by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Describing the coming Lok Sabha elections as a “battle of two ideologies”, BJP President Amit Shah on Friday hit out at the proposed opposition grand alliance describing it as an “eyewash” and attacked the coming together of the SP and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh because they have realised that they cannot defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi on their own individually.
Asserting that 2019 will be a year of expansion for the BJP, he said Modi was leading the NDA that has 35 parties, the opposition does not have either a leader of a policy.
Sounding the poll bugle at the inauguration of the party’s two-day National Convention, he asked the BJP workers to resolve to bring Modi back to power in the general elections saying the people of the country will elect a “mazboot sarkar (strong government) and not a “mazboor sarkar” (compromising government).
Under pressure from the RSS and other members of the ‘Sangh Parivar’, Shah utilised the opportunity to assert that the government is keen on the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya in accordance with Constitutional norms but accused the Congress of creating hurdles.
“This ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) is an eyewash. Everybody is fighting for their survival. We defeated them in 2014 and it is time to defeat them again. Politics is not physics but chemistry in which when two compounds meet they can lead to unintended consequences. They have come together for their self interest and for power. This is a battle that will have a far-reaching impact for centuries to come. It is necessary to win it.”
Touching upon the proposed alliance between arch rivals in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP President asked “if bua-bhatija’ (aunt-nephew) come together what will happen. They did not want to see each other’s face a few months back. They cannot sit together.”
“We are ready to fight the battle to get over 50 per cent vote share in Uttar Pradesh. We will get not less than 74 seats (one more than what the BJP and its allies got in 2014). They have united because they cannot defeat Modi on their own. This is acceptance of our strength, of the strength of Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
“There was a time when it used to be Congress versus all. Today it is a matter of pride that it is Modi versus all. He is a pole of Indian politics on the strength of his hard work,” he said.
Calling upon the BJP workers to take a resolve for the re-election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, Amit Shah compared the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to the third battle of Panipat.
Shah said the party was gaining momentum in Odisha and West Bengal and he was personally keen to see a BJP government in Kerala.
Referring to the contentious issue of the Ram Temple, he said it was being said that the party has deviated from its earlier words.
“The ideology with which we started in 1950, the journey is continuing in the same direction. The BJP wants that Ram Temple should be constructed at the earliest and a grand temple should be built at Ayodhya. We are trying that the issue is settled soon as per constitutional norms. The matter is pending in the Supreme Court. Congress is creating road blocks. We were and are committed for Ram temple,” he said.
He laid out the issues that will be the campaign themes of the party in the next three months including upper caste job reservation and welfare measures for the poor including toilets, gas, housing, Ayushman Bharat and financial inclusion.
Shah accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of “manufacturing” allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal and talked of surgical strikes and said Modi had enhanced India’s stature in the world.
Speaking of the rise of the Marathas under Shivaji and subsequent warriors, he said they lost in the Battle of Panipat in 1761 and the country later came under the rule of the British for 200 years.
“That was a decisive battle. Today the situation is the same. The country’s politics saw several ups and downs in the last 70 years. The BJP started its journey from Jan Sangh and got full majority in 2014 under Narendra Modi. In 2014 we were in power in six states, today we are in power in 16,” he said.
He said the Modi-led government was transparent, decisive, sensitive and based on democratic values.
“When we went for election in 2014, we had cadre. Today we have nine crore active workers. There are 22 crore beneficiaries of government schemes. Last time people wanted to give Modi a chance, this time we are fighting on the basis of his performance.”
“We have leadership of the most popular, hardworking, transparent and visionary leader. I am working with him since 1987. He has never been defeated. There is no question of stopping. We will again make a full majority NDA government in 2019.”
He urged the people to have faith in Modi again and said no one else can give a strong government.
He said the Modi government had a “spotless record” and attacked Rahul Gandhi and his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
“Those who are on bail and are facing income tax notices are making allegations of corruption against us. People of the country are not going to believe this.”
He said the Supreme Court had said that there was no need to probe the Rafale fighter deal and answers were given in parliament but Rahul Gandhi was still making allegations.
“What is this frustration. Five years are about to end. If they do not rake up allegations, how will they fight. They (the Congress) has indulged in corruption in every defence deal. If Michel mama is caught, they start sweating.”
“The history of their four generations is marked by corruption and you are making allegations against us.”
Referring to fugitive economic offenders Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya, he said they were “in comfort” during the UPA rule but were forced to flee when the Modi government came to power.
“Chowkidar will bring all the thieves. It is only a matter of time. They will have to return the money pending against their names,” he said.
He said India is the fastest growing economy and the government had implemented its promise of giving farmers prices at 50 per cent over their input cost.
He talked of efforts to bring justice to various sections including the Sikhs and efforts to empower weaker sections including Dalits, women and tribals.
Shah said the NDA had made a difference to the lives of the poor by providing a record number of houses, toilets, banking, electricity and gas connections in the last five years.
He made repeated mention of the bill to provide 10 per cent reservation to the economically backward sections among the upper castes in education and government jobs and said the poor among the general categories will get their first opportunity for a slice of the pie of reserved government jobs.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, News, Politics
New Delhi : Opposition parties and political leaders on Monday sought to dismiss as “election gimmick” the Narendra Modi governments move to give 10 percent reservation for economically backward people in the general category, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Union Cabinet on the day approved 10 percent quota for people belonging to “unreserved categories”, including Christians and Muslims, in jobs and education with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh.
Questioning the legality of the move vis-a-vis the Supreme Court putting a cap of 50 per cent on reservations, the Congress called it an “election gimmick”.
“Did you (government) not think of this for 4 years and 8 months? So, obviously thought of as an election gimmick 3 months before the model code. You know you cannot exceed 50 per cent cap, so it is done only to posture that you tried an unconstitutional thing,” Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
“Forward reservation is a gimmick to fool people, the 50 per cent cap continues to be law,” he said citing the M R Balaji case in which the Supreme Court put a 50 per cent cap on reservations.
“Government only misleading nation. Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan tried exceeding 50 per cent quota but was struck down by court. Modi, BJP clearly think Indian public eats grass,” said Singhvi adding that the move was a sign of the Modi’s “fear and certainty of losing 2019 elections”.
Communist Party of India’s (CPI) D Raja said the move indicated the ruling BJP’s desperation.
“What exactly they (government) have decided we don’t know. How they have defined ‘backwardness’ we don’t know. Already the Supreme Court has put a cap on reservation at 50 per cent. That has not been challenged by the Central government, which means the cap remains.
“So in this case, what Supreme Court is going to do we don’t know. There are many questions which need to be answered. They have to come before Parliament. The BJP is desperate, it is panicking and rattled. It wants to do certain things for fear of losing vote base,” said Raja.
Supreme Court advocate and nominated Rajya Sabha member K.T.S. Tulsi said: “This looks like an attempt in the direction of abolishing the entire reservation system.”
Speaking in a similar vein, former Union Finance Minister Yahswant Sinha dubbed the move as “jumla” (fake promise).
Sinha questioned the government’s intent citing legal complexities and paucity of time as the current session of Parliament is scheduled to end on Tuesday.
“The proposal to give 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker upper castes is nothing more than a jumla. It is bristling with legal complications and there is no time for getting it passed through both Houses of Parliament. Government stands completely exposed,” he said.
However, BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla, said the move was not aimed at placating the upper caste.
“This is not an attempt to placate the upper castes. We are trying to give them their right. We are not doing a favour to them. It is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motto of ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas’.
“Those who do not want to get this bill passed in Parliament may go ahead. We will try to get this bill passed,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The opposition parties on Saturday slammed Union Minister Jayant Sinha for allegedly honouring Ramgarh lynching convicts after they were released on bail even as the Minister defended his action, saying he had full faith in the judicial system.
Sinha had welcomed by hugging and garlanding the eight men convicted in the Ramgarh lynching case in Jharkhand after they were released on bail on Thursday.
According to reports, the life sentences of the convicts were suspended by the High Court and after getting bail they headed to Sinha’s residence, led by a local BJP leader.
Condemning Sinha’s action, the Congress slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and accused it of fanning communal tension.
“It is only in ‘New India’, where those who are supposed to get the noose are instead being garlanded,” the Congress said in a tweet.
“The Minister of the BJP-led Central government, which honours those accused of riots, is now garlanding convicts of lynching. Is Modi government encouraging social unstability,” it added.
CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury also attacked the BJP for “tearing India’s social fabric” and promoting politics of hate.
“We don’t need to look far to see who or which ideology is tearing our social fabric apart: when union ministers patronise those convicted of lynching,” he said in a tweet.
Swaraj India founder and renowned advocate Prashant Bhushan also slammed the Minister and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah of patronising “lumpen thugs”.
“Jayant Sinha hugs and garlands Ramgarh lynching convicts as they come out on bail. Obviously the junior minister is keen to remain in the good books of his bosses, Modi and Shah, who patronise these lumpen thugs,” he said.
However, Sinha defended his actions and said he had full faith in India’s judicial system and the rule of law. He said while he unequivocally condemned all acts of violence and rejected any type of vigilantism, he had misgivings about the Fast-Track Court judgment sentencing each accused to life imprisonment.
“The rule of law is supreme in India’s constitutional democracy and any unlawful act, particularly those that violate the rights of any citizen, should be punished with the full force of the law.
“Unfortunately, irresponsible statements are being made about my actions when all that I am doing is honouring the due process of law. Those who are innocent will be spared and the guilty will be appropriately punished,” he said in a series of tweets.
Sinha added: “I have repeatedly expressed my misgivings about the Fast-Track Court judgment sentencing each accused to life imprisonment. I am pleased that the High Court will hear the matter as a statutory court of appeal to test the correctness of the Fast-Track Court order.
“In the Ramgarh case, the Ranchi High Court, which is the first court of appeal, has suspended the sentence of the accused and released them on bail while admitting their case. The case will once again be re-heard.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Opposition parties on Tuesday said they would observe November 8 as Black Day to protest against the “ill-conceived” decision of the government to spike Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, a year ago.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that the opposition parties have worked out a joint strategy and would register their protest against the November 8, 2016, demonetisation decision.
“Demonetisation was an ill-conceived and hasty decision of the government. It is unprecedented, perhaps in the entire world, that a government had to alter its policy 135 times within a month,” Azad said, recalling how the government kept changing its rules in the aftermath of the note ban last year.
The decision to mark November 8 as the black day was taken at a coordination meeting on Monday that was attended by JD-U rebel leader Sharad Yadav, CPI MP D. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, BSP’s Satish Mishra and Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Opposition on Thursday stepped up its attack on the government over the RBI’s annual report that revealed low efficacy of demonetisation, with the Congress terming the move to junk high currency notes as the “biggest scam” and the CPI-M demanding a “black paper” on the issue.
The Aam Aadmi Party also hit out at the Modi government and claimed that extra notes worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore were deposited in banks following demonetisation.
The Congress, AAP and CPI-M held separate press conferences to slam the government following the RBI annual report figures on Wednesday which said that of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore taken out of circulation in the November 8 demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, Rs 15.28 lakh crore had returned to the system by way of public deposits.
Congress leader Anand Sharma accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the people on demonetisation, saying that he had repeatedly made “false statements.”
Sharma said the Prime Minister had made “false remarks” in his Independence Day speech about the quantum of black money that was unearthed after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were scrapped.
He said demonetisation had led to a loss of GDP of Rs 2.25 lakh crore and the Prime Minister was “directly responsible”.
“People will accept the truth, they can also accept that a mistake has been made, but it is wrong to state repeatedly that everything done was right,” he said.
He said the Attorney General had told the Supreme Court that due to demonetisation an amount of Rs 4-5 lakh crore related to terror funding will not come back to the system.
“The government has not spoken the truth at every step. People have been misled, inconvenienced. This has been the biggest scam. Those who had illegal money, the government has helped them make it legal,” Sharma said.
CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury termed demonetisation a “money laundering exercise”.
“All of the (demonetisation) exercise’s stated objectives have failed. Normally we ask for a white paper on such issues but since Prime Minister Modi said it is fight against black money, I think the government should bring a ‘black paper’ on this,” Yechury said.
“Reportedly, more than 100 per cent of demonetised currency is coming back after Bhutanese, Nepalese and Co-op Banks Currency is taken in. This shows it was a very, very successful money laundering scheme,” he added.
Yechury said there was no mention of digitisation on November 8, 2016 but as the economy crashed, the government went out of its way “to help certain selected private companies” under the “mask of digitisation”.
“Lives, livelihoods and jobs have been decimated. This government is responsible for this…Why were people imposed with a burden of printing new notes costing Rs 8,000 crore and ATM recalibration cost of over Rs 35,000 crore in addition to the loss of economic activity estimated by the CMIE and others to the tune of Rs 1,50,000 crores?” he asked.
Yechury said that the government “must fix accountability for this disaster and punish those responsible”.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh raised questions over a figure in the RBI annual report and referred to a media report from November 2016 which cited the central bank as saying that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes worth Rs 14.18 lakh crore were in circulation.
Singh said since notes worth Rs 14.18 lakh crore were in circulation and notes worth Rs 15.28 lakh crore have come back, there is a surplus of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.
“RBI is lying to the nation. Why are they lying? Why are they giving wrong facts? They didn’t know how many Rs 500 and 1,000 notes they had in circulation?” he asked.
The AAP leader questioned whether the extra money was black money or fake notes deposited by people close to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Singh said that Rs 21,000 crore was spent in printing new notes and now a total of Rs 1.31 lakh crore will be levied from people.
“The Prime Minister and Finance Minister should answer this, else this would be the biggest corruption in Indian history,” he added.
—IANS