Violence in Sambhal over Mosque survey, Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera(R)

New Delhi In the wake of violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, the Congress on Sunday alleged that the Yogi Adityanath administration is squarely responsible for killing innocents and only the BJP-RSS is guilty of “setting fire” to the peace and harmony there.

The opposition party said the videos of direct firing on the protesters in Sambhal depict the horrifying result of a “well-planned conspiracy” by Adityanath and the BJP-RSS.

Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said Adityanath’s administration has once again shown a blatant disregard for communal harmony.

“In this entire matter, the BJP neither wanted the survey to proceed nor to stop it; its sole objective was to destroy harmony,” he alleged.

Three people were killed and scores of others, including around 20 security personnel, were injured as the protesters opposing a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque Sambhal clashed with police on Sunday.

“No citizen in Uttar Pradesh is ‘safe’ under CM Adityanath, who gave the reprehensible slogan of ‘Batenge toh Katenge’. This is evident by the highly deplorable incidents of Sambhal today,” Khera said in a statement.

The videos of direct firing on the protesters in Sambhal depict the horrifying result of a “well-planned conspiracy” by Adityanath and the BJP-RSS, he alleged.

Western Uttar Pradesh, which has been a symbol of goodwill and harmony for years, has today witnessed three people killed and many injured under a “well-planned conspiracy”, the Congress leader said.

“We say with full responsibility that the Adityanath administration is squarely responsible for killing innocents and only the BJP-RSS is guilty of setting fire to the peace and harmony of Sambhal. Modi-Yogi ‘double assault’ governments, which consider the minority community as second-class citizens, hurriedly got a petition filed in court,” Khera said.

It is public knowledge that the court ordered an immediate survey without hearing the other side, he said.

“No action was taken against the rioters who accompanied the survey team. This makes it clear that after the by-elections in the state, the Yogi government has further intensified the politics of violence and hatred,” he added.

The Congress leader said that questions are being raised about the role of the police and the administration because many innocent people have lost their lives in this violence and more than two dozen people have been injured.

“Inciting communal hatred and driving a wedge between two communities – is the DNA of BJP-RSS!” Khera said.

“On one hand, there is an empty slogan of ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hain’ – on the other hand, they divide communities! On one hand, there is lie of ‘Sabka Saath- Sabka Vishwas’ that has been going on for a decade, on the other hand, the minority community is constantly being targeted in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is destroying communal harmony and brotherhood for political gains, which is highly condemnable and objectionable, Khera said.

“We appeal to the BJP to prioritize the nation’s interests over their political ambitions,” he added.

“We want to ask Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Adityanath whether they will follow the statement of their own Mohan Bhagwat ji in June 2022 (even if it is pretentious!) in which he said that ‘History is something that we cannot change. Neither today’s Hindus nor today’s Muslims made it, it happened at that time…. Why see Shivling in every mosque?…. Now we do not have to do any agitation..?'” Khera said.

“Neither Modi ji, nor Chief Minister Adityanath nor Mohan Bhagwat ji have the answer to this!” he added.

Khera said Rahul Gandhi has been continuously and stridently talked about ‘Nafrat Ke Bazaar Mein Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ and in such a situation, an appeal is made to the people of Sambhal to recognise the politics of hatred, maintain mutual unity, amity and harmony, and take steps to protect their rights in a legal manner.

Moradabad Divisional Commissioner Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said the protesters torched vehicles and pelted stones at the police, who used tear gas and batons to disperse the mob.

“Shots were fired by the miscreants… the PRO of the superintendent of police suffered a gunshot to the leg, the police circle officer was hit by pellets and 15 to 20 security personnel were injured in the violence,” he said.

Singh said that a constable also suffered a serious head injury, while the deputy collector fractured his leg.

Internet services have been suspended in Sambhal tehsil for 24 hours and the district administration declared a holiday on November 25 for all students up to Class 12.

Purported images shared on social media showed the protesters pelting stones at cops from atop buildings and in front of the Shahi Jama Masjid. Later, the police personnel were purportedly seen cornering and hitting people as they tried to disperse a large crowd in a narrow alleyway.

Karkala: Karkala police have arrested two individuals for putting up a defamatory banner against Muslims at Murathangady near Sanoor on Tuesday.

The accused are identified as Satish Devadiga, a local who had put up the banner, and Pushpalatha, the owner of ‘Amulya Graphics’ at Market Road, Karkala where the banner was printed. Karkala police who investigated the matter arrested the accused and presented them before the Karkala court. Releasing the printing press owner Pushpalatha on conditional bail, the court handed over Sathish to judicial custody.

The controversial banner had appeared at Kamalaksha Nagara near Murathangady on Monday. It used abusive language against the local Muslim community and warned them not to ‘lay hands on Hindu girls’. Accused Satish had printed his name and photo in the banner, calling himself ‘one of the freedom fighter’. Locals say that the accused is a 50-year old daily wager who was suffering from mental illness from last 5-6 years.

Accused Sathish was currently residing with his younger brothers, as his wife and children had abandoned him. Few residents alleged that as he was mentally unstable, certain anti-social elements could have used his name to publish the banner so as to cause unrest in the society. Kamalaksha Nagara is a place of communal harmony and such attempts to instigate communal discord must be nipped in the bud, the locals demanded.

 Two coaches of the Rani Kamlapati-Saharsa special passenger train derailed when it was about to enter Itarsi station in Madhya Pradesh on Monday evening, an official said.

No casualties were reported in the incident that occurred at 6:10 PM at Itarsi station under the Bhopal railway division, West Central Railway’s chief public relation officer (CPRO) Harshit Shrivastava told PTI over the phone from Jabalpur, the WCR headquarters.

“The train was about to enter platform number 2 when its two third AC cars derailed,” he said.

A potential tragedy was averted as the train was running at a speed of less than 5 km when the derailment happened, he said.

Shrivastava said an inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

The train resumed its onward journey at 9:10 PM after the two affected compartments were removed and an engine was attached, he said.

Passengers of the train were served refreshments by the railway at Itarsi junction.

Itarsi railway station in Narmadapuram district is one of the busiest railway junctions in India and an important junction station.

On the occasion, Modi reiterated his call for an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and strong India, saying the COVID-19 crisis may have slowed its pace but our resolve remains the same.k

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded Indian scientists developing made-in-India vaccine against COVID and boosting other measures to fight the pandemic within a year of its outbreak.

They are working at the same quick pace, he said. Noting that the world is grappling with the biggest challenge in a century, the prime minister praised the scientific community, saying it is perhaps unprecedented that vaccines were prepared within a year.

On the occasion, Modi reiterated his call for an “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (Self-reliant) and strong India, saying the COVID-19 crisis may have slowed its pace but our resolve remains the same.

India wants to be self-reliant in a number of sectors, ranging from agriculture to astronomy, disaster management to defence technology, vaccine to virtual reality, and biotechnology to battery technology, he asserted.

He said that India is now showing the way to the world in sustainable development and clean energy, and is playing an important role in progress in other countries with its role in software and satellite development.

Bengaluru : Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala will be a free person on Wednesday after completing her four-year jail term in a corruption case.

According to the Bengaluru Jail authorities, Sasikala will be formally released on Wednesday. “All the required formalities pertaining to her release will be completed at the hospital itself on Wednesday as she has been quarantined due to Covid,” a prison official told.

Sasikala tested positive on January 20 and was admitted to the Bowring hospital initially. In view of her critical condition, she was shifted to the ICU ward of Victoria Hospital.

Now that the symptoms have reduced substantially and her condition has become normal, she has been taken out of the ICU, the Victoria Hospital authorities said in a statement.

However, the hospital authorities have been monitoring her. Meanwhile, her sister-in-law J. Ilavarasi, who too is serving a jail term along with Sasikala in the corruption case and was found Covid-19 positive, was keeping well, the authorities said.

Victoria Hospital, where she is treated, said Sasikala is conscious, alert and well oriented. She is consuming food and she is also maintaining oxygen saturation 97 per cent on two litres of oxygen through a non-rebreather mask (NRBM), it added.

Her release comes at a time when Tamil Nadu is preparing for assembly elections in which her former party AIADMK takes on the DMK.

Sasikala was reportedly unwell at her prison cell for about a week before admitted to Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital by the prison doctors with a diagnosis of type II diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypothyroidism, urinary tract infection (UTI) and suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI).

The 63-year-old Sasikala is serving her prison term in a disproportionate assets case. The case pertains to the amassment of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during Jayalalithaa’s tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1991-1996.

In September 2013, a special court convicted Jayalalithaa to simple imprisonment of four years. She was also slapped with a Rs 100 crore fine and forced to step down as the CM. The three co-accused — Sasikala, V.N. Sudhakaran, and Ilavarasi were also convicted, and fined Rs 10 crore each.

Jayalalithaa challenged the conviction in the Karnataka High Court, which acquitted her of all charges. But in 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the special court verdict convicting all four of them. Charges against Jayalalithaa were abated in view of her death on December 5, 2016.

Soon after Jayalaithaa’s death, Sasikala took over the reins of the AIADMK in December 2016, but was later expelled from the party by the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami-led camp.

She again came into limelight in late November 2019, when the Income Tax Department had reportedly attached properties valued Rs 1,600 crore allegedly belonging to her under the provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. It is alleged that nine properties, located in Chennai, Puducherry and Coimbatore, were purchased soon after demonetisation in November 2016.