by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Ahmedabad : Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has re-opened the issue of renaming Ahmedabad as ‘Karnavati’, days after his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj and mooted the idea of changing Faizabad to Ayodhya.
Soon after offering ‘darshan’ at the Bhadkrakali Temple on the Hindu new year on Thursday, Rupani said his government was committed to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati. The task would be accomplished and the renaming would happen before the 2019 parliamentary elections.
The Chief Minister said all legal hurdles would be tackled for this purpose as “millions of Hindus in Ahmedabad and most parts of Gujarat wished” that the city was renamed as Karnavati.
The BJP has been using this name in all its official functions, events and publicity paraphernalia.
“My government is committed to the cause and we will ensure the the process is completed ahead of the Lok Sabha elections,” he told reporters.
In 2002 the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government with party veteran L.K. Advani as the Union Home Minister had rejected a 1990 proposal of the then BJP-ruled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati.
Later, the subsequent Congress-ruled local civic body overturned the proposal and retained the original name.
The Gujarat Congress asserted that Rupani’s idea to re-open the renaming issue was provoked by political motivation.
“The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is under the BJP without a break for the last 13 years, the State Government for more than two decades and the Centre for the last four and a half years.
“Why was this not initiated all these years and being brought up again, just when the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner?” former state Congress president Arjun Modhvadia asked.
He asserted that the ruling BJP wanted to distract the distract public attention from the failures of the Modi government across all spheres and keep people bogged down in non-issues.
The BJP, meanwhile, stated that “Karnavati” was Ahmedabad’s original ancient after King Karnadev who had set up his kingdom here in 12th century. Ahmed Shah had conquered it in 1411 and the city was renamed after him as Ahmedabad.
A party spokesperson said, “The people of Ahmedabad have already embraced Karnavati, it is only a matter of legal process to be completed. It should be noted that this has nothing to do with the 2019 elections.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Amnesty International on Saturday castigated the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh for doing little to ensure justice and rehabilitation for the survivors of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal violence.
On the fifth anniversary of the deadly riots in Muzaffarnagar district that claimed at least 60 lives and displaced over 50,000 people, the Amnesty International India blamed the state government’s apathy for seven gang-rape survivors still awaiting justice and the displaced continuing to look for rehabilitation.
“The Uttar Pradesh government has forgotten the riot survivors of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. The state has done very little to redress the injustice they have faced. The government’s attempt at rehabilitation and compensation has been woefully inadequate”, said Asmita Basu, Programmes Director, Amnesty International India.
She said justice remained elusive for the seven gangrape survivors who have received little assistance from authorities to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
“There has not been even one conviction in any of the seven cases so far. In 2016, one of the survivors died during childbirth,” she said.
Quoting one of the survivors, a mother of five, Amnesty International India said the victims have lost all hope of getting justice and are now hoping for survival of their families.
“Their rapists are out in the open for years now. Women are scared to pursue their cases and they cannot be blamed for this. There are media reports of compromises being made and of money being offered and accepted by many of the seven families. We need to understand the realities in which these women have survived all these years. They are scared and have lost all faith in the system,” said Rehana Adeeb, an activist working with the survivors.
THe rights body said an overwhelming majority of families in resettlement colonies lack access to basic services like clean drinking water and drainage facilities.
“The Uttar Pradesh government’s callous treatment of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli riot survivors is a breach of its commitment to uphold basic constitutional values. The riot survivors have been forced to live in a vicious cycle of poverty and discrimination. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister must ensure that the voices of the survivors are heard immediately and justice is delayed no further”, added Basu.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Yogi Adityanath
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the date for construction of a grand Ram temple will be set by Lord Ram himself.
Speaking at a conclave in the state capital, organised by a Hindi newspaper, the monk-turned-politician said what has to happen at a given time will happen at that time only. “No body can stop if once it is ordained by the gods.”
He also pointed out how previous state governments were afraid of visiting the temple town of Ayodhya and added that he has visited the holy town, so that it can be developed to the level it should be.
To a question on education, the Chief Minister said for years a section of the society was being deprived of modern and technical education and his government is committed to changing it.
“Children of a specific section are being deprived of modern education and restricted to ‘mazhabi shiksha’ (religious education). We have decided to change it and hence we have initiated modernization of Madarsas,” Adityanath said.
He also trashed the efforts of the opposition to gang up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said this “mahagathbandhan” (grand alliance) would never work as there is confusion over who would be its leader.
He also refuted charges that the BJP pursues politics of caste and community and pointed out that the mantra of BJP governments was only and only development. “Welfare of the people and comprehensive development drives the BJP government,” he added.
Adityanath also rubbished charges of government laxity in the Deoria incident where girls and women were sexually abused in a government-run shelter home. “We acted immediately and the guilty have been brought to book.”
Claiming that the BJP government had rolled out several thousand jobs for the unemployed youth, Adityanath went on to say that the state government would be recruiting 1.37 lakh teachers and 1.62 lakh police personnel.
Strict action against criminals has yielded good results after which investment worth crores of rupees has come to Uttar Pradesh, he added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Mohit Dubey,
Lucknow : Will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, ride on the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died on Thursday after a prolonged illness aged 93?
Vajpayee death has lead to a widespread appreciation of the time when he ruled as the “moderate” face of BJP. The indication that the party may choose to ride on his shoulders comes from a few decisions taken by the government in Uttar Pradesh.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that “special works” would be initiated in places that were linked to the three-time Prime Minister’s life span. Developmental projects and public welfare schemes are likely to be announced by the state government soon for Vajpayee’s native village Bateshwar, the DAV college in Kanpur where he studied, his ‘karmabhoomi’ Lucknow which sent him to the Lok Sabha for five terms and Balrampur, from where he was elected a Lok Sabha MP for the first time.
“Vajpayee-ji was etched in ‘kan-kan'(every speck) of the state”, and it would only be befitting for the party, which he nurtured from nowhere to become the biggest political entity in the world, to “do a lot of activity in his memory,” says State general secretary, Govind Narayan Shukla.
It was not without reason that within minutes of his mortal remains being consigned to the flames at the Smriti Sthal in New Delhi, UP’s chief minister’s Office released the list of rivers and districts where the ashes of the former Prime Minister would be immersed. There is also a likelihood that Vajpayee’s ashes would be taken around towns and major cities of the state before the final rituals are conducted.
“We will do all that’s within our rights to ensure that Atalji’s good work and development is revived in public memory,” says a senior BJP party functionary who did not want to be named.
Sources say that dates were being worked out to ensure that the roll out of events, memorials and projects was timed keeping in mind the forthcoming general elections.
Party strategists say that other than the ‘asthi-kalash yatras’ (the urn carrying processions) in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats and 350 assembly constituencies of the state, all publicity literature of both the government and the ruling party would have detailed mention of the various works done by the Vajpayee government. This would include works like the Golden Quadrilateral road project, the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojna, the Pokhran blasts and the many steps taken for welfare of farmers and army personnel.
The party organization is also learnt to be readying a road map of cultural activities keeping at the centre of its strategy that Vajpayee was a renowned poet. ‘Kavi Sammelans’, symposiums and musical evenings are also being discussed to entertain voters and keep his memory alive.
Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be at the epicenter of campaigning in 2019, as he seeks a second term, memories of Vajpayee — statesman, poet and prime minister — is likely to be used as an electioneering plank to match, if not better, its 2014 score of 71 out of 80 parliamentary seats from the state.
(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Events, Investing, News, Politics
Lucknow : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Sunday laid the foundation stones of 81 projects worth Rs 60,000 crore whose MoUs were signed in February this year at the UP Investors summit, lauded the state government and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for making this happen in a period of less than five months.
“I have been Chief Minister of Gujarat, an industry driven state and can well understand the number of difficulties and problems the team of Yogi ji must have faced and hence kudos that you all made this happen,” he said.
“It is a big, significant and an unconceivable thing where everyone from the Chief Minister to the last revenue official is involved,” he added.
“This is exceptional success… I am speaking on basis of experience,” Modi said while nothing that the ground-breaking ceremony which he was presiding over should ideally be called “record breaking” as the state had competed the journey from “intent to investment”.
“My heart says that UP would soon be a one trillion dollar economy,” he said, while stressing how the changes would open new vistas for the people of the state, including the unemployed youth.
“When I was elected an MP from UP I had promised the 22 crore people of the state that I will give back their love and trust with interest and this event is a part of it,” the Prime Minister added.
He also informed that gathering that due to proactive policies of his government, the energy deficit in the country, which stood at 4.2 per cent in 2013-14 had now narrowed down to less than one per cent. A sum of Rs 50,000 crore has been saved by the people by way of replacing conventional electric use by green energy like LED and solar energy, he said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was also present, said that he too had been the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh but had never expected such fast work as that the Yogi government had rolled out.
—IANS
