Archives for December 2022

CHENNAI: India on Tuesday remembered the demolition of Babri Masjid by a mob of Kar Sevaks at Ayodhya 30 years ago.

Dr Audrey Truschke, Associate Prof of South Asian history at Rutgers University-Newark noted in a tweet that, “A priceless piece of Indian heritage, destroyed by an iconoclastic Hindu nationalist mob 30 years ago, today.

A special CBI court in Lucknow on September 30, 2020 had acquitted all those, including prominent BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati, who were accused of conspiracy in the case. The court ruled out the conspiracy theories in the demolition of the Mughal era monument.

On the 30th anniversary of the demolition, Muslim women organised a protest in Hyderabad and raised black flags in Saidabad area on Monday, reports said.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi took to Twitter to state that December 6 would remain a black day for Indian democracy. “The desecration and demolition of #BabriMasjid is a symbol of injustice. Those responsible for its destruction were never convicted. We will not forget it & we will ensure that future generations remember it too,” he added.

In Kolkata, the civil society, including political personalities, teachers, and renowned journalists, reportedly recollected the fateful day in Indian history.  The left parties took out a rally on Tuesday, NewsClick reported.

In a report, NewsClick quoted journalist and editor of the national daily Times of India, Sougata Roy, as saying that December 6 was an assault on the secular fabric of the country, and the danger persists even today.

“Those who did it, didn’t only demolish a mosque but attacked the very premises of the Constitution. Also, it is a fact that the Supreme Court later allowed the construction of Ram Mandir in the same place. What surprised me on that day (December 6, 1992) was how a city, which was otherwise accommodative and friendly to all religions, changed overnight, showing communal shades in the society,” he said. 

The report also quoted poet Mandakranta Sen as saying that December 6 is a black day for democracy in the country, and every December 6, “we double our resolves to fight against the communal hate mongers.”

He said, “The fundamentalists eat, drink and make merry with religions. December 6 is a day to realise not to damage any place of worship but to take everybody along towards the goal of people being able to sleep with a full belly at night.”

A five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had on November 9, 2019, cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque. Following this, a Bhoomi puja was held for the construction of the Ram temple at the Babri Masjid demolition site.

NEW DELHI: With an eye on the next Lok Sabha polls in 2024, BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday asked party leaders to launch a “house to house” campaign to reach out to people and build an “emotional connect” with them.

Addressing the party’s office-bearers from across the country, he said all state units will launch the exercise and said it should not be limited to handing over some party literature to people

Party members should discuss issues with people, understand their problems and help them in addressing their concerns, he said, according to a party statement.

In the meeting, intensive discussions were also held on a number of assembly elections in 2023, including in Tripura, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and presentations were made, it said.

The highlight of Nadda’s address on the last day of the two-day meeting was his emphasis on connecting with people.

“BJP workers should build direct contact with every home through the ‘house to house’ campaign so that they are seen as members of the households, standing with them in most difficult times,” he said.

India’s G-20 presidency also came in for a discussion with leaders stressing that people should be informed about this “global achievement” of the country.

Nadda also noted that various welfare measures of the Modi government have uplifted the living standards of over 60 crore people and said the BJP should reach out to them.

BHOPAL: A six-year-old boy fell into a borewell at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, officials said

The local police and the administration were informed about the incident, following which a rescue operation was launched which is presently underway.

Betul District Collector Amanveer Singh Bains said a camera has been inserted into the borewell to monitor the child’s movement.

Provisions have been made for oxygen supply in the borewell and a tunnel is being dug parallel to the borewell with the help of two JCB machines.

Besides the District Collector, SP Simala Prasad along with other officials are monitring the situation.

The Chief Minister’s Office informed that CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is personaly monitoring the situation and taking review form the Collector.

The rescue operation was underway till the time of filing this report.

BARGARH: Setting an example for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), a 38-year-old man living in Oman for more than a decade, came back to his hometown Padampur to exercise his franchise in the bypoll on Monday.An engineer by profession, Umesh Panigrahi of Padampur town arrived at his native place on Sunday. After casting his vote, he left for Oman on Monday evening. Panigrahi has been working at a smelter in Oman for the last 12 years.y 

“I became eligible to vote 20 years back but could not exercise my franchise during my stay here. Later, I went to Oman to work. I tried coming back to participate in the past elections but circumstances weren’t favourable. When I came to know that by-election is being held in my hometown, I tried my best to make it this time. I applied for an emergency leave and was lucky to get flight tickets on time. Fortunately, everything worked out in my favour and I could exercise my franchise for the first time,” said a visibly-elated Panigrahi.

For Panigrahi, the whole experience of going to the polling booth and voting for his choice of candidate was new and different. “More than a constitutional right, voting should be seen as a responsibility. I was following all the updates on the by-election. With my limited knowledge about the background of the candidates in poll fray, I exercised my franchise. As a voter, I want the civic problems of Padampur to be addressed. The schools and colleges of the region should also be developed,” he added.

NEW DELHI: The absence of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders would not affect the party’s floor management or strategies in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament, said Congress MP and Lok Sabha chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh. The winter session of the Parliament will commence on December 7 (tomorrow) and will continue till December 29. It will have 17 sittings spread over 23 days.

The Lok Sabha MP also said that the party’s strategy will be to intervene positively and avoid disruptions to ensure the smooth functioning of the House. The party will also try to reach a consensus with its allies on the issue of reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) before discussing it in the House, he said.   

Besides Gandhi, Congress’ Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh and senior leader Digvijaya Singh too, will be mostly away from the winter session on account of the Bharat Jodo Yatra which entered Rajasthan on Monday. Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi told this paper that he will be joining the winter session only in the second week of December as he is leading a ‘yatra’ in his home state Assam.

Speaking to this newspaper, Suresh said that the absence of Rahul Gandhi and other leaders wouldn’t be felt much as Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and other senior leaders Manish Tewari and himself will be handling the floor management, debates, and coordination with other opposition parties.  

In RS too, party whips Naseer Hussain and Chaya Verma will pitch in for Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, he said.  Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh may also give the winter session a miss for Bharat Jodo Yatra. “MPs Rajeev Shukla and Pramod Tiwari will also help Kharge with floor management and coordination,” said Suresh. 

Congress has decided to continue with Kharge as the LoP till the winter session of the Parliament, said the leader adding that a new leader will be chosen in the Plenary session in February. The party wants to avoid a washed-out session, he said. “We will not disrupt or stall the House unless it’s very critical,” he added.

The top brass of the party, in a meeting last week, decided to corner the government on three main issues — rising inflation, the border standoff with China, and the weakening of constitutional institutions. The party said that it will also ask the government to rethink the issue of EWS. 

MUMBAI: A 42-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by three persons who entered her home, attacked her with a sharp weapon and gave her burn injuries on her private parts with cigarettes, a Mumbai police official said on Sunday.

The incident took place in Kurla in the early hours of Wednesday, the official said, adding the accused and victim stay in the same locality.

“The accused raped her one by one and also performed unnatural sex. They singed her private parts with cigarettes and attacked her with a sharp weapon on the chest and both arms. One of the accused videoed the incident and threatened to circulate it if she approached police,” he said.

The woman narrated her ordeal to neighbours, who got in touch with an NGO and an FIR was registered, the Kurla police station official said.

The trio has been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 376D (gang rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon) and other offences and efforts were on to nab them, he said.

KOLKATA: Hours before leaving for Delhi to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s G20 meet, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at the BJP after Rs 94 lakh was found stuffed in the stepney (spare tyre) of a Guwahati-bound vehicle in Jalpaiguri district on Monday.“Money, hooligans and arms are being transported for the BJP. I would like to request the BJP to take care of it. Let us fight politically,” she said.
Police intercepted a vehicle in which five persons were travelling in a SUV with registration number issued by Bihar transport authorities and found cash of Rs 94.38 lakh.

“We had a specific tip off about transportation of the cash. A check-post was in place at Banarhat and we were checking all the suspected vehicles. We intercepted the SUV and started searching the vehicle. Initially, nothing was found. We picked up the spare tyre and realised its weight was abnormal. We decided to engage a mechanic to open the tyre,” said Biswajit Mahato, the superintendent of police, Jalpaiguri district. The police said the stepney was stashed with 94 bundles of currency notes in denominations of Rs 500 and RRs 200.