by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Pervez Bari, Maeeshat.in,
Bhopal: In the context of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Popular Front of India, (PFI), will convene a “Muslim Political Conclave” in the national capital on 6th March 2019 to submit a “People’s Charter of Demands” on behalf of the minority community before the contesting political parties.
Muslim scholars, activists and leaders have been invited from different states, which will discuss the current national and state situations and prepare a charter reflecting the concerns of the community for the interested political parties to include in their election manifesto. This decision was taken in the National Executive Council meeting of PFI held at Malappuram in Kerala.
M. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, General Secretary PFI, in a statement said that the meeting observed that, though 2019 Lok Sabha election is being viewed as of paramount importance in the history of the country, the existential and developmental issues of minorities have been largely sidelined in the political discourse of the major political parties who have traditionally used the community as their vote banks. The present Central government is characterised by its extreme anti-minority nature and the resultant rise of violence against Muslims in particular. In lynching incidents, mostly Muslims were killed in the name of beef consumption and the cattle trade.
According to one survey, it is found that hate speeches by elected leaders increased by five times since BJP came to power in 2014. A report of Human Rights Watch says that in most of the mob lynching cases culprits remain unpunished.
Jinnah sad that in Babri Masjid case, the Central government is opposed to justice for the illegally demolished Masjid, rather they are doing everything to prevent justice and ensure Ram Mandir construction on the Babri land. The non-BJP Opposition has relegated Babri Masjid case into a non-issue and has forgotten the promise of reconstruction, made to the nation when it was demolished in 1992. Through the introduction of 10 per cent quota in government jobs on economic grounds, when the Central government tried to destroy the constitutional foundation of reservation, both Congress and Left parties supported this upper caste agenda. And they keep silence over the recommendation of Justice Ranganath Misra Commission to provide 15 per cent reservation for religious minorities.
He pointed out it is to be remembered that it was UPA government which introduced the draconian UAPA, now widely being misused by the Modi Government against minorities and for silencing voices of dissent. The constitution of NIA, another agency which is misused against Muslims, is also a Congress government contribution. No previous secular government at the Centre bothered to remove the oppressive sedition clause from our penal laws.
There is a visible reluctance on the part of major parties even to address Muslims in these changed political circumstances. They often distance themselves from core questions of Muslims and backward minority sections and at times even compete with BJP by championing Hindutva politics even openly. In short, these parties have proved them incapable of standing by the aspirations of the minorities and marginalized sections of this country. The situation demands realistic evaluation of the present situation in the country and effective strategizing on the part of Muslim community for its own future and the future of the country as a secular democratic nation. The proposed Muslim Political Conclave is an attempt at enabling the opposition parties to address the Lok Sabha election on the basis of core secular values enshrined in the Indian constitution.
Chairman E. Abubacker presided over the meeting, which was attended by, General Secretary M. Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Vice Chairman O. M. A. Salam, Secretaries Abdul Wahid Sait, Anis Ahmed and other members of the National Executive Council.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Economy, Events, News, Politics
New Delhi : Noting that his government had achieved the unprecedented dual objective of sustained high growth combined with low inflation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said innovation and technology would provide the backbone of “resurgence” for a “new India”.
Addressing the ET Global Business Summit, Modi said that unlike earlier governments in the post-liberalisation era, the outgoing National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had achieved both sustained high growth of over 7 per cent and low single-digit inflation.
“The previous government achieved an average annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent with inflation in double digits,” he said.
“However, between 2014 and 2019, the average annual growth rate has been 7.4 per cent, while the average inflation rate has been 4.5 per cent. Post the liberalisation in 1991, this has been the highest rate of average growth combined with the lowest average rate of inflation.”
He said the current transformation underway in the economy was the result of sound macroeconomic fundamentals which is reflected, for instance, in the “increasing bouquet of financing resources”.
“There is no more the sole dependence on bank credit for raising capital. While between 2012 and 2014, the average finance raised through equity was Rs 14,000 crore per annum, in the last four years this average has gone up to Rs 43,000 crore,” he said.
“Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) raised less than an average of Rs 4,000 crore between 2011-14, but under our government AIF, during 2014-18, this figure has gone up to Rs 81,000 crore, recording a jump of 20 times,” Modi added.
Declaring that “New India” would be an active contributor to the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the Prime Minister said that “innovation and technology will form the backbone of this resurgence”.
Citing indicators of the resurgence, Modi said that the number of patents granted had gone up over three-fold, from 4,000 in 2013 to 13,000 in 2017-18.
“Trademarks registered have gone up from 68,000 in 2013-14 to 2.5 lakh in 2016-17, a four-fold increase,” he added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling him ‘Prime Time Minister’ and said that when people were crying over the deaths in Pulwama, Modi was indulging “gleefully” in a photoshoot.
“Three hours after the news of the killing of 40 soldiers in Pulwama, ‘Prime Time Minister’ continued shooting the film, Gandhi said.
“There was a lot of pain in the heart of the dear ones of the martyrs — they were going through ‘a sea of emotion’, while the PM was laughing at a photoshoot on a river,” the Congress chief tweeted in Hindi referring to the photoshoot on a lake.
Gandhi’s Twitter dig was preceded by a press conference by party spokesperson Manish Tewari where he raised question over Modi’s actions in the immediate aftermath of the worst ever attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed.
The Congress for the second day on Friday asked why he failed to mention the attack and its victims while addressing a rally in Rudrapur district of Uttarakhand just two hours later.
“We want to ask the Prime Minister what he was doing between 3.10 p.m. (when the attack happened) and 5.10 p.m.
At 4.40 p.m., he addressed a rally through mobile phone. To the best of our knowledge, not even once did he mention the attack,” said Tewari earlier at the presser, where he played a DD news video as evidence of PM’s address.
“If he had condemned the Pulwama attack, he would have paid a tribute to the martyrs.. none of that happened,” he said, adding that Modi “deliberately” chose not to mention the martyrs.
“There can be no greater insensitivity than that,” he said.
The Congress leader said there was an even “more frightening scenario” than the Prime Minister merely failing to mention the attack in his speech.
“Was he unaware of the attack between 3.10 p.m. and 5.30 p.m.? He was either not informed about it by his office or he was incommunicado. That speaks a lot about the state of communication in the higher echelons of Indian state,” Tewari said.
He stressed the point that India being a nuclear power — surrounded by another nuclear power in Pakistan — cannot afford to have leaders who cannot be communicated in time.
“If you (Modi) didn’t know that there was an attack, can there be a greater incompetence,” he said.
The Congress even dismissed government’s decision on Thursday of stopping water of three eastern rivers — the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej — to Pakistan as “high octane jingoism” and termed it a subterfuge to hide the failure of the national security.
“The BJP-NDA government is a brilliant mix of arrogance and ignorance,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics
By Saurabh Katkurwar and Brajendra Singh,
New Delhi : Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan says the NDA does not want the Pulwama attack and subsequent developments to become an election issue but “it cannot be ignored” as he made it clear that the government “is as serious as the people of the country” after the terror attack.
While not going into the specifics of what the government may do to retailiate against the Pakistan-sponsored operation in Pulwama, he acknowledges that there are expectations from the government to “act”.
In an interview to IANS, Paswan said he feels the much-talked about Grand Alliance of Opposition parties is a non-starter due to contradictions among the parties and will in no way affect the chances of NDA returning to power, says Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Paswan.
He also rules out his dumping the NDA in case of a hung verdict in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“We have done a lot of development work. We don’t need to make it an election issue. But the Pulwama incident cannot be ignored. The entire world is speaking now. US President Donald Trump has reacted. France has said it will take the initiative to get the Pulwama attack by Jaishe-e-Mohammed condemned in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
“We don’t want to make it a political or election issue. Every political party has come forward and has shown unity in national interest. What government will do I can’t say. But the government has taken it seriously. The government has taken it as seriously as the people have taken it,” he said on the Pulwama terror attack and the demands being made to avenge the terror sponsored from across the border.
Paswan said the people were outraged and the Prime Minister has clearly said that “every drop of soldier’s blood will be avenged”.
“Their sacrifices will not go in vain,” he said, adding people and parties should believe in what the Prime Minister has said.
Dismissing the possibility of the grand alliance being a threat to the NDA returning to power, he said the ruling coalition will get more number of MPs than now and Narendra Modi will again be the Prime Minister.
“I do not think there will be a pre-poll alliance (among Opposition parties). The NDA will be the biggest gainer and it will form the government as President will invite the majority pre-poll group.
“Do you think Mamata Banerjee will go along with Congress and the Left in Bengal? Will SP-BSP go with Congress in Uttar Pradesh? The situation is similar everywhere. There will not be any grand-alliance,” he said.
Asked about the description of the grand alliance as ‘mahamilavat’ (highly adulterated) by the Prime Minister and the BJP too striking deals with other parties in states, Paswan said there was nothing wrong with that.
“We are pure. There is no adulteration. They (Opposition) are adulterated. As Prime Minister says it is ‘mahamilavat’ (highly adulterated). In Opposition, all are tainted. Lalu Prasad is tainted, Mayawati is tainted, Akhilesh is tainted. Mamata Banerjee’s party is in Saradha scam,” he said.
The Union Minister also felt that the Congress contesting alone in Uttar Pradesh would cut into the votes of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which would benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The SP-BSP alliance is not going to continue because the man who built the SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is against it,” Paswan said and recalled Yadav’s praise in the Lok Sabha and his wish to see Modi return to power.
Asked about challenges being posed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led grand alliance in Bihar, Paswan said that it will have no impact on the NDA.
“We are in solid position in Bihar whereas in the Opposition camp, there is uncertainty over distribution of seats. If someone gets lesser seats than expected, it will come out of the grand alliance. The Congress cannot go with the RJD. There is no question of if and but. We will win Bihar and Uttar Pradesh too despite opposition alliance,” he said.
To a query about what will be his party’s strategy in case of a hung verdict and NDA not being in a position to form the government, Paswan said, “We are with the NDA and will remain with the NDA.”
Talking about why the NDA will come back to power, the Minister said that the tax sops for those with annual income of Rs 5 lakh and schemes like the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, housing scheme for poor and toilet, electricity and gas in all the poor homes would vouch for the government’s performance.
The decision to provide 10 per cent quota for economically weaker sections would also remove the anger among the upper castes while issues like demonetisation and rural distress have faded into the background.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Harish Rawat
Dehradun : Congress General Secretary Harish Rawat on Friday said the party will launch sincere efforts to build a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya if it comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections.
“On two previous occasions, the Congress made sincere attempts to build the Ram temple when it was in power. We will sincerely launch efforts to build the Ram temple if we come to power,” Rawat told reporters here.
Asked whether this the party’s official stand, Rawat quipped: “My statement regarding the Ram temple was widely reported in the media. There is no denial from the Congress.”
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being insincere on the issue. “BJP is only doing politics on the Ram temple issue,” said Rawat. The government must work as a facilitator for building the temple, he said.
On the Pulwama suicide bombing, Rawat accused the BJP of projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the only nationalist in the country.
“I have strong objections on the projection of Modi as the only nationalist in India. We all are nationalists. Everybody in the country is a nationalist,” Rawat said.
Criticizing the Uttarakhand BJP government on its budget presented this week, Rawat said the declining agriculture and manufacturing growth in the state was a matter of grave concern.
He said nearly a dozen factories had been closed in the state after the November 7 investors meet. He also claimed that of the nine lakh farmers in the state, 50,000 have quit farming in the past two years.
Rawat said the government’s decision to relax the stringent land laws would force the people to migrate to other states.
“Top industrialists like Adani and Ramdev would buy all the land. There will be no land left for living,” said Rawat.
—IANS
