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Shivamogga: BJP leader, who threatened to behead CM, arrested

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SN Channabasappa

Shivamogga: A Karnataka BJP leader stirred a row when he publicly threatened to behead Chief Minister Siddaramaiah if he dared to consume cow meat after which he was today arrested for his “provocative” and “intimidatory” remarks.

S N Channabasappa, a former president of the erstwhile Shivamogga City Municipal Council, had held out the threat last evening during a protest organised by the local party unit against Siddaramaiah’s reported comment on eating beef made last week.

“How dare you lay your hands on the neck of Gomata? You are openly saying with a dictatorial attitude that you will eat cow meat… If you have the guts, you come here and eat at Gopi Circle (in Shivamogga), then, let there be no doubt that on that day, you will be beheaded,” Channabasappa said.

“… Are you playing with the emotions of Hindus? Don’t do it…,” warned Channabasappa, who was arrested today for his remarks which were described by the Chief Minister as “a provocative statement.”

Channabasappa has been booked under IPC Sections 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), Superintendent of Police Ravi Channannavar said.

“It is a provocative statement. I will ask the police to inquire into it. If it is true, they will definitely take action,” Siddarmaiah had said earlier.

Asked about state BJP leaders not reacting to such statements, saying those were being made by “fringe elements”, he said, “BJP people are known for it. That is why we are opposing them.”

“If I say I will eat, how will it harm majority community? Don’t we eat other kinds of meat?,” the CM said.

“…food habit is an individual’s choice and should be left to them; no one should interfere with it. Interfering and attacking one’s rights is not correct. It is against the Constitution. It is against individual liberty, it should not be done…”

At a general body meeting of the Karnataka Youth Congress last week, Siddaramaiah had reportedly said, “Till date I have never eaten cow meat. But if it suits my palate and if I want to eat beef, I will eat it. Nobody can stop me.”

Slamming the controversy over beef eating, he had raked up the Dadri lynching incident, and spoken about “growing intolerance” in the country, blaming right-wing outfits for it.

Siddaramaiah’s remarks had come under attack from BJP, with its state unit president Prahlad Joshi saying that cow is revered and worshipped by a majority of the people of the state and the Chief Minister had made the comments just to gain votes of a particular community.

(PTI)

Will behead Siddaramaiah if he eats beef in Shivamogga, says BJP leader

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SN Channabasappa

Shivamogga: A local BJP leader has dared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to eat beef at Gopi Circle here but gave an ominous warning: if he did so, he would be beheaded.

“Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is behaving like a dictator. He has stated he would eat beef if he chooses to do so and nobody could stop him. Let him eat beef at Gopi Circle in Shivamogga. If he does so, he will be beheaded,” S N Channabasappa, a former president of the erstwhile Shivamogga City Municipal Council, said on Monday at a protest organised by the BJP against the chief minister’s remark on beef.

“We won’t think twice about that. By making such a statement, the Congress leader has hurt the sentiments of Hindus. We have all grown up drinking cow’s milk,” he added.

M Shankar, spokesperson for the BJP’s Shivamogga district unit, said Siddaramaiah was talking like the owner of a meat shop. “If he eats beef, then Congress workers will eat dog, fox and so on to appease him and get the posts of chairmen of boards and corporations.”

(Agencies)

Moody’s warns Modi: Rein in BJP members or risk losing credibility

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modi-sword

New Delhi: International rating agency Moody’s Analytics on Friday cautioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India might lose domestic and global credibility if he did not rein in controversial members of his Bharatiya Janata Party.

In a report titled India Outlook: Searching for Potential, Moody’s Analytics said for the country to reach its growth potential it has to deliver the promised reforms.

“Undoubtedly, numerous political outcomes will dictate the extent of success,” it said. The ruling BJP does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha and crucial reforms bills has been met with an obstructionist opposition.

“But in recent times, the government also hasn’t helped itself, with controversial comments from various BJP members.
While Modi has largely distanced himself from the nationalist gibes, the belligerent provocation of various Indian minorities has raised ethnic tensions.

“Along with a possible increase in violence, the government will face stiffer opposition in the upper house as debate turns away from economic policy. Modi must keep his members in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility,” Moody’s said.

It projected that India’s GDP growth for September quarter at 7.3%, while for the full fiscal it would be 7.6%.
“Key economic reforms could deliver greater potential GDP, as they would improve India’s productive capacity. These include the land acquisition bill, a national goods and service tax, and revamped labour laws. They are unlikely to pass through Parliament in 2015, but there is an even chance of success in 2016,” Moody’s said.

As regards interest rates, it said low rates will buttress the economy in the short-term but reforms are needed to reach long-term potential growth.

The Reserve Bank kick-started the recovery by cutting the repo rate by 1.25% this year.

It said positive signs are emerging with the State Bank of India, the nation’s largest bank, cut its base lending rate earlier this month.

“Capacity utilisation has been low across industries this year. The capital expenditure pipeline is running dry. However, interest rate cuts should encourage investment, as will the softer inflation profile,” it added.

(PTI)

Uddhav Thackeray calls BJP ‘arrogant’, threatens to withdraw support from Maharashtra government

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uddhav thackeray

Mumbai: After Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis compared Shiv Sena to a drama company, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday threatened to bring down the state government.

“People taught lesson to Indira Gandhi then what is BJP? If the government keeps behaving in this way, then we will have to bring it down. I will ask all my ministers to resign from the government,” Thackeray, whose party is a junior ally of the BJP-led government in Maharashtra and at the Centre, said.

Earlier, addressing a public gathering in Dombivali, Fadnavis compared Shiv Sena to a drama company while referring to Eknath Shinde’s resignation. Shinde had publicly tendered his resignation from the government in a rally in presence Uddhav Thackeray. However, Thackeray refused to accept his resignation.

Referring to the incident, CM Fadnavis described it as mere theatrics by Shiv Sena to attract attention of the people ahead of local body elections.

riday was the last day of campaigning for the upcoming Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections. BJP and Shiv Sena are fighting the polls separately.

Relations between the Sena and the BJP have deteriorated rapidly ever since the Ghulam Ali concert was cancelled under pressure from Sena activists and then ink was smeared by Sena activists on former Vajpayee aide Sudheendra Kulkarni.

The BJP believes that this is a deliberate attempt by the Sena to embarrass the BJP amid of the all important Bihar assembly elections, where the BJP is locked in a dead heat with the Grand Alliance led by Nitish Kumar.

BJP’s opponents are harping on the cancelation Ghulam Ali concert and the Kulkarni ink attack incident in a big way and highlighting this as proof of the intolerant face of BJP’s friends and the PM’s inability to rein in the fringe.

(Agencies)

JD(U), Congress approach EC, demand ban on Amit Shah’s entry in Bihar

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Amit_Shah

New Delhi: Upping the ante against Amit Shah after his “fireworks in Pakistan” remark, JD(U) and Congress today approached the Election Commission demanding that the BJP chief be barred from entering Bihar for “inciting communal tension” till the election process ends.

Taking strong objection to BJP’s poll advertisements in the state, they accused the party of using “lies and false propaganda” to vitiate the atmosphere and demanded that an FIR be registered against Shah as well Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his quota remarks.

Slamming Shah’s yesterday remarks that if BJP loses in Bihar, there will be fireworks in Pakistan, JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi said, “Shah’s remarks are inflammatory.

“A case should be registered against him and he should be debarred from entering Bihar till the poll process is over. He is a habitual conspirator. He was earlier also debarred from entering Gujarat by the court.”

A delegation of Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, spokesperson Ajoy Kumar and JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and submitted a memorandum, accusing the BJP of “vitiating” the electoral process by “promoting communal tension” through its advertisements.

It sought action including “complete withdrawal” of these ads and “prosecution” of the perpetrators.

Submitting a list of advertisements issued by the BJP in Bihar including one which accuses Nitish Kumar-led of “snatching the plate of dalits” and accuses it of trying to carve five per cent reservation for a particular community from the quota for SC/ST/OBC, the delegation demanded quick action from the poll watchdog.

The parties complained to the EC on this matter on a day when Prime Minister Narendra raised the pitch on this issue addressing a rally in Lalu Prasad’s home turf Gopalganj and citing a speech of Nitish Kumar in Parliament allegedly favouring sub quota for Muslims.

Tyagi also said that the Election Commission should register a case against Modi for the repeated reference of his belonging to Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) in the same manner as the Election Commission had lodged a case against RJD chief Lalu Prasad for his forward versus back election remark earlier.

They also cited two more ads. While one alleges that Lashkar-e-Toiba and ISI terrorists are “thriving in Bihar due to negligence” of JD-U leaders, the other talks of Bihar government’s role in “delayed” arrest of Yasin Bhatkal from Nepal border.

The delegation alleged that it is a “shameless” attempt by the BJP at spreading “false propaganda” and “creating communal tension”.

The Nitish Kumar-led alliance claimed that one of the ads say that RJD, JD(U) and Congress leaders are “giving sanctuary” to terrorists to appease a particular community for votes.

The name of the particular community becomes clear when seen in context to previous day’s ad, which spoke about Muslim community appeasement by RJD-JD(U) and Congress by ‘robbing the plate of dalits’, the delegation alleged.

On the ad regarding Bhatkal arrest issue, the delegation said that it questions whether the ‘delay’ was to make a particular community feel the “government’s benevolence”.

“The connection between letting Bhatkar escape and a community is done to connect Bhatkal with the Muslim community,” they alleged.

“In the on-going elections in Bihar, the BJP has been promoting lies, false propaganda and communal tensions through its advertisements. This has resulted in vitiating the electoral process by promoting communal tension….

“As you will see from these ads, it is a shameless attempt at spreading false propaganda and creating communal tension by use of misuse of select words in ambiguous contexts that could be interpreted for multiple factions for inciting violence between the two communities,” the delegation said in its memorandum.

Terming these ads as “blatant violation” of the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the delegation said, “The EC must demand a complete withdrawal of the advertisement and prosecution should be initiated against the perpetrators at the earliest.”

(Agencies)

Historians join hands protesting against rise in ‘intolerance’

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Romila Thapar

Hyderabad: Hopping on the bandwagon of eminent personalities who have been protesting against the rising intolerance in the nation by returning the honours bestowed on them by the government for their work, are historians including Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib and M G S Narayanan who have come out in protest describing the situation as a “highly vitiated atmosphere of intolerance in the country.”

“Differences of opinion are being sought to be settled by using physical violence. Arguments are met not with counter arguments but with bullets. And, when it is hoped that the head of government will make a statement about improving the prevailing conditions, he chooses to speak only about general poverty; and it takes the head of the state to make the required reassuring statement, not once but twice,” a joint statement issued by the historians stated.

The statement comes in the backdrop of octogenarian biologist P M Bhargava’s decision to return his Padma Bhushan award in solidarity with the protesting writers and filmmakers as he accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to turn India to a “Hindu religious autocracy.”

“The ruling party today, is deviating from the path of democracy and is on its way making India a Hindu religious autocracy and I object to it,”  Bhargava told Deccan Herald.

He received the Padma Bhushan in 1986. Bhargava, founder-director of Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), is one of the signatories of another statement from scientists in which they asserted that “India will not accept attacks on reason, science and our plural culture. We reject the destructive narrow view that seeks to dictate what people will wear, think, eat and who they will love.”

Over a 100 senior scientists from across the country have signed a petition addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee against growing religious intolerance. The infamous Tandoor murder case brought CCMB into limelight for matching victim Naina Sahni’s DNA.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley described the surge in protests as “manufactured rebellion”, while he dubbed the scholars and intellectuals returning their awards as “rabid anti-BJP elements”.

The finance minister wondered if the conscience of protesting scholars and intellectuals had pricked when corruption and scams to the tune of lakhs and crores of rupees were taking place in the UPA era.

The historians, however, took on the Modi government, saying, when writers were returning their awards in protest, no comment was made about the conditions that caused the protest.

“Instead the ministers call it a paper revolution and advise writers to stop writing. This is as good as saying that intellectuals will be silenced if they protest. This is particularly worrying for us as historians as we have already experienced attempts to ban books and expunge statements of history despite the fact that they are supported by sources and the interpretation is transparent,” they said.

(Agencies)

Why I am returning my national film award: Anand Patwardhan

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Anand Patwardhan

by Anand Patwardhan

National awards have always meant a lot to me. They were more precious than International awards and awards from private institutions precisely they represented those rare moments when the government of India became willing to uphold the spirit of our secular, socialist and democratic Constitution.

Today this spirit is evaporating. Our nation is at a crossroads. On one side is the secular path that our freedom fighters laid out for us and on the other, the path towards majoritarian fascism that the present regime seems bent upon. I am not saying we are already a fascist state. I am saying that the early warning signs are unmistakable.

It is the duty of all thinking citizens to speak out before it becomes too late. Filmmakers are thinking citizens who cannot look away. When the government attempted to foist unqualified saffron administrators on the FTII, students there went on strike. The strike has lasted an unprecedented four months. In this period people from all walks of life began to wake up to the unmistakable reality that the India they knew was on a dangerous new path. The killing of rationalists, the hounding of whistleblowers like Teesta Setalvad and Sanjiv Bhatt, the denial of justice to victims of religious pogroms and caste based massacres, the emboldening of the religio-lunatic fringe and the impunity of those who kill or advocate killing in the name of religion is accompanied by the wholesale rewriting of history, the denial of scientific enquiry and the consequent production of a generation of dumbed down consumers for whom having an enemy to hate replaces their thirst for knowledge.

So it is with a heavy heart I am returning my very first National award for Bombay Our City. Back in 1985 even as we won this award the homes of people I had filmed were demolished. I did not go to receive the award. Instead Vimal Dinkar Hedau whose home in Bandra had just been demolished went to Delhi to receive this award and distributed leaflets about the cause of the homeless. The prize money went to the slumdwellers movement. Today I am returning the medal.

What do we want from this government? Not much. Just its resignation. Will that happen any time soon? Not likely. What do we want from the people of India? Not much. Just eternal vigilance.

Modi is first PM who always stays outside India: Raj Thackeray

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raj thackeray

Mumbai: Taking potshots at Narendra Modi on his frequent foreign tours, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray today alleged that he is the first Prime Minister in Indian history to have remained out of the country for long.

“What kind of a government do we have? Instead of doing work, they are behind banning every possible thing. Here we have a PM, who is the first in the country to have remained out of India for so many days,” Thackeray said.

Raj was speaking here at an India Today conclave here. “I just heard that Salman Khan is now making Bajrangi Bhaijan part 2. In the sequel, he will be seen bringing back Modi to India from a foreign country,” he said taking a dig on the PM.

As of October 2015, Modi has reportedly made 28 foreign trips. Most of them were state visits to Asian countries, following his neighborhood first and Act East policies.

Criticising the proposed Bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Thackeray questioned the purpose that would be served by introducing this super fast train.

“Why do we need a Bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad? Why not to some other state? What purpose will it serve? Just go to Gujarat, eat a Dhokla (Gujarati delicacy) and come back. Thats all,” he said.

He further said that the recent standoffs between the BJP and Sena are ruining the smooth running of the government.
“The way these both parties fight publicly, even husbands and wives dont fight this way. CM says all is well between them, but if that is so, one needs to go and ask the Sena ministers,” he said.

“It is only the BJP whose Acche Din have come. Their ally and its ministers are only sulking,” he added.
Backing Senas Opposition to Ghazal maestro Ghulam Alis concert here, Thackeray said, “Opposition is not to him as a singer. But, do our artists get the kind of respect they deserve in Pakistan? There is so much of talent here in India that we do not need an outsider to perform here.”

(PTI)

139-day FTII strike ends, protests to continue

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FTII

Pune: FTII students who went on strike on June 12 against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman returned to their classes on Wednesday but said protests against the BJP member will go on.

The Film and Television Institute of India students said they will continue to protest in a “peaceful and democratic manner” against Chauhan, who they say is not fit to head the country’s premier film institute.

Ranjit Nair, spokesperson for the Students Association, told IANS that the strike was over.

“We have come to realize, after our long-stretched negotiations with the government, that the government is a bully,” a miffed Nair said.

He said the students will now invite people from all over the country who face similar problems.

“The strike will escalate now… It’s time to register our protest all over again and take it to different heights,” Nair said.

He said filmmakers and academics should come forward and take the protests forward in Mumbai.

The students held multiple meetings with officials of the information and broadcasting ministry but there was no end to the stalemate.

The government refused to buckle over Chauhan, forcing the student community to blink.

Chauhan congratulated the students for ending the strike, and told IANS over telephone that it was time for them to return to their classes.

The decision to end the strike followed the government’s “incongruous approach” towards the students’ cause, said another student leader, Reema Kaur.

“The 139 days of strike have not only made us stronger but more aware of the state that we today live in,” said Kaur, a final year student of editing and a part of the core committee of the Students Association that spearheaded the strike.

“We voiced ourselves loud and clear but it is the government’s adamant stand and incongruous approach towards our valid demands that has made us completely lose faith,” Kaur told IANS.

“Looking at the ministry’s unrelenting approach and the amount of our valuable time spent, we have decided to end the strike and resume classes.

“However, our voices will not shut, but grow louder. The protests shall continue democratically and in the peaceful manner as they have,” Kaur added.

(IANS)

BJP govt is Congress plus a cow, never seen a weaker PMO: Arun Shourie

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arun shourie

New Delhi: In a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government, BJP leader Arun Shourie on Monday contended that it believes that managing economy means “managing the headlines” and that people had started recalling the days of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Doctor Singh (Manmohan Singh) ko log yaad karne lag gaye hain (People have started recalling the days of Manmohan Singh). The way to characterise policies of the government is — Congress plus a cow. Policies are the same,” Mr. Shourie said at book launch function.

The function to launch Turn of The Tortoise, a book written by former Business Standard Editor-in-Chief T. N. Ninan, was attended by Manmohan Singh, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subranamian and former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.

Pointing out differences between the present and the previous governments, Mr. Shourie said: “There is clearer belief (in the present dispensation) that managing economy means managing the headlines and this is not really going to work.”

Mr. Shourie, who was a Minister in the Vajpayee government, said: “I feel there was never a weaker a PMO as now… There has never been as great a centralisation of functions, not power, of functions in PMO as now. …If fellows don’t have domain expertise, that Brajesh Mishra had, L.K. Jha had, all these principal secretaries had, then things get stuck.”

Mr. Shourie said, “If you see impediments that were there in tax administration, virtually no change… Banking reform has been delayed by year and a half for no reason. So therefore this tortoise is a very generous metaphor. Ye to so hi jata hai (this tortoise goes to sleep).”

‘Industrialists afraid’

He claimed that industrialists are afraid of speaking against the government. “The industrialists who meet the Prime Minister don’t speak the whole truth. After meeting PM, they say ‘please do something’ And in front of the media they give the government 9 out of 10.”

(Agencies)

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