The swearing-in will take place at 1 pm in the Vidhan Bhavan (state legislature) premises where a total of 36 ministers are likely to take oath, they said.

MUMBAI: Ten Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Ashok Chavan, will join the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra council of ministers during its expansion on Monday, party sources said.

The swearing-in will take place at 1 pm in the Vidhan Bhavan (state legislature) premises where a total of 36 ministers are likely to take oath, they said.

From the Congress’ side, Ashok Chavan, K C Padvi, Vijay Wadettiwar, Amit Deshmukh, Sunil Kadar, Yashomati Thakur, Varsha Gaikwad and Aslam Sheikh will take oath as Cabinet ministers, the sources said.

Besides, Satej Patil and Vishwajit Kadam of the Congress will be sworn in as ministers of state, they added.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray was formed on November 28.

The state Cabinet currently has six ministers, besides the chief minister.

Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut of the Congress, Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena and Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP took oath along with Thackeray on November 28.

Maharashtra can have a maximum of 43 ministers.

The size of council of ministers cannot exceed 15 per cent of the total number of MLAs, which is 288 in the state.

The Shiv Sena last month joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

As per the power-sharing formula decided by the three MVA allies, the Sena will get 15 ministerial berths, excluding the CM’s post, the NCP will also get 15 and the Congress 12.

The Shiv Sena has 56 MLAs, the NCP-54 and the Congress-44 in the 288-member House.

Markets as well residential areas in Muslim-dominated localities of the town, the headquarters of Aravalli district, wore a deserted look.

MODASA: To protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Muslim community in Modasa town in north Gujarat observed a self-imposed “Janta curfew” on Friday.

Markets as well residential areas in Muslim-dominated localities of the town, the headquarters of Arvalli district, wore a deserted look.

The Aravalli Muslim Co-ordination Committee had given a call for a bandh (shut-down) as well as a “Janta curfew”.

Its impact was felt in Old City area, Vegetable Market, Kasba, Suka Bajar, College Road and some other areas.

But the bandh call did not receive much response in non-Muslim areas.

“Not a single Muslim came out of house today. All our shops and businesses remained shut. We had given the call for bandh and janta curfew to register our protest in a peaceful yet effective way,” said Maulana Mohsin Sahab of the Coordination Committee.

“We strongly oppose both CAA and NRC as they are against the spirit of our Constitution. We want the government to think over them again and withdraw these draconian measures,” said the cleric.

Kalbe Jawwad lauded the Lucknow police for controlling the situation which arose after the anti-CAA protests and said that action should also be taken against anti-social elements.

LUCKNOW: Shia cleric Kalbe Jawwad met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Saturday and demanded the release of people arrested in “fake” cases related to anti-CAA violence.

He also demanded that students arrested from a Shia Madarsa in Muzaffarnagar should also be released and the action should be taken against erring officials.

The cleric lauded the Lucknow police for controlling the situation which arose after the anti-CAA protests and said that action should also be taken against anti-social elements who instigated the violence.

In a memorandum, Jawwad stated: “The honourable Chief Minister has said that those who have been involved in violence will be brought to book but UP police is arresting innocent people from their homes.”

More than 15 people have died in alleged police firing in UP as unverified videos have surfaced that purportedly show UP police using excessive force against the protesters.

The Shia community which has been reluctant to join the anti-CAA agitation, eventually joined it this week as the religious leaders made a u-turn following a backlash in the Muslim community.

 The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the protests that took a violent turn in Mangaluru on December 19, began on Friday.

MANGALURU: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the protests that took a violent turn in Mangaluru on December 19, began on Friday. Two people were killed in police firing that took place during the protests.

Sources said the five-member team, led by CID SP Rahul Shahpura, which arrived at the police commissioner’s office in the morning, went to Bunder area where the firing happened, for inspection.

Later, they collected details of the incident from the local police and went through the videos and photos related to the incident.

However, sources said the CID has not yet taken over the investigation from the Mangaluru city police which has already started their investigation.

The local police will continue the investigation and the CID will take over the case only after finishing the groundwork. Once they take over the case, the CID will look into whether the investigation conducted by the local police so far, is proper.

Since the government has also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, Udupi Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesha is expected to visit Mangaluru on Saturday to start the investigation into the incident.

The government has ordered to complete the investigation in three months and submit a report. 

There might be a debate on Bhagwat’s statement, but this is not the first time that the BJP’s allies have shown their differences with the party’s Hindutva agenda.

NEW DELHI: The RSS-BJP push towards the Hindutva agenda appears to be making the NDA allies restive. After the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Akali Dal came out openly against the CAA/NRC, on Friday the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Republican Party of India (RPI) voiced their disagreement over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent remark that the Sangh regarded all 130 crore people of India as Hindus, irrespective of their religion and culture.

Union Minister and RPI leader Ramdas Athawale said it was not right to say that all Indians are Hindus.

“There was a time when everyone was a Buddhist in our country. If Mohan Bhagwat means everyone is an Indian, then it is good. In our country, people are from Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain, Lingayat faiths and different communities live here,” he said.

Later, LJP chief Chirag Paswan also dissented with Bhagwat’s statement.

“People of all faiths and castes living in India are Indians and the Constitution of the country is secular. It is a gift from the Constitution that we can have faith in any religion and practice it,” Paswan tweeted.

There might be a debate on Bhagwat’s statement in the context of his speech made in Hyderabad, but this is not the first time that the BJP’s allies have shown their differences with the party’s Hindutva agenda.

Only last week, amid violent protests across India against the CAA-NRC, JD-U chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar bluntly rejected the proposed nationwide NRC saying there was no question of implementing it.

Later, Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral voiced dissatisfaction with the way the allies were being treated by the BJP and demanded that the new citizenship Act be amended to include Muslims.

He said that the allies were not consulted over CAA.

Some of the NDA leaders revealed that there was a growing perception among the allies that the Modi government, which worked with a scorching pace in its first tenure for development and economic reforms, had shifted from the tracks.

NDA allies believe the focus of ‘big brother’ BJP seems to be on more aggressively pushing the Hindutva agenda.

“Article 370, Triple Talaq, CAA, fears about NRC and now NPR…Doesn’t this suggest a shift towards aggressively pushing the hardcore Hindutva agenda?” asked an NDA leader. It was other issues, particularly the economic slowdown, that needed urgent attention, the leader averred.

The move comes after the arrest of at least a dozen BHU students for participating in a protest called by Left organisations on December 19.

VARANASI: In a surprise move, 51 professors of the prestigious Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and its affiliated colleges have launched a signature campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The BHU is seen as a right-wing institution that rarely involves itself in mainstream politics.

The move comes after the arrest of at least a dozen BHU students for participating in a protest called by Left organisations on December 19.

Of the 12 arrested students, three are PhD students and eight are doing their M.A. degree and one is a B.A. student. At least three of these arrested live in hostels inside the campus and have mentioned this under the address section of the First Information Report.

In a signed document, the professors have said: “We request the government to rethink the long-term implications of the CAA and hope national interest would prevail over partisan politics. We also urge the protesters not to indulge in any kind of violence and express their disagreement through democratic and peaceful means.”

BHU students stood with arrested students in CAA case. They have expressed their solidarity with 69 arrested people and demanded their immediate release.

An eight-year-old boy died in a stampede allegedly triggered by police baton-charging in a different part of Varanasi on the same day as the BHU students were arrested.

The students claim that they were protesting peacefully.

Apart from the students, members of civil society groups and activists have also been under arrest since December 19.

A total of 69 people have been arrested by Varanasi police and in many locations, they have pasted posters with faces of alleged rioters in the ‘wanted’ list.

Mohan Bhagwat said irrespective of religion and culture, people who respect the country’s culture and heritage, and nurture a nationalistic spirit would be considered Hindus.

HYDERABAD: While calling for unity among all the citizens irrespective of their religious faiths, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sar Sanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said that all those who worship the jal, zameen and jungle of this country and wish well for Bharat Mata would be considered as Hindus. 

Addressing a public meeting in connection with ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Sibiram’, a three-day winter camp of key RSS functionaries, Mohan Bhagwat said irrespective of religion and culture, people who respect the country’s culture and heritage, and nurture a nationalistic spirit would be considered Hindus.  “RSS will consider 130 crore people of the country as Hindus,” the RSS chief said. His remarks assumed significance in the wake of widespread protests and apprehensions against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across the country.

“Some say there is unity in diversity. We also believe it. But we see different shades of one ‘satya’ (eternal truth). All those who follow different forms of worship are considered as children of Bharat Mata, irrespective of their language or region,” Bhagwat declared.The RSS chief said that the main work of the outfit was to unite the people of the country. “We practise this daily for one hour in our shakas,” he added.

On christening the RSS camp as ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Sibiram’, the RSS chief said: “Some may ask, whose victory? There are three types of victories. Tamasika, Rajasika and Satvik victories. The first two are banned in Hindu dharma. RSS has always believed in victory through Satvik means. A Satvik person does not have any selfish interests. When faced with criticism, he may retort occasionally.

But, a Satvik person will always have kindness and love in his heart and strive for the welfare of others,” he said.  Bhagwat said that Satvik nature was rooted deep in the soil of this country, he said. The aim of the RSS was to make Bharat Mata a “vishwa guru” (universal teacher), he said. “We want victory for the country and Bharat Mata through Satvik means. RSS workers always want universal peace,” he emphasised. 

Bhagwat, however, rued that “this world is filled with Tamasik and Rajasik forces”.
“Our Hindu culture alone is capable of achieving dharma vijay. An organised Hindu society can guide the world,” he averred.  The change in the country would happen not because of politics or politicians, but with selfless people, he said. Bhagwat then went on to illustrate his example further by citing Rabindranath Tagore. “When the Britishers were leaving the country, people thought that there would be clashes between Hindus and Muslims. But Tagore felt there would be a solution to prevent such clashes. 

That solution for uniting the nation would come through a Hindu means. The RSS wants that every village and basti in the country stay united without differences,” Bhagwat added. BV Mohan Reddy of Cyient Technologies attended the meeting as the chief guest.  Around 7,705 RSS functionaries are attending the ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Sibiram’, which concludes on Thursday. 

It will be a major test for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party hasn’t seen much success in the national elections in 2014 and 2019, despite its top performance in the Delhi election in 2015

The Delhi election is to be held before February 22, when the term of the assembly ends

The Chief Election Commissioner and other top officials are meeting to decide the dates for the election to the Delhi assembly, due before February 22, sources said. Campaigning for the election to the 70-member assembly has already started, with leaders of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Congress meeting people and launching resident-focused programmes.

It will be a major test for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose relatively new party hasn’t seen much success in the national elections in 2014 and 2019, despite its top performance in the Delhi election in 2015.

The BJP is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election-winning formula to take Delhi.

Housing, education and demand for statehood are some of the big issues in Delhi.

The Aam Aadmi Party needs to set a target of winning more seats in the upcoming election than it won in the 2015 polls when it secured 67 of the 70 assembly seats, Mr Kejriwal told party members last week.

“There is just over a month left for assembly elections in Delhi and since Delhi is party’s base from where it started we have to strongly fight the election,” he told party members at the eighth national council meeting.

“Our target is also very big. Last time, we won 67 seats and this time, we should not get less than that but more than that number,” he said amid slogans of “70 out of 70” by party members.

The AAP will fight this election in collaboration with election strategist Prashant Kishor’s consultancy firm I-PAC.

All the residents went to the terrace as the fire broke out and, therefore, the rescue operation were easy as compared to other such incidents, an official said.

5 fire tenders were rushed to the spot after receiving a call at 2.10 am about fire.

A major tragedy was averted after 40 people were rescued from a building in east Delhi when a fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday, an official said.

Plastic waste materials were stored on the ground floor of the four-storey building in Krishna Nagar area, while people lived on the the upper floors and it had only a single staircase, Delhi Fire Services director Atul Garg said.

Five fire tenders were rushed to the spot after receiving a call at 2.10 am about the blaze. All the residents went to the terrace as the fire broke out and, therefore, the rescue operation were easy as compared to other such incidents, the official said.

Forty people were rescued from the building and the fire was doused by 4 am, the official added.