RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday not only acknowledged Congress’s contribution in freedom struggle but also admitted that the grand old party contributed to the country post Independence in a big way.

His remarks came here during his address on the first day of the three-day lecture series on “Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective”.

“Under Congress, a big movement started in the country. There were many great personalities who sacrificed their lives and who still inspires us. They inspired many common people to come forward for Independence. That stream (Congress) made a big contribution,” he said.

He said that the Rashtriya Swayansevak Sangh (RSS) does not believe in its own domination but in strengthening and enabling the society to take the nation forward.

Presenting the Sangh’s way of working and its views, Bhagwat said the Sangh’s work is so unique that its comparison with any other organisation is not possible.

“I will explain the working of the Sangh. My intention is not to convince you. Your judgement is your own prerogative. If you want to check out the facts that I give you, you must come closer to the Sangh and check for yourself,” he said.

“To understand the Sangh, one must understand its founder — Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar,” Bhagwat said and went on to relate the life and experiences that shaped Dr. Hedgewar.

He related various anecdotes about Dr Hedgewar’s life, his participation in the independence struggle and how he became convinced about the imperative need to train the people to create a strong and united society.

He quoted many leaders and thinkers such as Rabindranath Tagore, communist thinker M.N. Roy, former President Dr Abdul Kalam, who came to believe that the society needs to be awakened to realise the strengths of its traditional values.

Hedgewar, he said, interacted copiously with different ideologists and came to believe that all ideologies must come together to form a strong nation.

Bhagwat said Dr Hedgewar felt the need to train people to work towards positively transforming the society and the nation.

“It was with this objective that he announced the formation of the Sangh on Vijayadashmi day in 1925,” he said.

“RSS is a methodology. It’s only work is ‘vyakti nirman’ (making good human beings). There should be good Swayamsevaks in every village and mohalla,” he said.

To bring out a positive change in the society, he said, the RSS objective is simply to motivate and train every Swayamsevak.

Prominent personalities who attended the lecture series were Metro man E. Sreedharan, Manisha Koirala, Malini Awasthi, Anu Malik, Anu Kapur, Manoj Tiwari, Chetan Chauhan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Amar Singh, Swapandas Gupta, Madhur Bhandarkar, Hansraj Hans, Gajendra, and BJP leaders Ram Madhav, Ram Lal and Subramaniam Swamy.

Several Union Ministers including Harshvardhan, Vijay Goel, Arjunram Meghwal and Alphons Kananthanam also attended the event.

(IANS)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the Centre was making serious efforts to develop Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, as the “gateway to East India”.

Addressing a large gathering at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) amphitheatre, the Prime Minister detailed the many projects being launched and inaugurated in the city and nearby villages so that the face of Varanasi could change.

He said in the bid to make Kashi a smart city, care was being taken not to disturb the ancient flavour of the temple city and conserve its rich history and culture.

The Prime Minister who celebrated his 68th birthday on Monday with school children and party workers in the city, also said he was “doubly” delighted each time he saw the people of Varanasi posting pictures of the city on social media.

“The changed face of the city can be seen by people right from the time they step down from the trains that bring them here,” the Prime Minister said alluding to the pictures of the railway stations here posted on the social media.

He also exhorted the people to roll out a never-before hospitality to the hundreds who would coming here for the ‘Uttar Pradesh NRI (Non-Resident Indian) Diwas’ in January 2019.

Modi also launched and inaugurated projects worth Rs 557 crore.

He was earlier welcomed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and gifted a ‘Panchmukhi Hanuman’ (five-faced Hindu monkey god) made of wood, a major handicraft product of the region.

Modi started his address in Bhojpuri, much to the delight of the hundreds of youngsters present at the rally.

The Prime Minister was on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency. On his birthday he visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple to propitiate Lord Shiva and seek his blessings.

Modi is slated to leave for New Delhi in the afternoon.

(IANS)

Indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Tuesday.

Defence sources said that the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Gulpur area at around 1 a.m.

“Firing exchanges continued till 3.30 a.m. No casualty or damage was reported on our side,” the sources added.

(IANS)

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident of recovery of a bullet-riddled body of an Assam Police jawan from the security barrack attached to the CM’s official residence.

The body of Lance Naik Sukleswar Kathar was recovered from the barrack, at Kharghuli in Guwahati, on Sunday evening.

The police said six bullets hit Kathar’s body. The bullets were fired from his service weapon, an AK 47 rifle.

“The incident took place around 7.45 p.m. He was alone in the barrack then. Other guards on duty rushed him to the MMC Hospital but the doctors declared him dead,” said Guwahati Police Commissioner P.C. Saloi.

“It is difficult to say at this moment whether it is a suicide or some others are involved in his killing,” the police officer said.

“There was a sound of firing and guards from other parts rushed to the barrack. They saw Kathar lying in a pool of blood. His service weapon was also near him. There was no one else in the barrack then,” said Saloi.

The body was handed over to the family members after conducting the post-mortem examination on Monday.

(IANS)

In a not so subtle jibe at the ruling BJP government over its failure to rein in skyrocketing fuel prices, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev said he could sell petrol and diesel at as low as Rs 35-40 per litre — less than even half the prevailing market rates, if the government lets him do so.

Asserting that high fuel prices could cost Narendra Modi government elections dearly, Baba Ramdev — once a known BJP supporter — said that he could sell petrol and diesel this cheap if the government gives some tax relief. He also suggested that fuel needs to be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) except for the 28% bracket.

Speaking at media youth conclave, Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev said, “If the government lets me, and gives some relief in tax, I can give petrol diesel to India at Rs 35-40 per litre. Fuel needs to brought under GST and not the 28 per cent rate.”

While this can simply be a political statement against rising fuel prices in the country, Ramdev’s claim of selling petrol prices at Rs 35-40 seems unrealistic. For example: Even if both central government and state government taxes are abolished completely, along with dealers’ commission, the petrol price would still be Rs 41.48 a litre in Delhi, higher than what Ramdev claimed.

Moreover, it is impossible for the governments to let go of taxes completely on fuel: First, they are a major source of revenue, second, taxing fuel is also one of the ways to tackle air pollution. Although, there’s no doubt that the tax levied on fuel prices are almost 100% of the base price.

Petrol was sold at about Rs 40 a litre in Delhi in 2009, when fuel was highly subsidised, crude oil prices were within the range of $48-54 a barrel, and the rupee was about 50 vs the US dollar.

The fuel prices could actually be brought to be a really low level only if India becomes less dependent on imported crude oil and more on domestically produced crude. Currently, 80% of India’s total energy demand is fulfilled by imports and so global factors are going to impact the price level of fuel in the country.

Even if the Narendra Modi government completely reverses the excise duty hike since 2014, the relief would be of Rs 10-12 a litre. If states also provide relief of Rs 3 a litre on average, the total relief is going to be Rs 15 a litre, still making petrol price in Delhi Rs 67 a litre.

Rumour of a coup attempt to dislodge the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka is gaining ground with the BJP summoning all its MLAs to the state capital on Wednesday.

The ruling combine has alleged a conspiracy by the BJP to topple the four-month-old HD Kumaraswamy government using “illegal and unconstitutional” means. The BJP has dismissed the allegations, claiming the “shaky” coalition will bite the dust on its own soon.

After the BJP’s alleged efforts to woo some Congress and JD(S) MLAs by offering them money and ministerial positions became public, the worried combine held emergency meetings to counter any coup attempt.

Former chief minister and Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, who returned from a two-week Europe tour on Sunday, held a series of meetings with party MLAs who are reportedly unhappy with the JD(S)-led government.

According to insiders, Siddaramaiah has pacified them and asked them not to “fall prey to the BJP” for power and money. On Monday, he held a few more meetings to take stock of the situation.

AICC Karnataka in-charge KC Venugopal had met Siddaramaiah on Sunday along with deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwara and KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao to discuss the party strategy to prevent the possible poaching of its MLAs. They alleged that the BJP is making “desperate attempts” to install its own government after toppling the current one and that both the JD(S) and Congress are fully aware of it.

Speaking to Media, Siddaramaiah said, “We have done well in the recently held Urban Local Body (ULB) elections. It has caused a big worry to the BJP at the Centre. If we continue in power till Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will be reduced to a single digit in Karnataka. Because of that, they are trying to dislodge the government by offering huge money and ministerial posts to our MLAs. But we are united and the BJP won’t succeed.”

HD Kumaraswamy, who is in Gulbarga to commemorate the Hyderabad-Karnataka liberation day, made a scathing attack on the BJP for once again resorting to “resort” politics.

“I know what they are up to. They want to come back to power at any cost and are employing all illegal and immoral means. Yeddyurappa has hired the services of even underworld people to poach our MLAs. They will not be able to do that,” the chief minister said.

Rumour mills are abuzz that the BJP is targeting 15 Congress and JDS MLAs to bring the strength of the state Assembly down to 207 from the current strength of 222. “They have managed to convince 5-6 of our MLAs. But they are finding it difficult to reach the target,” a close aide of the chief minister told to media.

Senior JD(S) MLA HK Kumaraswamy’s wife Chanchala has also dropped a bombshell by claiming that two BJP leaders offered her husband Rs 30 crore and a ministerial berth to defect and that he flatly refused to ditch the JD(S).

Meanwhile, the BJP is planning to herd all its MLAs to a resort to prevent the JD(S)-Congress from poaching some of their MLAs after Kumaraswamy claimed that 5-6 BJP MLAs were in touch with him and would resign from the saffron party, said a source.

State BJP president BS Yeddyurappa told media that the JDS-Congress government was counting its last days in office and that it would collapse without the BJP making any efforts to topple the government.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Bengaluru on Tuesday leading to more speculation in political circles. According to government sources, Singh has no official programme in Karnataka.

In the 224-member Assembly, the Congress has 79 MLAs and the JD(S) has 38. Two Independents are also backing the government. The BJP has 104 MLAs. Two seats are vacant.

(PTI)

AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal on Sunday said there is no threat to the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and it will complete the full five-year term.

Speaking to media persons after meeting former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Venugopal accused the BJP of trying to destabilise the government. “The government is 100 per cent safe. We have full faith in our MLAs and none of them will quit the party,” he said and accused the BJP of trying to poach his party MLAs.

KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “BJP leaders are indulging in dirty politics and we will expose them. We have even filed a complaint with the Income Tax department.”The BJP, however, has rubbished the allegations and stated that it has nothing to do with the crisis in Congress.

Rao said all Congress MLAs are with the party. “All MLAs, including those from Ballari district, are in touch and there is no need to call them for meetings again and again,” he said, adding that the legislative party meeting will be called ahead of next month’s legislative council elections. The party had recently convened a meeting of MLAs from Ballari after they expressed displeasure over not being included in the ministry.

Rao said even in BBMP Mayor’s election, BJP is trying to come to power by getting support from independent members in the council. The mayoral and deputy mayoral elections are scheduled in the last week of this month and Congress-JD(S) are in power in BBMP with support from independent members.