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Cong demands resignation of Amit Shah over Ambedkar remarks

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Cong demands resignation of Amit Shah over Ambedkar remarks
Home Minister Amit Shah

New Delhi : The Congress on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks in the Rajya Sabha which it claimed were an insult to B R Ambedkar.

The opposition party also demanded that Shah should apologise publicly and in Parliament for his remarks.

Speaking with reporters in Parliament premises, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We demand resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah for ‘insulting’ Ambedkar; he should apologise to the nation.”

Addressing a press conference, Congress MP Neeraj Dangi said his party demands Shah’s apology for the remarks.

“In Rajya Sabha, Amit Shah Ji said that taking the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar Ji has become a fashion. This is a direct insult to the Dalits of the country and Babasaheb,” he said.

Shah has shown the whole country what kind of thinking BJP leaders have, he said.

“The deprived and exploited class, which they have insulted, this is the same class which will reduce them from 240 to 40,” Dangi said.

“On behalf of the Congress party, I demand that Amit Shah ji should apologize publicly and in the House. Considering what he has said about Babasaheb Ambedkar, he has lost the right to hold a constitutional post,” Dangi said.

He should resign from the post of Home Minister, he said.

The Congress on Tuesday alleged that Shah’s remarks in the Rajya Sabha during a debate on the Constitution show that the BJP and the RSS leaders have a “lot of hatred” for Ambedkar and demanded an apology from him.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had said those who believe in Manusmriti will definitely be at odds with Ambedkar.

Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh had shared a video snippet on X from Shah’s speech in the upper house.

The home minister attacked the Congress in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, saying the party treated the Constitution as the “private fiefdom” of one family and “played fraud” with Parliament.

Concluding a two-day debate on the “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India”, Shah ripped into the Congress for its appeasement politics and claimed that the party wanted to breach the 50 per cent quota limit to provide reservation to Muslims.

He also asked the Congress if it supported the Muslim personal law and alleged that the party never worked for the welfare of the backward classes. Shah asserted that the BJP has already brought in a common civil code (Uniform Civil Code) in Uttarakhand and will implement it in all states.

CM Siddaramaiah pens open letter to Amit Shah over Ambedkar remark

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CM Siddaramaiah pens open letter to Amit Shah over Ambedkar remark
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah | Union Home Minister Amit Shah

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressed an open letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, expressing strong disapproval of Shah’s recent remarks about Dr B.R. Ambedkar during a Lok Sabha session on December 18, 2024. Siddaramaiah accused Shah of trivialising Ambedkar’s legacy by referring to it as an “addiction.”

In the letter, Siddaramaiah lauded Ambedkar’s contributions, stating, “Ambedkar is not an addiction; he is a daily remembrance and an eternal inspiration.” He criticised Shah for disrespecting Ambedkar’s memory in a Parliament functioning under the Constitution authored by him. Siddaramaiah urged Shah to refrain from offering clarifications or claiming misrepresentation, challenging him instead to stand by his words.

Highlighting Ambedkar’s role in shaping modern India, Siddaramaiah credited the Constitution for enabling social equality and empowering leaders from marginalised communities. “Without Ambedkar, I would not have become the Chief Minister. Leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, who reached the pinnacle of Indian politics, would have been confined to labour in factories,” he said.

Siddaramaiah also criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for its historical opposition to the Constitution, citing remarks by its leaders such as Hedgewar and Golwalkar. He argued that Shah’s comments reflected the BJP and RSS’s longstanding disregard for Ambedkar’s ideals.

The letter further took a dig at the BJP’s obsession with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, labelling it an “addiction,” and questioned the party’s moral compass. “If the RSS cadre chanted God’s name as often as they chant Modi’s, they might earn salvation for their misdeeds in power,” Siddaramaiah remarked.

Senior India off-spinner R Ashwin announces retirement from international cricket

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Senior India off-spinner R Ashwin announces retirement from international cricket
India off-spinner R Ashwin

New Delhi: Senior India off-spinner R Ashwin announces retirement from international cricket.

He was very, very sure of his decision. We should stand by what he wants, Indian captain Rohit Sharma on Ashwin’s retirement said. 

A name synonymous with mastery, wizardry, brilliance, and innovation: BCCI on Ashwin’s retirement.

further details are awaited.

IND vs AUS: Drawn end to rain-interrupted Gabba Test

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IND vs AUS: Drawn end to rain-interrupted Gabba Test

Brisbane : The rain-interrupted third Test between India and Australia ended in a draw here on Wednesday, leaving the series tied 1-1 going into the penultimate Test in Melbourne.

India were eight for no loss with Yashasvi Jaiswal (4) and KL Rahul (4) at the crease in their chase of 275 when bad light and rain forced an early tea. Australia made a spirited declaration at 89 for seven in their second innings with more than one session to go.

India’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah led the show with 3/18 in his six overs, aided well by Mohammed Siraj (2/35 in 7 overs) and Akash Deep (2/28). The surprise move from skipper Pat Cummins came after the 18th over when they declared the innings as a two-way result seemed realistic with more than 50 overs possible in the final session.

The third Test had multiple rain interruption across the five days. Earlier, India were all out for 260 in response to Australia’s 445. Resuming the day at 252 for nine, India added eight runs in 24 balls. Australia gained a 185-run first innings lead after Akash Deep was stumped off Travis Head’s bowling in the 79th over.

Brief Scores:

Australia 1st Innings: 445

India 1st innings: 260 all out in 78.5 overs (KL Rahul 84; Ravindra Jadeja 77; Pat Cummins 4/81).

Australia 2nd Innings: 89/7; 18 overs (Pat Cummins 22, Alex Carey 19 not out; Jasprit Bumrah 3/18, Mohammed Siraj 2/35, Akash Deep 2/28).

India 2nd Innings: 8 for no loss; 2.1 overs.

AAP releases final candidates’ list for Delhi polls

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AAP releases final candidates' list for Delhi polls

New Delhi: The AAP on Sunday released its final list of 38 candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls due in February, with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal to contest from the New Delhi constituency and Chief Minister Atishi fielded again from Kalkaji.

In its bid for a third consecutive term in power in the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has nominated its senior leaders from their own constituencies.

Ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Imran Hussain, Raghuvinder Shokeen and Mukesh Kumar Ahlawat will contest the polls from Greater Kailash, Babarpur, Ballimaran, Nangloi Jat and Sultanpur Majra respectively.

In the 2020 election, the AAP had secured 62 of the 70 seats in Delhi, solidifying its dominance in the capital’s politics.

The upcoming polls are expected to be a litmus test for the party’s governance model and its appeal to the electorate.

Omar Abdullah tells Congress to stop whining about EVMs accept poll results

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Omar Abdullah tells Congress to stop whining about EVMs, accept poll results
Omar Abdullah

New Delhi: Opening another point of friction with an important ally, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has dismissed the Congress party’s vehement objection to Electronic Voting Machines, and echoed the BJP’s defence — you can’t accept election results when you win, and blame EVMs when you lose.

“When you get a hundred plus members of Parliament using the same EVMs, and you celebrate that as sort of a victory for your party, you can’t then a few months later turn around and say… we don’t like these EVMs because now the election results aren’t going the way we would like them

Told that he sounded suspiciously like a BJP spokesman, Abdullah reacted with “God forbid!” He then added: “No, it’s just that… what’s right is right.”

He said he speaks based on principles rather than with partisan loyalty and cited his support for infrastructure projects like the Central Vista as an example of his independent thinking.

“Contrary to what everybody else believes, I think that what’s happening with this Central Vista project in Delhi is a damn good thing. I believe constructing a new Parliament building was an excellent idea. We needed a new Parliament building. The old one had outlived its utility,” he said.

He said parties should not contest elections if they do not trust the voting mechanism.

“If you have problems with the EVMs, then you should be consistent in those problems,” he said while replying to a question about whether he thinks that the opposition in general and the Congress, in particular, is barking up the wrong tree by focusing on EVMs.

After its loss in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Congress has expressed doubts about the EVM’s infallibility and the election outcome. It has demanded a return to the paper ballot.

Abdullah’s comments add to his National Conference party’s unhappiness with the Congress, which was allied with it during the September Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

NC officials have privately said that the Congress did not do its bit during the campaigning and left all the heavy lifting to them. Still, the NC won 42 seats in the 90-member Assembly, and the Congress got six.

The chief minister emphasised that electoral machines remain the same regardless of the election outcome, and parties should not use them as a convenient excuse for defeat.

“One day voters choose you, the next day they don’t,” he said and gave his own example of facing defeat in Lok Sabha polls while winning a majority in the September assembly polls.

“I never blamed the machines,” he said.

College student killed as branch of tree uprooted by elephant falls on motorbike in Kerala

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College student killed as branch of tree uprooted by elephant falls on motorbike in Kerala

Kochi: A female engineering student was killed and a youth sustained injuries when a huge palm tree branch fell on their motorcycle near Kothamangalam on Saturday.

Ann Mary C V (21), a native of Thrissur, was riding pillion on the bike driven by her college mate Altaf Aboobacker (21) around 6 pm at Chembankuzhy near the Nagarampara forest office, and the branch of the tree uprooted by the elephant, fell on them, police said.

Local forest officials who arrived at the scene rushed the duo to a private hospital in Kothamangalam.

According to Forest officials, the area often experiences frequent wild elephant intrusions.

Government urges states not to rename ‘Prime Minister’s schemes’ amid disagreement over nomenclature

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Government urges states not to rename 'Prime Minister’s schemes' amid disagreement over nomenclature
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi: The Union government has urged states to adhere to the original names of central-sponsored schemes, including 15 schemes that begin with “Pradhan Mantri” or “Prime Minister,” amid ongoing disagreements over their nomenclature.

Bengal and Tamil Nadu are among the states that have expressed discomfort with the names of these schemes, with Bengal even attempting to rename them, leading to tensions with the Centre. The central government has urged that states should not alter the names, as these schemes are jointly implemented by the Union ministries and state governments.

In a written response in the Rajya Sabha on 2 December, Rao Inderjit Singh, the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, listed several schemes starting with “Pradhan Mantri” or “Prime Minister,” including the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman, PM Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI), Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, and others.

Funding for these schemes is shared between the Centre and states, with a ratio of 60:40 in most states, and 90:10 for Northeastern and Himalayan states. The government has also pointed out that states are expected to follow the guidelines of these centrally sponsored schemes, including their nomenclature, and make no changes without approval.

The issue came to the forefront when the Ministry of Rural Development stopped releasing funds to Bengal for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the PM Awaas Yojana-Grameen for two years, citing irregularities in beneficiary selection and the renaming of the schemes. The Ministry objected to the signboards on PMGSY roads referring to the scheme as the “Bangla Gram Sadak Yojana.”

Former Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar criticised the naming of schemes after the Prime Minister, arguing that it served to rebrand existing projects and appropriated credit, diminishing the contributions of past leaders. He suggested that such practices undermined the legacy of martyred leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi.

Karnataka BJP Chief Vijayendra rejects charge that he attempted to bribe Manippady

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Karnataka BJP Chief Vijayendra rejects charge that he attempted to bribe Manippady

Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijayendra on Sunday strongly dismissed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and ruling Congress leaders’ charges that he attempted to bribe former state Minority Commission Chairperson Anwar Manippady to hush up his report on the Waqf encroachments.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a statement on Saturday said that Manippady had publicly stated that Vijayendra visited his house during Yediyurappa’s tenure as CM and offered Rs 150 crore to be silent about the Waqf property encroachment report.

Meanwhile, Manippady has denied that no such offer was made to him by Vijayendra while Home Minister G Parameshwara stated that there was video footage showing Manippady making such charge.

Questioning whether there was any logic in the allegation, Vijayendra said, the Congress and Siddaramaiah seem to be “perturbed” by the allegations of corruption and scam against them, especially by the MUDA site allotment case against the CM.

“This is a shameless government, its leaders, ministers, and legislators, I have seen their statements, they seem to have lost their mind. When B S Yediyurappa was CM and BJP government was in power Anwar Manippady had submitted a report on Waqf regarding irregularities committed during the previous Congress government and its leaders,” Vijayendra said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, “As the then Chief Minister’s son, why should I go to Anwar Manippady’s house and offer Rs 150 crore? That too to save Congress leaders? Is there any logic in this (allegation)?”

The state BJP chief said if the Congress wants to use this issue to waste the time of the legislature during the ongoing session, it is nothing but the “height of stupidity”. The government which is in the midst of corruption allegations and scams is trying to waste time, he further alleged.

“I have not seen Anwar Manippady’s statement. Is there any meaning in the allegations (made by CM and Congress leaders)? What Priyank Kharge has said is meaningless, if the CM is speaking using what he (Kharge) has said, I don’t know what to say. It seems to be true that CM is perturbed,” he said.

Stating that he will respond to the allegations if raised in the Assembly, Vijayendra said, “by creating imaginary things, if they feel that they can make opposition and Vijayendra succumb to it, we are ready to take it as a challenge and respond to it.”

Demanding a CBI probe, the CM in his statement on Saturday said that Manippady has further stated that he sent Vijayendra out of his house when he offered money, and reported the incident to PM Narendra Modi and the BJP President.

Manippady, as the chairman of the Karnataka State Minority Commission, had prepared the report, submitted it to the then BJP government in March 2012. It was tabled in the legislature in 2020, when BJP was again in power.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Mangaluru Manippady said, Vijayendra did not come to his house and no such offer was made to him.

“Vijayendra was not in the scene when the report was submitted. I didn’t even know him then and had only heard his name. I only spoke to him and expressed displeasure about the delay in tabling of report when Vijayendra was party Vice President, and Yediyurappa was CM once again. There was no Rs 150 crore offer,” he said.

Reacting to this, Home Minister G Parameshwara said, there is a video footage of Manippady accusing Vijayendra and the media had covered it then.

“If he is changing his words now, don’t know how to take it. He himself had made such claims. Let’s see, the issue may be raised in the Assembly tomorrow,” he said.

Alleging that the Congress government was wasting time during the ongoing legislature session in Belagavi, Vijayendra said, the administration, including the Chief Minister, is not ready to discuss issues concerning the state, especially from the north Karnataka region, and also on recent maternal deaths at government hospitals.

At a time when the High Court is hearing whether the MUDA case against the Chief Minister should be handed over to CBI for probe, and ED is also investigating the case, the CM seems to be anxious, he said.

Noting that there are media reports that the ruling Congress wants to discuss cases of alleged rape and charges of using casteist slurs made against BJP MLA N Munirathna, cases against former CM B S Yediyurappa and the COVID scam, during the session from tomorrow, Vijayendra said, the government is clearly misleading the House.

“The government is not concerned about the development of the state, it is trying to escape from the issues,” he said, as he hit out at CM Siddarmaiah and Home Minister Parameshwara for not expressing at least regret over last Tuesday’s lathi charge against Panchamasali Lingayat protesters, who were demanding for higher reservation.

“The intoxication of power has reached its height, the state government seems to be in an illusion that the power is permanent, hence the CM and the government are behaving arrogantly. This is not right,” he said.

The BJP will not run away fearing the politically motivated probes against its leaders, he added. “We will face everything with courage,” he further said, alleging that the government of behaving “irresponsibly”. He called it as an “unpardonable offense”.

BSP chief Mayawati urges parties to support ONOE bills slams SP, Cong on reservation issue

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BSP chief Mayawati urges parties to support ONOE bills; slams SP, Cong on reservation issue
BSP chief Mayawati

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday attacked the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, saying they should not speak on reservations as they colluded in opposing legislation giving quota in promotions to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) when the Congress-led UPA was in power.

Addressing a press conference, she also backed the Centre’s bills on ‘one nation- one election’, stressing it will reduce expenses and ensure public welfare works continue uninterrupted. She urged other parties to also support the measure.

Mayawati demanded that reservations for SC, ST and OBC be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to prevent any tampering. Central and state laws listed in the Ninth Schedule are exempt from judicial review.

During the discussion on the Constitution in Lok Sabha, the ruling side and the opposition, especially the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, to woo Dalit and OBC voters, have said a lot of “baseless” things about reservation issue in which there is “not even an iota of truth”, she told reporters.

“And it would have been better if these two parties (Congress, SP) had remained silent on this issue in Parliament, because during the time of the Congress party’s government at the Centre and with the connivance of this party, SP had strongly opposed the Constitutional Amendment Bill related to reservations in promotion of SC and ST communities.

“This bill was torn and thrown away by SP in the Parliament itself and … is still pending in the Parliament,” she lamented.

The BSP chief also targeted the ruling BJP and said, “The anti-reservation mentality of the BJP is also clearly visible, due to which they are in no mood to get the bill passed.”

Mayawati said that there was a heated discussion in the Parliament on the ‘glorious journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’.

“But its usefulness is possible only when it is accepted with an open mind whether the ruling class has been able to provide employment and justice, a life of self-respect and self-esteem to crores of people of the country as per the sacred intention of the humanitarian and welfare Constitution,” she said.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that the Constitution has not failed but the people and parties ruling the country have failed the Constitution of the country with their “narrow thinking and casteist politics”.

Mayawati also said that the “resolutions” being taken by the current BJP government are not going to benefit the people of the country.

She said if the government makes amendments to the Constitution to benefit a party or any particular person or institution, “then our party will strongly oppose it”.

Mayawati said being the party of the poor and the oppressed, the BSP welcomes the related bills brought by the BJP government regarding ‘one nation, one election’.

It would be better for all the parties to rise above party politics and work in the interest of the country and the general public on this issue, she said.

The BSP has faced a steady electoral decline in recent years and has only one Rajya Sabha MP in Parliament.

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