Archives for January 2020

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta asked the state government to inform the court about the decision taken by it under Article 161 of the Constitution.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to inform whether a decision has been taken by it on a mercy petition of a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The apex court also pulled up the Centre for filing a similar status report on a probe done by a CBI-led Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) into unravelling a larger conspiracy behind the killing of the former prime minister.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta asked the state government to inform the court about the decision taken by it under Article 161 of the Constitution.

The article gives a governor the power to pardon a person who has been proved guilty in court.

The top court was hearing the plea of 46-year-old A G Perarivalan, who has sought suspension of his life sentence in the case till the MDMA’s probe is completed.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Perarivalan, said though the state has taken a decision on his mercy petition but his application is pending with the governor.

The MDMA was set up in 1998 on the recommendations of the Justice M C Jain Commission of Inquiry which had probed the conspiracy aspect of Gandhi’s assassination.

It is headed by a CBI official and comprises officers from the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing and the Revenue Intelligence, among other agencies.

The top court told the Centre: “Can you tell us what the difference (is) between the status report filed in April 2018 and November 2019. There is no difference at all.”

“We have gone through all of your status reports filed in the case,” it said.

Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for Centre, said the government has not received any response to the letters rogatory (LR) sent to Sri Lanka and other countries.

The Supreme Court had on January 14, expressed its displeasure over the latest status report filed by the MDMA on its probe.

It said it wanted to know about the progress made in the ongoing investigation in the past two years.

On November 5 last year, the apex court had sought within four weeks the latest status report from the MDMA.

It had said the latest report should also include the status of letters rogatory (LRs).

Perarivalan’s counsel had earlier said his role was only limited to procuring nine-volt batteries, which were allegedly used in the improvised explosive device (IED) that had killed Gandhi.

On March 14 last year, the apex court had asked the MDMA to file a status report with regard to a LR sent to Sri Lanka for examining one of the accused, Nixon alias Suren, who is lodged in the Colombo jail.

The top court had dismissed a plea of Perarivalan seeking recall of the May 11, 1999, verdict upholding his conviction.

It had said the material brought on record before it does not inspire confidence to interfere with the verdict in which Perarivalan and three others were initially awarded death sentence, which was later commuted to life term.

The CBI had earlier submitted that Perarivalan had even visited Jaffna in Sri Lanka in the first week of June 1990, besides attending a public meeting along with other conspirators which was addressed by former prime minister V P Singh on May 7, 1991 in Tamil Nadu.

Perarivalan’s counsel had submitted that he was just a 19-year-old when the incident took place and had no knowledge of what he was doing and for what purpose the batteries were purchased.

Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.

Fourteen others, including Dhanu herself, were also killed.

Gandhi’s assassination was perhaps the first case of suicide bombing which had claimed the life of a high-profile leader.

In its May 1999 order, the top court had upheld the death sentence of four convicts — Perarivalan, Murugan, Santham and Nalini — in the assassination case.

In April 2000, the Tamil Nadu governor had commuted the death sentence of Nalini on the basis of the state government’s recommendation and an appeal by former Congress president and Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia Gandhi.

On February 18, 2014, the top court had commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan to life imprisonment, along with that of two other prisoners – Santhan and Murugan – on grounds of a delay of 11 years in deciding their mercy pleas by the Centre.

Tina reached the Clock Tower on Sunday, where hundreds of women were sitting on protest against the citizenship laws, and spent time talking to the women.

LUCKNOW: Tina Yadav, the 14-year-old daughter of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, was seen participating in an anti-CAA rally here a few days back.

Tina reached the Clock Tower on Sunday, where hundreds of women were sitting on protest against the citizenship laws, and spent time talking to the women.

She was accompanied by her friends. Since she is still not a well known celebrity, no one noticed her presence. It is only when her photo went viral on Tuesday that the matter came to light.

Sources said that since some of Tina’s friends were a part of the protests, she had gone to meet them and even sat with them for some time.

This is the first time that the former Chief Minister’s children have participated in a political event and that too on their own.

Giving credence to the possibility of this change that could have altered the dynamics of India’s politics, many coalition partners, including DMK, too had taken it up with Sonia Gandhi.

BENGALURU: Two years before the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2014 general elections and Narendra Modi landed firmly in the national capital as the Prime Minister, there was a possibility of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi taking over the top job from Manmohan Singh who was then the premier.

It has now come to light that many senior leaders and the Congress’s allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had discussed with the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to bring in Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister in place of Manmohan Singh.

This was not because Manmohan was found incompetent but the seniors felt that they need to go to the polls with a new face and rejuvenate the party which was by then on a downhill journey.

Giving credence to the possibility of this change that could have altered the dynamics of India’s politics, many coalition partners, including DMK chief M Karunanidhi, too had taken it up with Sonia Gandhi.

They tried to persuade her on the need for this tectonic shift, Congress Working Committee member K H Muniyappa who was present at these discussions.

But Sonia Gandhi had declined the suggestion, as she felt that it was not ‘the right time’ to make such a radical shift in the leadership. And two years down the line, the 2014 LS polls gave Congress an electoral punch, from which it is only now showing signs of a slight recovery in some states’ polls. 

From being the single dominant party in the country, it was reduced to double digits in the Lok Sabha then. And red flags were raised within the Congress circles to save it from ruin.  The general elections threw up a leader in Modi and launched a new political discourse in the country.

Again, in 2019, the party met a similar fate. Rahul Gandhi immediately stepped down as party president.

“As President of the Congress party, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party” he had said in a tweet.

Muniyappa, who was first to speak for the Gandhi family at the recent CWC meeting, said the party “failed” to use that opportunity and it almost went to elections “empty-handed.”

Now, when the stage is again said to be set for Rahul’s return to the top job in the party, the only option before Congress seems to be to make him the president. 

“It is not possible for Congress to appoint anyone outside the Gandhi family as the party president. We have to make new strategies with him, and the seniors and the experts must guide him in taking people from all sections of the society into confidence,” says Muniyappa.

Ironically, historian Ramachandra Guha had recently remarked that a “fifth-generation dynast” Rahul Gandhi had no chance in Indian politics against a “hard-working and self-made” Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi, who in 2019 general elections lost from his family bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, had won from the Wayanad seat in Kerala.

Modi shared his experience at the Indian Space Research Organisation headquarters in September last year, when India’s first moon landing mission suffered a setback.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday referred to the Chandrayaan 2 moon landing setback as an example of taking lesson from failures and overcoming “demotivation” during exams, while interacting with students in his annual pep talk on dealing with examination related stress, ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’.

“Motivation, demotivation are very common. Everyone goes through these feelings. In this regard, I will tell you a secret: I can never forget my visit to ISRO during Chandrayaan 2 and the time spent with our hardworking scientists,” Modi told a house packed with students at Talkataora stadium here and lakhs others who were watching him deliver the talk.

This was in response to the first question he was asked, by a student from Rajasthan, Yashashri, on what to do when board exams “put off moods”.

Modi shared his experience at the Indian Space Research Organisation headquarters in September last year, when India’s first moon landing mission suffered a setback.

“I was advised against attending the Chandrayaan 2 landing at ISO as there was no guarantee of success, but I went ahead with what I felt was right,” he said.

Recounting how ISRO scientists overcame their dismay, Modi told students: “We can add enthusiasm to every aspect of life. A temporary setback doesn’t mean success is not waiting. In fact, a setback may mean the best is yet to come.”

He also spoke about the India-Australia test series in 2001.

“Our cricket team was facing setbacks. The mood was not very good. But in those moments, can we ever forget what Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman did? They turned the match around… Similarly, who can forget Anil Kumble bowling with an injury. This is the power of motivation and positive thinking.”

Modi suggests anti-CAA campaign is Oppn way to get back at BJP

NEW DELHI: Seeking to portray the protests against the Citizenship Amendments Act (CAA) as an ideological battle waged by the Opposition against the BJP after the party returned to power at the Centre with improved numbers last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that those rejected by the people were spreading “lies and misinformation”. 

The veiled reference was the opposition support to the anti-CAA protests across the country. 

“There are people who dislike the principles which guide us. Our problems are not because we’re doing something wrong. It’s because people of this country are blessing us. Those rejected by the public in elections are left with very few weapons, and one of them is to spread misinformation,” remarked Modi at the BJP headquarters on Monday, while hailing the unanimous election of J P Nadda as party chief.

The PM asserted that “those rejected by the people are taking recourse to spreading falsehoods and they have a full ecosystem for that”. BJP workers “do not need to seek validation from an ecosystem that will never accept us”, he asserted.Some people have objections to the BJP’s ideals, and party workers should not hope for these critics to change their stand, Modi said, adding, “This group has never been with us and will not be with us.”

Addressing BJP workers, Modi stated, “We will have to face more challenges than what we faced as a political party in the opposition.” Lauding Nadda, who took over the reins of the party on Monday, Modi shared anecdotes about working with him in the past as a BJP functionary. He illustrated Nadda’s example to stress on the rise of the party workers to high positions in the party.    

“From the beginning itself, the party has had the tendency to expand horizontally with the vertical development of the workers. Workers of the party grow in the organisation and the outfit also expands,” said the PM, while exuding confidence that the BJP under Nadda will march ahead by abiding to basic principles and ideologies of the party.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was the star attraction in the electoral college for the election of the BJP president. Party leaders and workers mobbed him to take selfies. Later, Yogi warmly greeted Nadda in his office.

BJP patriarch L K Advani visited the party headquarters after a long gap. He along with former BJP president MM Joshi shared dais to felicitate Nadda. Large pictures of Advani also dotted banners at the BJP headquarters.

Heartiest congratulations to J P Nadda ji…This is a matter of pride for Bihar residents that a son of Patliputra has taken charge of the world’s largest political organisation-Ram Vilas Paswan, LJP leader

Heartiest congratulations to JP Nadda ji on being elected as the National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Wishing him all success in his new task-Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD president