NEW DELHI:  The Congress on Friday said that it will take legal action against the BJP for its attempts to discredit the Bharat Jodo Yatra by using doctored videos. The BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya had claimed that “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans were raised during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Madhya Pradesh. 

Malviya had posted a video of the Yatra in which former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath are seen walking and a voice purportedly shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ is heard towards the end of the 21 second clip.

Launching a broadside against the BJP, Congress’ general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that a video “doctored” by the “dirty tricks department” of the BJP is doing the rounds to discredit the “highly successful” Bharat Jodo Yatra.

“We are taking the necessary legal action immediately. We are prepared for such tactics, and there will be payback,” he said. Earlier, Malviya had tweeted, “After Richa Chaddha’s public application to join Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat ‘Jodo’ Yatra, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (listen towards the end of the video) slogans raised in Khargon. INC MP posted the video and then deleted it after the faux pas came to light. This is Congress’s truth. ” 

The Congress spokesperson also claimed that the Madhya Pradesh government “intimidated” and aggressively prevented tribal families displaced by the diamond mining project in Chhatarpur district from meeting Rahul Gandhi this afternoon. “This is democracy-BJP style,” said Ramesh in a tweet.

In another tweet, Ramesh also alleged that the MP government “intimidated” and aggressively prevented tribal families displaced by the diamond mining project in Chhatarpur district from meeting Rahul Gandhi this afternoon.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday passed an interim order restraining unauthorised use of actor Amitabh Bachchan’s voice, image or any other trait exclusively identifiable with him by any individual

The court’s order came on a lawsuit by the veteran actor alleging exploitation of his publicity rights as a celebrity by several individuals, including the persons behind a KBC lottery.

Bachchan is the host of popular TV game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC).

Justice Navin Chawla said it is undisputed that Bachchan is a well-known personality and is likely to suffer an irreparable loss and disrepute if relief is not granted at this stage.

“I am of the view that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte interim relief,” the judge said.

The court directed telecom authorities to take action to pull down websites providing content in violation of Bachchan’s rights.

It also directed telecom service providers to block access to telephone numbers circulating infringing messages.

Senior advocate Harish Salve said the relief of injunction was sought not only against the individuals named in the lawsuit but also against john doe parties or unknown parties who may be exploiting Bachchan’s publicity rights.

He said besides the lottery, domain names were registered under the actor’s name; there was Amitabh Bachchan Video Call and even T-shirts bearing his photographs.

The Ministry of Finance’s monthly dispatch delivered good news, indicating that inflationary pressures will likely ease in the coming months. But its understrappers have taken away the punch bowl, dropping hints about the ‘moderately’ brisk rate of growth and how their internal estimates were reportedly being lowered to 6.3% this fiscal, down from 7% projected by the central bank. One obvious reason is the bleak outlook of the global economy, that’s likely to be as weak next year as it was during the 2008 financial crisis, thanks to the Ukraine conflict, which is becoming a “forever war”. Besides, the government believes that the US monetary tightening could be a “future risk”, upsetting stock prices, currencies and bond yields, further leading to higher borrowing costs. This spells continued trouble for households and the industry, as it is battling high prices and rising interest rates.

The RBI began its hike cycle only in May, but the interest cover ratio for some 3,000-odd companies has fallen from 5.41 to 4.6 in H1-FY23, according to a Bank of Baroda study. The decline was largely due to falling profits, but higher interest costs, too, added their bit. But a slowing economic recovery would mean corporate profits will likely remain mixed. If, in April, evidence on consumption patterns suggested inflation having a lesser impact on low-income strata than on high-income groups according to the government, the RBI later added that sustained high inflation was having “pronounced adverse effects on the poorer segments” as well.

Against this backdrop, signs of inflation finally cooling down are heartening after staying above the 4% target for 37 consecutive months. But as RBI Deputy Governor Michael Patra observed, the existential question was whether the world is permanently shifting from a low-inflation environment to a high-inflation one. One of the reasons he cited was, given the macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, unanticipated shocks aren’t completely ruled out, which means monetary policymakers must take into account not their known positions but their uncertain future trajectory. In essence, central banks literally “shoot blind”, and RBI’s policy actions next month will determine if India’s policymaker’s got the right shot.

NEW DELHI: Four years after decriminalising consensual sex between homosexuals, the Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre’s response on same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act. The Act provides for civil marriage for Indian citizens irrespective of their religion or faith but limits access to couples comprising one male and one female.

A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli was hearing the pleas filed by two gay couples, who said non-recognition of their marriage amounts to discrimination. The bench issued notice to the government and posted the matter after four weeks. 

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul informed the bench that similar petitions are pending before the Kerala and Delhi high courts seeking recognition of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, Foreign Marriage Act and Hindu Marriage Act. 

Terming the issues highlighted in the pleas ‘live’, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said, “It’s an important issue affecting the nation. These are sequels of Navtej Singh and Puttaswamy case. We’re only talking about Special Marriage Act. The Act says marriage should be between two persons and doesn’t say that it’ll be a union of A & B.” 

In Navtej Singh’s case, the SC had held that LGBTQ+ community possesses the same human, fundamental and constitutional rights as other citizens. In Puttaswamy’s case, the SC’s nine-judge bench had held that the Constitution protects non-binary individuals and that protections under Articles 14, 15, 16, 19 & 21 cannot be restricted to biological sex of “male” or “female”.

NEW DELHI: Months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated socio-economic and political uplift of Pasmanda Muslims at his party’s national executive meeting, the BJP is now learnt to have started making a new ‘electoral experiment’ with this section of the community with an intent to create a Muslim vote bank for the future. The Pasamanda Muslims, according to a rough estimate constitute around 70-80% of India’s Muslim population (19.50 crore). 

The party is organising conferences to win the community over by its policies and government welfare schemes launched for their socio-economic uplift. The first conference of Pasamanda Muslims was organised in Lucknow on October 16 this year, followed by six other places by the BJP’s OBC and the Minority Morcha (fronts).

So far, six other mega conferences for the communtiy have been organised. UP has the highest number of Pasamanda Muslims, accounting for around 3.5 crore of the population, while Bihar has approximately 1.5 crore such Muslims.

Sources say that the BJP is attempting to bring a larger chunk of the communities, especially those whose ancestors had once converted to Islam from various Hindu castes into the existing OBCs, the SCs and the STs into the fold of party’s votebank. “If the Saffron party succeeds in creating this new electoral equation with Pasamanda Muslim communities along with the OBC, SC and ST vote banks, the party will remain in power at the Centre for the next 50 years,” said a senior party leader.

Pasmanda is a Persian word that means the ‘ones left behind’. The word is used to describe the depressed classes among Muslims who have been deliberately or consciously excluded from the fruits of power and privilege.

Sachar Committee said OBC and SC/ST Muslims were 40% of India’s overall Muslim population in 2004-05. But Pasmanda activists and scholars say they make up 80-85% of India’s Muslim population that is around 19-20crore

Their voting percentage has always been registered more than  70% in every election

Backward, Dalit, and tribal Muslims use the word Pasmanda as an umbrella identity to flag caste-based discrimination within the community.

In UP, the population of Pasmanda Muslims is around 3.5 crore — highest in the country. In Bihar, it is around 1.5 crore

In country’s 18 states including Karnataka, Kerala MP, UP, Bihar and Jharkhand, the Pasmanda Muslims play a very decisive role in the elections, determining the results in a number of constituencies

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Richa Chadha has come under fire for posting a tweet on the 2020 Galwan clash, in which several Indian Army soldiers died.

On Wednesday, Richa had reacted to Northern Army Commander Lt General Upendra Dwivedi’s statement that the Indian Army is ready to execute orders like taking back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Sharing a post on the statement, Richa took to her Twitter handle and wrote, “Galwan says hi.”

As soon as she tweeted this, all hell broke loose on social media and people started to slam her for allegedly insulting the army by talking about the 2020 clash between India and China.

A user shared, “‘Galwan says hi’ writes Richa Chadha in response to a statement by a commanding officer on POK. Disrespecting those who gave their lives for India. Mocking the Indian army. She proves once again there is no limit to how low this industry can sink. A boycott is all they are worth.”

BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted, “Disgraceful Tweet. Should be withdrawn at the earliest. Insulting our armed forces is not justified.”

BJP leader and MLA from Maharasthra, Ram Kadam said, “To come in the news and get publicity, will she (Richa Chadha) disrespect the soldiers of our country? What has happened to her? Our soldiers are day and night guarding our country by leaving their families behind. They should be honoured with our heads bowed down.”

He added, “Sitting in the air conditioner, how will this actress who has this mindset will understand their dedication? The whole nation wants her to apologize to the soldiers of our country.”

Meanwhile, Lt General Upendra Dwivedi’s statement was made with reference to Defence Minister’s previous address in which he reiterated New Delhi’s resolve to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), saying all refugees would get their land and homes back.

Lt General Upendra Dwivedi said, “As far as the Indian Army is concerned, it will carry out any order given by the Government of India. Whenever such orders are given, we will always be ready for it.”

“The military is always ready to make sure that ceasefire understanding is never broken as it is in the interest of both nations, but if broken at any time, we will give them a befitting reply,” said Dwivedi, Northern Army Commander on the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan. 

Richa Chadha later posted an apology statement through a tweet: “Even though it can never be my intention in the least, if the 3 words which are being dragged into a controversy have offended or hurt anyone, I apologise and also say that it would sadden me if even unintentionally my words have triggered this feeling in my brothers in the Fauj of which my own Nanaji has been an illustrious part. As a Lt. Col, he took a bullet in the leg in the Indo-China war, in 1960s. My Mamaji was a paratrooper. It’s in my blood.”

She added, “A whole family is affected when their son is martyred or even injured while saving the nation which is made up of people like us and I personally know how it feels. It is an emotive issue for me.”

HYDERABAD: Senior BJP leader B L Santhosh and three others were named as accused by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the case of alleged conspiracy to poach four TRS MLAs, officials said on Thursday.

Following directions from the Telangana High Court, the SIT, probing the case, also issued a second notice to BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) Santhosh, who is yet to appear before it.

In the fresh notice, he has been asked to appear before SIT for questioning on November 26 or November 28, official sources told.

Based on the investigations so far, the SIT filed a memo in a special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court here adding the names of Santhosh and two persons from Kerala–Jaggu Swami and Tushar Vellapally, besides B Srinivas, as accused in the case, they said.

Three persons — Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy, were already named as accused in the case after a complaint was lodged by TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, among four legislators, against them on October 26.

As per the FIR copy, Rohith Reddy alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return the legislator had to leave the TRS and contest as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly election.

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday had directed the SIT to again serve notice on Santhosh under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to Santhosh.

Earlier, the Telangana SIT had issued notices to Santhosh and the two persons from Kerala to appear before it for questioning on November 21.

However, they did not turn up before the probe panel.

Srinivas, who was also summoned by the SIT, had appeared before it.

The Telangana government on November 9 ordered the setting up of a seven-member SIT to probe into the alleged poaching of the MLAs.