi”.

Vowing to work for the BJP as a grassroot worker, Yadav accused his mentor Lalu Prasad of promoting his family instead of acting for social justice.

Yadav, who had been a close aide of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, joined BJP in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders from Bihar including Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Welcoming him into the party fold, Rajnath Singh said Yadav has been RJD’s secretary general for the last 17 years and had decided to support the BJP.

Expressing his gratitude to the BJP leadership for accepting him into the party, Yadav said he will work for the party not as a leader but as a worker, which he has been for the last 35 years of his political life.

Yadav, a former legislator and a Rajya Sabha MP, accused Lalu Prasad of “promoting” his family over his party workers, who he said, were feeling stifled.

“RJD has moved away from its core values. Lalu gave precedence to his family over party and cadres. I was in a dilemma on what to do for the last few days and then decided to quit the party and join BJP for the sake of giving social justice,” he said.

“I have never been a leader. I have been a common worker in my 35 years of working in the RJD. The RJD workers in Bihar are feeling suffocated as family is being given importance. I felt social justice should be taken forward and not family justice,” Yadav said in the presence of top BJP leadership.

Supporting ‘brother’ Modi, Yadav said he was proud that BJP had nominated a tea-seller coming from a backward class as its prime ministerial candidate and vowed to strive hard to make him the Prime Minister. In saying so, he also touted his own humble background.

Lauding Modi for improving the plight of Gujarat Muslims, Yadav accused the Nitish Kumar government of raising the bogey of communalism for the sake of votes and not doing any development work.

He claimed there has been no development of Muslims in Bihar and said, “Muslims have started realising that they have been used as a vote bank. The way Muslims have progressed in Gujarat is an example.”

At least 11 people, including two Army jawans, were killed while over 100 others were evacuated to safety as the unprecedented snowfall in March triggered avalanches and damaged over 150 structures including dozens of houses in Jammu and Kashmir.

Two Army personnel, Naik Vijay Prasad and Dharmindra Singh of 82 field regiment, died after an avalanche hit their camp in Kargil sector of Ladakh region, police said on Wednesday.

Bodies of both the personnel have been recovered.

Four persons were killed after an avalanche hit two houses at Paiseran-Dragdun village in Damhal Hanjipora area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district in the wee hours today, a police official said.

A 48-year-old woman died after her tin shed dwelling collapsed due to heavy snowfall at Mimigam village in Qazigund area, the official said.

Three Nepali labourers were killed when an avalanche hit a stone quarry at Kaksar in Kargil sector, he said.

A 60-year-old woman Fazi died after her house collapsed under the weight of snow at Kansu village of southern Shopian district last night. Two other family members were rescued.

A police spokesman said 14 Gujjar families comprising 65 persons were shifted from Waltengo Nard area of Qazigund in Kulgam district to safer places due to threat of avalanches.

Six more Gujjar families comprising 24 persons were shifted from Meerasi Nallah area of Qazigund to safer places, the spokesman said.

Hearing a petition, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Law Commission to look into the issue of hate speeches being made by politicians.

A bench headed by justice BS Chauhan further asked the Commission to consider framing guidelines to prevent such provocative statements.

The crucial development came just weeks before the General Elections, and in response to a petition by NGO Pravasi Bhalai Sangathan.

In its arguments seeking a ban on hate speeches, the NGO contended that such intemperate comments are in violation of the principles of the Indian Constitution.

The PIL had named Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as respondents as the two states witnessed incidents of alleged hate speeches.

The Election Commission has already apprised the SC about provisions that are there in law for governments to act against inflammatory speeches.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had dismissed a PIL seeking its direction to restrain politicians from indulging in “provocative and hate speeches”, saying that it cannot curtail people’s fundamental right to free speech.

“We cannot curtail fundamental rights of people. It is a precious rights guaranteed by Constitution,” a bench headed by Justice RM Lodha said, adding “we are a mature democracy and it is for the public to decide.”

“We are 128 million people and there would be 128 million views. One is free not accept the view of others,” the bench said.

An FIR was on Wednesday lodged against eight MBBS students for allegedly ragging 18 juniors at a medical college hostel in the district, police said.

The eight students have been suspended by the college following the incident and asked to vacate their hostel rooms.

The second year MBBS students of Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMRS) medical college in Dharpur village of Patan allegedly made video clip of freshers after forcing them to strip and do exercises in front of them, according to the complaint.
The ragging took place in the hostel premises of the medical college on March 4, police said.

“We learnt that senior students targeted 18 students of first year MBBS on that day. The seniors forced them to strip and do various exercises in front of them. When the junior students tried to run away, the seniors locked them in room no. 208 of the hostel,” said inspector R G Parmar of Balisana police station.

“It is alleged that the seniors locked the junior students in a room, thrashed them, threatened them with dire consequences and made obscene video clip after stripping them,” he said.

When the issue reached to anti-ragging committee, all the eight senior students were asked by the college authority to vacate their hostel rooms on March 6 as punishment.

“Taking immediate action, we have also suspended them from the college till we complete our internal investigation. Based on our findings, the hostel warden today lodged an FIR against the eight students for their act,” said Dr Gurudas Khilnani, dean of GMERS medical college and chairman of anti-ragging committee.

A video of a student being bullied by a bunch of his schoolmates in a Delhi school has shocked parents who have demanded strict action against the boys.

In the video, that has gone viral on mobile messaging application WhatsApp, the two Class 6 students are seen hurling abuses at another boy, apparently from Class 7, while two others encourage them. The video was shot on Monday by a student on his cellphone, despite the gadget being banned for students within the school premises.

The school management said appropriate action had been taken against the children “while keeping in mind that these were young kids and their future should not be ruined.”

While school officials aren’t saying what action has been taken, sources within the school told that the two boys who were most aggressive have left the school.

The school management, which will be holding a meeting of its parent body tomorrow, has received several emails and SMSes from concerned parents about the incident while also asking how so many of these kids were carrying cellphones.

Expressing concern over mobile signal spillover from Pakistan in the border areas of Western Rajasthan, district Superintendent of Police on Wednesday wrote to the Collector seeking ban on the use of Pakistani SIM card in Bikaner.

SP Santosh Tukaram told that signals from mobile tower erected in Pakistan were
being detected 4-5 km inside Indian Territory which raises possibilities of the network being used by anti-national elements.

Use of Pakistani SIM is banned for the same reason in Barmer and Ganganagar under section 144 of CrPC. Bikaner District administration would soon take a decision on this, sources said.

Class 12 students in Indore have demanded taking re-examination of CBSE Physics paper after the question papers were allegedly leaked a day before the test on social-networking site Facebook. The students’ anger came out after only Manipur schools declared holding re-examinations.

The exam papers were leaked on March 4, a day before the exams were scheduled. The set number of the paper was leaked on Facebook in Manipur. As the reports surfaced, CBSE announced that re-examination of the Physics paper will be held at all Manipur centres on April 2.

Students in Indore claimed that they worked day and night for the examinations and appeared to take the paper not knowing that some other students had already seen the question paper a day before on Facebook and were likely to score more than them.

Hence they demanded that re-examination should not only take place in Manipur, but across India. “We will protest till our demands are met,” they said.

Just a month ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata is still hunting for a seat for its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh. Sources suggested that Modi may now contest from Lucknow or Allahabad if he decides to contest from Uttar Pradesh at all. The development comes a day ahead of the party’s Central Election Committee meet where the second list of candidates is likely to be released.

There were reports that Modi might contest from senior Murli Manohar Joshi’s Varanasi seat but he was reluctant to give up his seat. It was also believed that Joshi would be moved to Kanpur seat but senior party leader Kalraj Mishra was eyeing the Kanpur seat.

Sources said that Joshi was confident that he will contest from the seat and no one from the BJP has officially broached the subject of him moving out of Varanasi.

On Monday, Joshi went to his constituency and held a meeting with his supporters to press for his credentials for contesting from Varanasi. Even though Joshi has stated that he will follow the party’s dictate, he made his displeasure known to all.

Joshi had earlier sent out a subtle message to the party leadership by saying it should keep in mind the winnability aspect besides the “prestige” of the prime ministerial candidate while taking a decision.