Archives for 2022

Jaipur: In a left-handed compliment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday suggested that he is quicker than the cheetah when it comes to evading serious issues.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader, who arrived here on a two-day Rajasthan trip, called the recent Varanasi court order in the Gyanvapi mosque- Shringar Gauri case a setback and said it went against the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

He also criticised the Uttar Pradesh government’s move to conduct a survey of madrassas in the state.

Owaisi’s cheetah remark made in a lighter vein, he said — came when reporters asked the Hyderabad MP to comment on plans to reintroduce the fast big cat to the country.

Modi is set to release eight cheetahs being brought from Namibia into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on his birthday on September 17.

Owaisi said the prime minister moves faster than the cheetah when issues like inflation or unemployment are raised, his remark suggesting that Modi runs away from such matters.

When we talk about unemployment, Modi leaves even the cheetah behind. When we ask about China occupying our territory, Modi ji is quicker than the cheetah, he said. He is very quick in these matters, we are telling him to go slow.”

Wo bolne mein bahut tez hain, Owaisi said, implying that the PM can talk his way out of tricky situations.

I am saying all this in a lighter vein so that the UAPA is not invoked against me, he said, referring to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The eight cheetahs will arrive on a customised Boeing 747-400 aircraft from Namibia’s capital Windhoek and then flown to their new home in helicopters.

The AIMIM head denounced the recent Varanasi court order that rejected a plea by the Gyanvapi Masjid committee questioning the maintainability of the petition that sought daily worship of deities whose idols are located on the mosque’s outer wall.

The verdict is a setback. This will open up other such matters and could create a destabilizing effect, he said.

On the UP government decision to conduct surveys of privately-run madrassas, Owaisi said he has already called it a mini NRC , referring to the National Register of Citizens controversy.

Why are only unaided madrassas being surveyed? Why is there no survey of RSS schools, and the private and government schools, he said.

On the hijab row that erupted in Karnataka earlier this year, he said, “I believe that the hijab is a necessary religious practice for Muslims. It is our cultural right. If government schools are allowing other religious symbols, why is the hijab not being allowed?

If a woman is wearing it, she is wearing it on her head and not on her mind. If a girl wants to wear a hijab, why do you want to stop her,”he said.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP on Wednesday of attempting to “buy” 10 of his party MLAs in Punjab by offering them Rs 25 crore each.

He also alleged that the saffron party is planning an “Operation Lotus” to poach MLAs from other parties in every state, either with the help of money or the fear of agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“We came to know on Tuesday that they (BJP) tried to buy MLAs in Punjab by offering them Rs 25 crore each. Ten of our MLAs were approached. They will address a press conference on Wednesday and expose the BJP,” Kejriwal said.

“They are buying MLAs and making governments fall, which is dangerous for democracy,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader told a press conference here.

He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using public money to “buy” legislators due to which inflation is rising in the country.

Kejriwal also hit out at the Congress after eight of its MLAs in Goa switched over to the saffron camp, saying the grand old party has failed to prevent its lawmakers from being poached.

“The party that is buying MLAs is dangerous for democracy but the Congress is also at fault. Why only Congress MLAs get poached? Why can’t they buy our MLAs despite their attempts?” he asked.

“They (BJP) tried to buy our MLAs in Delhi and now in Punjab, but we exposed them,” he added.

Eight Congress legislators in Goa, including former chief minister Digambar Kamat, joined the ruling BJP on Wednesday, in a body blow to the opposition party, which is now left with just three MLAs in the 40-member state Assembly.

Later, Kejriwal also took to Twitter and questioned the BJP’s source of money to “buy” MLAs.

“After Delhi, these people (BJP) have now reached Punjab to buy our MLAs. Where are these thousands of crores of rupees coming from? They should understand — we are not the Congress, no one can buy us. The way they are making elected governments fall one by one, this has become a very serious issue for the country and democracy,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

The AAP’s Punjab leadership said it will submit a complaint to the director general of police along with evidence in support of its allegation that the BJP is offering Rs 20-25 crore each to its MLAs in an attempt to topple the Bhagwant Mann government.

Replying to a query on a photo being circulated on social media where he is seen travelling purportedly in a chartered plane, Kejriwal said it was a tactic of the saffron party to divert the attention of people from real issues ahead of the Gujarat polls.

“We are getting a good response in Gujarat. They (BJP) never debate on real issues. When you ask them about the condition of schools in Gujarat, they circulate some picture. These are tactics (to divert public attention from issues). Many such things will come up before the polls,” he said.

Asked about discrepancies in the delimitation of municipal wards in Delhi, Kejriwal said the AAP will report the issues to the delimitation commission.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday asked whether there is any authentic figure regarding dropping out of students from educational institutions in Karnataka because of the Hijab ban and the subsequent judgement by the high court on the issue.

“Do you have those authentic figures that because of this Hijab ban and the subsequent judgement of the high court, 20, 30, 40 or 50 students have dropped out?,” a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia asked after the counsel appearing for one of the petitioners raised the issue of students, especially girls, dropping out of school.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, representing one of the petitioners, referred to a report and said it has testimonies of several students.

“My friend (one of the lawyers) informed me that 17,000 students had really abstained from the exams after this particular judgement,” he said to the bench hearing arguments on a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.

Ahmadi said the effect of the government order in the matter would be that girls, who were earlier going and taking secular education in schools, will be forced to go back to Madrasas.

“Why should someone feel that one religious observance will obstruct in any manner legitimate or secular education or unity? Why should anyone get provoked if someone wears a Hijab and goes to school? Why should other students have a problem?” he said.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for another petitioner, argued that one of the most important parts of this case is that a person wearing a hijab cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of religion and sex.

“The reason why this case is important is when it was decided, the headlines were not that dress code was upheld, the headlines were hijab has been struck down by the Karnataka High Court,” he said.

The bench observed that it does not go by what is written in the newspapers.

Dhavan argued that across India and in the entire world, whether it is an Islamic state or otherwise, Hijab is recognised as valid.

He said if according to the tenets of the faith, something is being done in a particular way and it is bona fide, then that has to be followed.

“We do not have to go back to the text. We have to examine whether the practice is prevalent or not prevalent. If the practice is prevalent and it is not mala fide As long as it is bona fide and exists as long as practice, that is enough,” he said.

Arguing that this is not a simple case of discipline, Dhavan said what is the justification, ocular or otherwise, to say that Hijab is opposed to public order.

“There is none,” he said, adding that there is a campaign that hijab must go.

“This is not a ‘yes’, ‘no’ issue. This is not an issue where you say we have a disciplinary code, follow it. What are the obligations on the authority concerned to bring a measure of inclusiveness as far this is concerned and to apply the least restrictive approach,” he said?

“It is probably targeting Muslims and Muslim women in particular and therefore contrary to Articles 14 and 15. And this kind of targeting without any sensitivity is contrary to law and the Constitution,” Dhavan said.

When he said that today, there is a lot of discontent in the majority community to knock down whatever comes by way of a claim in the name of Islam and cited the example of cow lynching, the bench observed, “You will be well advised to confine to this case rather than others.”

Ahmadi said if a woman chooses to wear a Hijab, why should that provoke anyone else?

“And if it does, you have to actually address that. Because otherwise, you are effectively allowing someone to be bullied,” he said.

Ahmadi argued that to say, one would not tolerate someone wearing Hijab, is completely contrary to the spirit of fraternity as enshrined in the preamble.

“The GO (government order) does not say no Hijab,” the bench observed.

When Ahmadi argued about the dropout of students, the bench said this argument has been raised at this stage and it was not part of the petition filed earlier before the high court.

“It is not a legal question, it is a factual question. Whether there is a dropout, . drop out rate of girls or the boys. What is the age group? These are all factual,” the bench said.

Ahmadi said, “We all know why a person wears a Hijab. There is a level of conservativeness in those families”.

Referring to the National Education Policy, he said the legitimate state interest should be to promote education.

“Does public interest lie in enforcing discipline or does it lie in promoting education? And what is the degree of discipline which is compromised by allowing someone to hear a Hijab,” he said.

“It is that balance that your lordships will have to strike and the state will also have to strike,” he told the bench during the arguments which would continue on Thursday.

The state government’s order of February 5, 2022, by which it had banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges, was referred to in the apex court.

Several pleas have been filed in the top court against the March 15 verdict of the high court holding that wearing of hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.

Mangaluru: The organs of a 16-year-old boy were retrieved and successfully sent to various recipients by a private hospital here on Wednesday.

A PU student who was critically injured after falling from a city bus a week ago and was under treatment at the hospital here was declared brain dead on Tuesday. His grieving parents had decided to donate his organs to needy patients.

Yashraj, son of Tyagaraj and Mamatha, residents of Mastikatte in Ullal fell off a city bus on September 7. He was a first year PU student of computer science. He was travelling in the bus from Ullal Masthikatte NH66 when he got thrown out of it and suffered critical head injuries.

He was admitted to a private hospital for treatment. However, his condition did not improve even after a week’s treatment and he was declared brain dead Tuesday afternoon.

As parents of the boy expressed their willingness, his liver, kidneys and cornea were retrieved to be transplanted.

The procedure of organ transplantation was carried out by ‘Jeevasarthakate’ that has been constituted by the Karnataka government for a sustained deceased donor (cadaver) transplantation programme in the state.

The doctors said the family of donor plays an integral part in organ transplant. Awareness about the benefit of organ transplant needs to be spread to the general public, they said.

LAKHIMPUR KHERI: Six people were arrested on Thursday in connection with the rape and murder of two Dalit teenage sisters in Nighasan here, police said.

Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP) told reporters, “We have arrested Junaid, Sohail, Hafizur Rehman, Karimuddin, Arif and Chottu in an overnight operation.”

Junaid and Sohail were in a relationship with the two sisters, the SP said.

“As per the preliminary investigation, the two sisters left their home on Wednesday afternoon on the persuasion of Junaid and Sohail. Junaid and Sohail have confessed that they strangulated the girls after raping them,” said the SP.

The girls’ mother had on Wednesday claimed that they were murdered.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the party recently, saying “climate change” has taken place and he has become a “loyal soldier” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tagged a tweet of a video clip of Azad, in which the former Congress leader is heard saying that he opposes the government’s policies but does not abuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi like Rahul Gandhi.

“Climate change ho gaya hai aur ab yeh janab BJP ke wafadaar sipahi ban gaye hain (climate change has taken place and this gentleman has become a loyal soldier of the BJP),” Ramesh tweeted.

Azad ended his five-decade association with the Congress last month, saying the party was comprehensively destroyed and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing” its entire consultative mechanism.

The Congress had slammed Azad, alleging that his DNA had been “Modi-fied”.

The opposition party had also linked his resignation to the end of his Rajya Sabha tenure.

The Congress slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday over his remarks at the world dairy summit, saying the “white revolution” was entirely because of Tribhuvandas Patel, V Kurien and the great cooperative institutions they created.

Speaking after inaugurating the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 on Monday, Modi had said since 2014, “our government has worked relentlessly to enhance the potential of India’s dairy sector”.

“Today, its result is visible in terms of milk production as well as the increased income of farmers. In 2014, India produced 146 million tonnes of milk. Now, it has increased to 210 million tonnes. That is, an increase of about 44 per cent,” the prime minister had said.

“Jagadguru of Jhoot is now claiming to have made India the world’s largest milk producer, which it became in 1998,” Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet, in an apparent reference to Modi’s remarks at the summit.

“The White Revolution was entirely because of Tribhuvandas Patel, Dr.V. Kurien and the great cooperative institutions they created,” the former Union minister added.

In his remarks at the summit, Modi had said milk production is growing at the rate of 2 per cent in the world, whereas in India, its growth rate is more than 6 per cent.

“The per capita availability of milk in India is much higher than the world average. In the last three-four years, our government has directly transferred about Rs 2 lakh crore to the bank accounts of small farmers,” he had said.

A large part of this amount was credited to the bank accounts of the farmers associated with the dairy sector, he had said.

Due to the hard work of small farmers and their livestock, India is currently the largest milk-producing country in the world, the prime minister had said.