Archives for March 2022

MUMBAI: BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray requesting that the recently-released film ‘The Kashmir Files’ be exempted from entertainment tax in the state.

“‘The Kashmir Files’ movie, which depicts Hindus who fell prey to Muslim terrorism, should be declared tax-free in the state,” Rane stated in the letter written in Marathi.

Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, the film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others.

On Sunday, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments decided to make ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie tax-free.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday also the same.

“Kudos to @vivekagnihotri for #TheKashmirFiles, a blood-curdling, poignant & honest narrative of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their home land. To lend our support to the movie & encourage our people to watch it, we will make the movie tax-free in Karnataka,” Bommai tweeted.

Meanwhile, a ruckus erupted outside the Inox multiplex here in sector 4 of the millennium city, screening the film, on Sunday over the cancellation of tickets of some visitors.

Incensed over the denial of entry to the movie hall despite having tickets booked in advance with them, some of the audiences entered into a scuffle with the cinema hall’s security personnel, necessitating intervention by police.

The trouble began when some visitors were denied entry to the hall despite having tickets while the movie hall managers said they had to cancel the tickets to reissue them without tax after the Haryana government made the movie tax-free, said police.

The situation was brought under control after the movie-goers and cinema hall owner reached a compromise over cancelled tickets, it added.

“To implement the revised tax-free pricing for the movie as per the Haryana government’s order and to ensure that the benefit of the same is passed on to the maximum number of guests with immediate effect, the tickets which were already issued with the tax amount, had to be reissued,” Inox Cinema said in an official statement.

“This process required reprogramming of the existing tickets and the same was communicated to guests so that they can rebook the ticket and enjoy the movie at a lower tax-free price,” the statement explained.

“We are extremely heartened by the response we have received for the movie across the country and are looking forward to welcoming guests to enjoy it in coming days,” it added.

INDORE: Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said that regular international flights will resume from March 27 as the coronavirus situation in India has improved now.

However, special international flights have been operating between India and about 35 other countries since July 2020 under air bubble.

“I have already given a direction that restrictions on international flights, which were imposed due to COVID-19, be lifted,” Scindia said on the sidelines of an event here.

“The international flight services would be fully restored from March 27 as they were before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

The minister also said that the Modi government held talks with the heads of Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, like Romania, Moldova, Slovakia and Poland, and set up a corridor for the evacuation of 18,000 Indian students from the war-hit country under the ‘Operation Ganga’.

It was for the first time that so many Indians were rescued from a war-ravaged country, he claimed.

“Apart from the Indian students, we evacuated some citizens of our neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, from Ukraine,” Scindia said.

RANCHI: Jharkhand legislator Dipika Pandey Singh on Sunday resigned from the post of national secretary of the Congress and the party’s co-in charge of Uttarakhand after its defeat in the recent assembly polls in the northern state.

“Taking responsibility of the defeats in Uttarakhand assembly elections, I have resigned as national secretary, co-in charge of Uttarakhand. I thank leadership for giving me the opportunity to serve the party at national level,” she wrote on Twitter.

Singh is an MLA from Mahagama assembly constituency in Jharkhand’s Godda district. In Uttarakhand, the BJP will form a second successive government, the first in the state’s 21-year history.

The saffron party clinched 47 seats, 11 more than the magic figure of 36, while the Congress bagged 19 assembly constituencies and others four.

The Congress lost Punjab to the AAP, could not wrest Goa and Manipur from the BJP and the grand old party’s tally in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh fell to its lowest.

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab minister and senior Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu on Sunday said that the Congress leadership scripted its own defeat by giving power to turncoats and opportunists who were alien to the Congress, its history and culture.

Asserting that the Congress “committed one blunder after another”, Balbir Sidhu said removing Amarinder Singh as the chief minister proved to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back which eventually led to the “complete collapse” of the party and the government.

Amarinder Singh was unseated from the chief minister’s post last year following a bitter feud between him and Navjot Singh Sidhu.

In a statement here, the former health minister said the party’s third mistake was refusing to appoint Sunil Jakhar as the chief minister just because he was a Hindu, despite the support of an overwhelming majority of the party MLAs and the secular character and culture of the Congress.

“If the Congress had believed in politics of religion, Giani Zail Singh wouldn’t be the president, Dr Manmohan Singh wouldn’t be the prime minister and Buta Singh wouldn’t be the home minister,” he said.

“All this was followed by the appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi, who again was not a real Congressman, as he had tried his luck with the Shiromani Akali Dal and the People’s Party of Punjab before joining the Congress. The Congress party and the government was handed over to rank outsiders,” Balbir Sidhu asserted.

He said the way the party arbitrarily denied tickets to senior and veteran leaders like Amrik Singh Dhillon, Jagmohan Singh Kang, Ajaib Singh Bhatti and Kewal Singh Dhillon was yet another fatal mistake by the Congress leadership.

“It was strange and surprising that the party looked like it was in a race with itself in repeating one blunder after another to cause its own doom,” he said.

The three-time former MLA from Mohali pointed out that just before the appointment of Navjot Singh Sidhu as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, everyone was of the unanimous view that the Congress will repeat itself in 2022.

“But the countdown for doom started the day Navjot Sidhu took over as the PCC president”, he said, adding that the party made no efforts to reign him in.

Balbir Sidhu said the way the Punjab Congress chief and the chief minister indulged in open war of words, putting the party in a state of “civil war”, left the field wide open for the opposition.

“People got fed up with this civil war and they decided to teach us a lesson,” he said.

Besides, Balbir Sidhu said, “The language used by Navjot Sidhu and Channi during the campaign antagonised a large section of the electorate.”

While Navjot Sidhu allegedly addressed former minister Anil Joshi as a “kaala Brahmin”, Channi allegedly used derogatory language against the migrant population.

This antagonised certain communities and they voted against the Congress not only in Punjab, but also in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

The former minister said instead of owning up responsibility, those responsible were “shamelessly” glorifying themselves as if they had won “Param Vir Chakra”.

He said those responsible for the debacle must be made accountable, lest the Congress got “destroyed beyond redemption”.

The Aam Aadmi Party romped home with 92 of the 117 assembly seats by decimating the Congress and the SAD-BSP combine.

BENGALURU: A Bengaluru-based former career bureaucrat and AAP leader, who had also served as secretary at Rastrapathi Bhavan, has outlined a roadmap for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, where the party put up a phenomenal performance. Delhi, where the party is already in power, and Punjab are vastly different and so are the needs of both states, Renuka Vishwanathan. 

“Punjab’s economy is full of paradoxes. The state has the highest per capita income, but it also has the highest budget deficit, and is forever seeking special Central funds to keep the government afloat,’’ she explained. 

“The best bet is to unleash the forces of good governance, collect every penny that is legally due and spend it thriftily. The removal of corrupt intermediaries has released a budgetary bonanza in Delhi, where the government has launched pro-poor initiatives without raising taxes. The same approach can work wonders in Punjab and give taxpayers the full benefit of current levies,’’ she added.

As for the agriculture sector, Renuka said, “Farms are doubly drought-proofed — there is perennial canal irrigation and this is supplemented with borewell water. Environmentally sound policies are essential to prevent soil degradation and to conserve water. Availability of cheap power for irrigation pumpsets and diesel generators has always been a key concern for the farming community.

My dream project for Punjab is the proliferation of decentralised village-level solar generation units backed up by the grid. It will transfer administrative responsibility from the state power utility to local panchayats which can meet the needs of households, local industries and irrigation pumpsets with cheap power.’’  

“Political fireworks can be expected when Mann’s Cabinet fights battles for Minimum Support Price in the coming seasons. The AAP’s move into Punjab will also ensure that the air pollution battle of Delhi will now be fought jointly by its two CMs.’’

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to launch a massive membership drive in the southern states to build on the momentum of its stupendous victory in the Punjab Assembly polls.

The party will start its membership drive in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep, senior AAP leader Somnath Bharti said on Friday.

“After the thunderous victory of the party in Punjab, people from the southern regions have started showing interest in the politics of our party. We are receiving an unprecedented response from southern India,” he told reporters.

“Seeing the mood of the people and taking into account the response that our teams in the southern states have been receiving, we have decided to kick off membership campaigns throughout the region,” he added.

Bharti said the membership drive will be carried out by the party’s local teams.

“These campaigns will actively penetrate deep into Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman-Nicobar and Lakshadweep,” he said.

“I call upon all those who feel the need to bring a change in Indian politics to join the AAP and be a part of the revolution,” he said.

The AAP leader said his party has also decided to take out foot marches across the southern states in phases.

“This sequence will begin on April 14 on Dr B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary with our first foot march in Telangana. We will cover each and every assembly constituency of the region. Through these foot marches, we will take the politics of Kejriwal ji and the ideals of Babasaheb and Bhagat Singh to every resident of the region,” said Bharti.

“We will highlight the difference that the AAP has made in the lives of all those who live in Delhi,” he said.

The AAP has its units in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar.

The party had contested the assembly polls in Karnataka and Telengana in 2018 as part of its efforts to make inroads into south India but could not open its account.