Archives for March 2018

Days after embarrassing BJP by calling his own party chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa corrupt, BJP national president on Friday delivered the denouement saying that though he made a mistake, the people of Karnataka will not.

Shah during his visit to Mysuru on March 30, said tat though in a slip of tongue he said that Yeddyurappa government is corrupt instead of Siddaramaih’s, but the people of Karnataka will not make such mistake while voting in the election.

It may be recalled that addressing a press conference Shah made a blooper and said “If ever there is a competition on the most corrupt, then Yeddyurappa government will be awarded number one,”

Soon after the faux pas, the Congress was quick to taunt the BJP for ‘speaking the truth.’ “The Truth can never be suppressed. Even Amit Shah agrees that Yeddyurappa led the Most Corrupt Government ever,” tweeted the Karnataka Congress.

Another BJP leader Prahlad Joshi who translated Amit Shah’s address, on the same day publicly said that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will not do anything for the downtrodden like Dalits, poor, and backward classes and Modi will harm the nation.

The series of goof ups happened on the day Election Commission announced the dates of much-awaited Assembly polls. Karnataka will vote on May 12 and the counting and announcement of results will be held on May 15.

Lingayat support to the BJP surged in 1990, when Congress leader and former premier Rajiv Gandhi abruptly removed a Lingayat leader as Chief Minister

For nearly three decades, the Lingayats, a powerful upper caste group in Karnataka, have voted for the BJP, whose presumptive Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is the most statured leader of the community. The prosperous Lingayats were believed till recently to form 17% percentage of the state’s population and are governed by a cluster of about 1,000 mathas or religious seminaries, each with its own spiritual head.

Two days ago, it was one of these leaders that presented BJP chief Amit Shah with a letter that is being interpreted as a new couple alert – a pairing of the Lingayats with the Congress, which just a week back said that the Lingayats should be recognized as a religious minority – like the Jains or Sikhs or Buddhists. The BJP says the Congress is trying to skim political support with a move that will divide Hindus.

But Lingayats have long held that they are not to be mixed with Hindus. “Those who believe this decision threatens the Hindu religion are exaggerating. It’s too vast and rooted to be in any danger,” said the Siddalinga Swami of a prominent Lingayat seminary in North Karnataka. “We are not anti-Hindu, but we don’t subscribe to some tenets of Hinduism. This can pose a problem only to those people who speak in favour of an undivided Hindu society, but never act against the ills that plague it. They want to maintain status quo, we are challenging it.”

Unexpectedly, the Lingayats are now the central flash point between the Congress and the BJP. Rahul Gandhi visited a large Lingayat math in February. Amit Shah tweeted that he visited another today.

The Lingayats were formed as a sect in the 12th century by the social reformer Basavanna who rejected the caste system and championed gender equality. Their support to the BJP surged in 1990, when Congress leader and former premier Rajiv Gandhi abruptly removed a Lingayat leader as Chief Minister. When the BJP won Karnataka in 2008, marking its first government in the south, the Lingayats were a large part of its success. The community influences the results of at least 100 of the 224 constituencies in the state.

On May 12, Karnataka will vote for its next government. The incumbent Congress administration, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, congregates the support of Hindu minorities, backward classes and Dalits, collectively acronym-ed “AHINDA”.

Word play on that was offered earlier this week by Amit Shah when he said the Chief Minister is “not AHINDA but A-Hindu or anti-Hindu.” His speech was made at a rally in Central Karnataka. He urged Lingayat spiritual leaders to keep the community united in support of the BJP.

Win Myint on Friday was sworn-in as the new President of Myanmar, two days after he was elected by Parliament to replace Htin Kyaw, who resigned last week over health concerns.

He was elected after defeating two other candidates on Wednesday,

High-level officials, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, attended the swearing in ceremony.

Myint, 66, was a former political prisoner jailed under the last military junta.

Ruling party National League for Democracy (NLD) veteran, Myint is one of the the small circle of collaborators and trusted men of Suu Kyi’s.

He replaces Htin Kyaw, who resigned on March 21 after the government revealed the former president, 71, had travelled abroad several times to undergo medical treatment.

Although the constitution grants broad powers to the head of state, Suu Kyi is expected to continue in her important role as State Counsellor.

The Nobel Peace laureate was given this post as she was not eligible for the presidency due to a constitutional rule that vetoes candidates with foreign relatives, in her case two children with British passports.

Apart from the new president, the other two candidates also took office as vice presidents.

The last military junta was dissolved in 2011 and passed power to a civilian government formed by former generals, which was later replaced by the NLD.

The Myanmar Constitution reserves broad powers for the armed forces, including a quarter of Parliament seats and key ministries such as Interior, Defence and Borders.

Facing criticism over the government’s inefficiency to control the riots and communal violence in Bihar, the JD(U) on Thursday in a sharp message to the BJP asked the saffdron party to restrain its its leaders who are seen to have contributed to the violence.

JD(U) general secretary Shyam Rajak said, “Nitishji never compromises on the law and order from… and for this, we are willing to pay any price”.

Earlier in March, Nitish Kumar had voiced his discomfort with ally BJP saying that he would not compromise with those trying to divide the society.

“Please remember, neither did I compromise with corruption, nor I will compromise with those trying to divide the society. I’m for complete communal and social peace… I want to make it clear that this country will march ahead on the basis of love, compassion and communal harmony,” he said.

Nitish Kumar had formed an alliance with the BJP last year after dumping Lalu Yadav-led JD(U) and the Congress.

Communal clashes have been reported from various parts of Bihar in the recent past, with opposition parties like the RJD and the Congress accusing the BJP of inciting violence and charging JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with being “helpless” before the coalition partner.

RJD supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav after being brought to Delhi for treatment at AIIMS on Thursday had said that “Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is now finished”.

Pointing out the riots and incidents of violence in Bihar, Lalu Yadav said that the “BJP has set the whole state ablaze”.

According to PTI, members of two communities clashed on Wednesday over taking out a religious procession in Bihar’s Nalanda district, leaving more than 20 persons, including four security personnel, injured.

Nalanda is the native district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Communal clashes have erupted in several districts in the state since Ram Navami last Sunday.

Seething with anger against the Central government for not setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), political parties in Tamil Nadu are resorting to hunger strike or hoisting black flags in condemnation.

Speaking at a wedding function in Madurai around 500 km from here on Friday, AIADMK Coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said the AIADMK would go on a day’s hunger strike on April 2 at all district headquarters.

He said this would be against the Central government’s failure to set up the CMB despite Supreme Court orders.

The six-week deadline laid by the apex court for forming the CMB and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) ended on Thursday.

Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar told reporters here that the state government would fight for its rights and it was “friendly” with the Modi government only to get various developmental projects approved.

He said the Tamil Nadu government would move the apex court on the issue.

Meanwhile, PMK activists led by party founder S. Ramadoss and former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss hoisted black flags on their houses.

On its part, a DMK Executive Council meeting here condemned both the Central and state governments.

The DMK also decided to meet all other political parties and decide the next course of action over the Cauvery issue.

Tamil Nadu parties allege that the Modi government did not set up the CMB as it does not want to alienate voters in neighbouring Karnataka, which is opposed to the Supreme Court order.

Amid the raging controversy over data privacy, Union minister Smriti Irani on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, alleging that he had increased his popularity by using bots from Uzbekistan and Russia while his party was using technology to divide the country on caste lines.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, who spoke at length on the debate around data theft, users’ privacy and the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica, said it was time India had a policy for digital broadcasting and news, and that she would make some announcement in this regard “very soon”.

Replying to queries on Rahul Gandhi, Irani claimed that his own constituents don’t want to give him a chance, and for the first time in the past three years, all the local body elections and assembly seats have been lost by the Congress in his constituency.

“That means that the people, he has been so-called serving for over a decade, know that this is a gentleman who does not deliver on promises of governance, on promises of progress, on promises of prosperity.

“So when his own people have certified that he is not acceptable to us as a leader, how do you presume that I have a chip on my shoulder,” Irani said at the India Economic Conclave in Delhi.

In another jibe at Gandhi, she called herself a “self-made woman” and said her identity is not defined by who her father is.

Amethi had witnessed a high-pitched electoral battle between Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections which the latter had lost.

Asked if she will take on Rahul Gandhi again in 2019 in Amethi, Irani shot back saying that when one loses the local body and assembly elections, “the electorate is telling you not to come back”.

Asked about the Congress chief gaining more traction in social media, Irani said, “Well for a gentleman who has increased his popularity on the basis of bots, that too from Uzbekistan and Russia, I am sure he will do well when he goes to those countries. So far as his own Lok Sabha constituency, one must understand that you want to give him a chance but his own constituents do not”.

Bots are fake automated accounts that use artificial intelligence to influence discussions and promote specific ideas or products.

On whether she will challenge Rahul Gandhi to a debate, Irani said: “Well for a guy who has somebody else to handle his Twitter handle, will he debate me?…. I need to throw out a challenge to an equal.”

Talking about Congress and its alleged links with Cambridge Analytica, Irani said: “Here is a political party that is so desperate to retain power that it will analyse the caste of every voter and then engineer a communications strategy so that it either instils fear or it instigates you to vote for a person because they belong to a particular community”.

Christopher Wylie, a former Analytica employee turned whistleblower, in a deposition before the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee in London had said the company had worked extensively in India and believed it was employed by the Congress.

Irani claimed that this was not just a data theft issue but a deeper malaise and a challenge.

“Somewhere in the psyche of the Congress party is a belief that we divided this country on the basis of caste decades ago, now let us use technology to divide them,” said the minister.

“For Cambridge Analytica to say we are hired so that we can tell you what discord, what kind of negative campaign you can run in what community, make them feel so morbid that they choose their electoral candidate not on the basis of development but on the basis of fear that you instill in them,” Irani said.

Dismissing allegations about the NaMo (Narendra Modi) app secretly recording users’ data, Irani said most apps seek information from users and to tantamount it to snooping would be very childish.

The Congress president had claimed that the NaMo app secretly recorded audio, video and contacts.

“Modi’s NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians.

“Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the APP,” Rahul Gandhi had said on Twitter using the hashtag “DeleteNaMoApp”

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said he would contest in the May 12 assembly election from the Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru.

“I will contest from Chamundeshwari seat on a Congress ticket and win with the blessings of the people as I had in the past,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here, accepting the challenge of JD-S state President H.D. Kumaraswamy, who dared him to do so on Wednesday.

Though the 69-year-old veteran leader contested from the same seat seven times since 1983 and won five times, he was re-elected from Varuna in this district in the 2013 assembly poll.

“I have full faith and belief in my voters. They will not listen to him (Kumaraswamy) or will they let me down. If he has guts, let him also contest from here. Will see whom the people will elect,” he said.

Kumaraswamy told reporters sarcastically that he would return to Chamundeshwari after the poll results to give his reaction to the “defeat” of Siddaramaiah by the electorate.

The Chief Minister plans to field his eldest son Yatindra from Varuna, which is also his home town, if he contests from Chamundeshwari.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today demanded strict action against people involved in the alleged leak of CBSE examination papers, and said he feels “sorry and sad” for students who will have to re-appear for the exams.

Kejriwal said responsibility should be fixed in the matter, a day after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced re-examination in Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics papers in wake of reports of papers being leaked.

“I really feel sorry and sad for the students who have to give their exams again for no fault of theirs. Responsibility shud be fixed n strict action shud be taken against those responsible (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted.

Earlier today, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar termed the CBSE paper leak issue “unfortunate” and said culprits would not go scot-free.

The Delhi Police’s crime branch is investigating the alleged leak after registering two separate cases in the matter.

The police has received phone numbers from which WhatsApp messages containing the papers were circulated and it is trying to identify the users of these numbers.

The investigators have also asked the Board to share the details of how the papers were sent to examination centres.

On March 15, the Delhi government had said it has received complaints of the Class 12 CBSE accountancy paper being leaked. A probe was later ordered even though the Board denied any leak.