PTI, New Delhi, Jun 13, 2024 : Ajit Doval, one of India’s most celebrated spymasters, has been part of many key decisions taken by the Modi government in its first and second terms as the country’s National Security Adviser (NSA).
He was on Thursday re-appointed as the NSA for a record third term, the government said in an order. With more than 10 years in the job, he is the longest serving NSA.
Doval (79) holds over 33 years of extensive experience in the field including Northeast, Sikkim, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir region.
A master of spycraft, he spent over six years in Pakistan also, official sources said.
Doval spearheaded the operations wing of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) — the country’s internal security intelligence agency — for a long time.
He also founded the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), which came into force after the 2001 standoff with Pakistan. The MAC is a counterterrorism grid under the aegis of IB, they said.
A 1968-batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre, Doval retired as chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 2005.
He was appointed as the NSA for the first time on May 30, 2014 and re-appointed for another term from May 31, 2019.
With this fresh term, Doval becomes the first NSA to be appointed for three consecutive terms.
During his first tenure, Doval is believed to have played a pivotal role in the 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the Uri terror attack.
He has also been widely hailed for his contribution in the national security domain, including his role during the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack in 2019.
Doval, known as one of the best operational brains in intelligence circles, was one of the main negotiators from India with the hijackers of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 taken to Kandahar in 1999.
Born in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand on January 20, 1945, Doval received his education in Delhi, Ajmer and in Agra, they said.
Having the distinction of being the first police officer who received the Kirti Chakra, a military gallantry honour, Doval will be providing his deep insight about the threats faced by the country from within and outside.
He was awarded the honour in 1988 for conducting anti-insurgency operations in Mizoram and bringing Mizo insurgent leader Laldenga to the negotiating table by winning over six of his seven commanders.
Doval had also clandestinely entered Myanmar and China to break the dominance of Mizo insurgent outfit, the sources said.
Widely recognised for his clear insight into and vision on Indian and global security issues, he has been actively participating at different fora at home and abroad on strengthening the Indian security apparatus and forging closer cooperation among security forces globally.
PTI, New Delhi, Jun 12, 2024 : The Congress on Wednesday claimed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has become “irrelevant” and said the Constitution, democracy and society do not need the Sangh or its chief Mohan Bhagwat as they can protect themselves.
The opposition party’s assertion came after Bhagwat’s remarks on a host of issues, including on the Manipur violence and the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls.
Congress’ media and publicity head Pawan Khera said, “Mohan Bhagwat ji, you reap what you sow. The fault is not of the soil, the fault is of the gardener.”
“When farmers were facing the wrath of the weather and police just outside the capital, you were silent. When a Dalit girl was raped and murdered in Hathras, you were silent. When the rapists of Bilkis Bano were released and your ideological brothers welcomed them, you were silent. When Dalits were being urinated upon, you were silent. When Pehlu Khan and Akhlaq were killed, you were silent. When Kanhaiya Lal’s killers’ links with the BJP were exposed, you were silent,” Khera said of Bhagwat.
“Your silence and Narendra Modi have made you and the Sangh irrelevant. You’ve been made irrelevant by Amit Shah and the BJP. Your last chance was when the BJP leaders were talking about changing the Constitution, you should have spoken out but you remained silent,” the Congress leader said.
“What is the use of speaking now?” Khera added.
The Constitution, democracy and this society does not need the RSS or Bhagwat as they can “protect and reboot” themselves, he asserted.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also hit out at Bhagwat and posted on X a Hindi couplet by Kabir — “‘Karta raha so kyon kiya, ab kari kyon pachtaye, boye pedh babool ka, amua kahan se paye’ (loosely translating to ‘you shall reap what you shall sow’).”
Bhagwat had on Monday expressed concern over peace eluding Manipur even after one year and said the situation in the strife-torn north eastern state must be considered with priority.
Addressing a gathering of the RSS trainees at the concluding programme of organisation’s ‘Karyakarta Vikas Varg- Dwitiya’ at the Dr Hedgewar Smriti Bhavan premises in Reshimbagh in Nagpur, he said the conflict in various places and in the society is not good.
Bhagwat stressed on unity among all communities in the country, which he said was very diverse though people understand it is one and not separate.
He emphasised the need to get over with election rhetoric and focus on problems facing the nation.
Speaking about the recently held Lok Sabha polls, Bhagwat said the results were out and a government had been formed so unnecessary talk on what and how it happened etc. can be avoided.
The RSS does not get involved in such discussions of “kaise hua, kya hua”, he said, adding that the organisation only does its duty of creating awareness on the need to vote.
Bhagwat stressed on the need for consensus between the ruling side and the opposition so that work for common good (of the masses) can be carried out.
There are always two sides in an election but there should be dignity about not resorting to lies to win, the RSS chief asserted.
Lies were spread using technology (an apparent reference to deepfakes etc.), he added.
PTI, New Delhi, Jun 12, 2024 : Around 40 Indians were killed and over 50 injured in a devastating fire that broke out at dawn in a building housing around 195 migrant workers in southern Kuwait’s Mangaf area, officials said on Wednesday.
The total number of people killed in the Al-Mangaf building is 49 and 42 of them are learnt to be Indians; the remaining ones are Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian and Nepali nationals, they said.
“In an unfortunate and tragic fire incident earlier today in a Labour housing facility in Mangaf area of Kuwait, around 40 Indians are understood to have died and over 50 injured,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement late on Wednesday night.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described the incident as “saddening”, reviewed the situation at a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Principal Secretary to PM PK Mishra among others.
Following the meeting, the prime minister announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased Indian nationals from the PM Relief Fund and directed that the government should extend all possible assistance.
External Affairs Minister spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya on phone and urged him for the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those killed.
“Spoke to Kuwaiti FM Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya on the fire tragedy in Kuwait. Apprised of the efforts made by Kuwaiti authorities in that regard. Was assured that the incident would be fully investigated and that responsibility will be fixed,” Jaishankar said on ‘X’.
“Urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives. He emphasized that those injured were getting the requisite medical attention,” he said.
Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh is urgently travelling to Kuwait following a direction from PM Modi to oversee assistance to Indians injured in the fire and to ensure early repatriation of mortal remains of those killed.
The officials cited above said most of the Indian victims are from Kerala.
“The fire mishap in Kuwait City is saddening. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. The Indian Embassy in Kuwait is closely monitoring the situation and working with the authorities there to assist the affected,” Modi said on ‘X’.
In its statement, the MEA said the Indian embassy in the Gulf nation is ascertaining the full details from the Kuwaiti authorities.
“Those injured are presently admitted in five government hospitals (Adan, Jaber, Farwaniya, Mubarak Al Kabeer and Jahra) in Kuwait and receiving proper medical care and attention,” it said.
“According to hospital authorities, most of the admitted patients are stable,” it said.
Following the incident, Ambassador of India in Kuwait Adarsh Swaika immediately visited the incident site and also the hospitals to ascertain the welfare of the Indian nationals.
“The embassy continues to coordinate with local authorities to assist Indian nationals who have been injured in this unfortunate incident and extend all possible support. The embassy is receiving full cooperation from the Kuwaiti authorities,” the MEA said.
“Our Embassy in Kuwait continues to remain in touch with local authorities to provide relief to those affected. The Embassy has established a helpline +965-65505246 (WhatsApp and regular call) for family members to get in touch,” it said.
The fire in Al-Mangaf building was reported to authorities in Al-Ahmadi governorate at 4.30 am and most of the deaths were due to smoke inhalation, Kuwaiti media reported, adding the fire started in a kitchen.
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry in a statement confirmed that the death toll reached 49.
Construction firm NBTC group rented the building for the stay of more than 195 workers, most of them Indians from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and northern states, the Kuwaiti media said.
The NBTC group is partly owned by an Indian, officials said.
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said criminal evidence department personnel are currently working on identifying the victims and revealing the cause of the fire.
It said strict measures will be taken against building owners who violate laid down norms.
“Unfortunately, we received a report of a fire at… exactly 6:00 am (0300 GMT) in the Mangaf area,” Major General Eid Al-Owaihan, head of the Interior Ministry’s General Department of Criminal Evidence said.
Kuwait’s health ministry said the injured were admitted to several hospitals, with 21 of them sent to Al-Adan Hospital, six to Farwaniya Hospital, one to Al-Amiri and 11 to Mubarak Hospital.
“Amb @AdarshSwaika visited the Al-Adan hospital where over 30 Indian workers injured in today’s fire incident have been admitted. He met a number of patients and assured them of full assistance from the Embassy,” the Indian embassy said on ‘X’.
“Almost all are reported to be stable by hospital authorities,” it said.
The Indian embassy said it is in touch with Kuwaiti law enforcement authorities, fire service and health department for necessary action.
Interior Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah ordered an investigation into the fire incident and issued directions to apprehend the owner and janitor of Al-Mangaf building.
“What happened today is a result of the greed of the company and building owners,” Al-Sabah was quoted as saying by Kuwait Times.
June 12, 2024 : The 2024 national elections braked India’s slide into authoritarianism but did not halt it. The Narendra Modi-led Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 240 of 543 parliamentary seats even as, diminished by voter pushback, the BJP lost 63 seats. Failing to secure the requisite 272-seat majority, Modi forfeited the ability to command a solely BJP national government. Reliant on partners in the seemingly unsteady National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on June 9, Modi assumed office as prime minister of India for a third term.
On June 4, in his victory speech, Modi underscored the religionisation of state and government, rallying: “Bharat Mata ki [Jai]” (Hail to Mother India), a slogan promoted by Hindu nationalists. Bharat Mata, the nation as goddess, objectifies and feminises the state wherein control over women is critical to nationalist assertion. Bharat Mata is associated with Akhand Bharat (undivided India), the delusive once-future homeland of Hindus.
Modi spoke of Odisha and the BJP’s sweep of the 2024 elections, taking 20 of 21 seats. Commending the state’s excellent performance, Modi extolled that, for the first time, the land of the “great god Jagannath” would install a BJP chief minister. A male Odishan tribal figure, Jagannath has been deified, Hinduised, as a manifestation of the deity Krishna.
Modi omitted to note the BJP’s downturn, focusing instead on the exceptionalism of a third consecutive win, stating, “In the third term, the country will write a new chapter of big decisions, and this is Modi’s guarantee,” continuing, “the NDA government will put a lot of emphasis on uprooting all kinds of corruption.” The reference to eradicating corruption was incongruous, given the BJP’s reported recent collusion in the electoral bonds scandal.
The NDA secured a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha, with support from BJP partners, Telugu Desam (TD), Janata Dal (United), and the ultranationalist Shiv Sena. Modi’s allies include incoming Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, of TD. Following initial criticism of Modi in 2002 relating to the Gujarat pogrom, Naidu had acquiesced to the BJP leadership. In Delhi, in 2024, the BJP won all seven seats, lost 14 seats in Maharashtra, lost six seats in West Bengal, gained one seat each in Chhattisgarh and Kerala, and secured nine of 14 seats in Assam. Considering the 2019 revocation of Article 370 and India’s continued siege on Kashmir, what does it mean for Kashmiris to have the BJP secure 2 of 5 seats in the 2024 elections?
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP lost 29 seats. Modi had consecrated the temple in Ayodhya in January on the wreckage of Babri Masjid, a momentous marker for the Hindu Nation. To do so, land was appropriated from local communities, while BJP policies disaffected Muslim, Dalit, and other caste-oppressed groups, impacting electoral decisions against the party.
People attending Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, 2023. Photo: X (Twitter)/BJP4India.
Speech-Acts
Between 2014 and 2024, Narendra Modi’s words sought to remake India. The speeches attest to Prime Minister Modi’s unrestrained power within his government to reconfigure a gigantic electorate. Modi’s words conjured a world wherein aggrieved Hindus across India may believe in his salvific power to lead India to glory. Modi’s speeches – fervent, narcissistic, significant – became the locus of engagement between him and his “subjects”. Modi’s domineering oratory marshalled crowds, turning his government’s repeated incapacity and misconduct into grievances against those who critique and oppose his positions, his party, and its ideological and political agenda.
Innumerable speech-encounters between Modi and his subjects were formative in delivering India for the Hindu Nation in 2014 and 2019. His rallies were thronged with people, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. His speeches extended the illusion of intimacy between him and the people while simultaneously reflecting the rising grandeur and drama of his role. Modi spoke to Hindus as a people, a unitary collective. He narrativised political messaging to create fear. The Prime Minister used speech-acts to ostensibly command, convey, scold, accuse, threaten, pledge, endorse, educate, amass, convince, mobilise, and govern. A vortex of emotions and meanings, catalysed to emit strength, induce behaviours, and exhort masses of people.
How have Modi’s obfuscations of state power misled the public? In 2023, the Indian Penal Code (IPC, 1860) was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS, Indian Justice Code), effective July 1, 2024. Modi termed it: “A watershed moment in our history…the end of colonial-era laws. A new era begins with laws centred on public service and welfare.” In actuality, the BNS broadens the definition of terrorist actions beyond what the extreme Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) encompasses, curtails freedoms, targets political opponents and dissent, and criminalises “intentions” and “feelings”.
Modi’s speeches and appearances, carefully crafted, fashion an iconography of allure and invincibility. The deification of Modi, an elected leader, has been self-purposed to induce attachment and ecstatic merger between Modi’s aura and people’s aspirations. Modi presents himself as the spiritual force able to realise people’s yearnings. Modi professes to stand for India’s fulfilment. To those who feel powerless, he bestows the promise of power. To those who feel belittled, he bestows the promise of pride. To those who feel wronged, he bestows the promise of retribution. To oppose Modi, the leader, therefore, is to betray the nation. To unite with the leader promises the achievement of greatness.
The intensity of the speech-encounters between Modi and his Hindu subjects has become the performative mechanism for creating a shared social world for his acolytes that simultaneously serves to exclude “Others”. Stronger than the sum of its making, this habitus has repeatedly inflamed Hindutva adherents to vengeance and redemption. Violence is promoted as a form of personal and national purification.
On May 26, in a televised interview, Modi stated that “Parmatma [god] sent me for a purpose…I have completely dedicated myself to god.” In asserting that his presence on earth as divinely ordained, does Modi see himself as a messiah incarnate? Was Modi seeking to imply that his grip on India’s prime ministership is without end?
Like others before him, Modi relies on repetition to orate the import of an idea and stir an audience. His words codify national enemies, seek to mobilise, and expand Hindutva’s base, and guide “ordinary people” away from the disarray in the political and economic life of the country. In the time of social media, these exhortations reverberate, amplified through platforms such as WhatsApp and X, rendering Modi omnipresent across India.
Fascistic collusions
Modi has been vigorously supported by henchmen, old cronies who helped deliver the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 and newer disciples of the current regime. His calls to action were repeatedly prolonged by Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati/Giri, and others. A wave of emergent front runners responded, using virulent speech, even calls to genocidal violence, to gain prominence and contend for power within the party’s hierarchy. Repeatedly, the prime minister failed to call them to order.
Taken together, the Hindutva leadership’s sinister and public vilification of minorities, the political opposition, dissenters, and “seditious” Hindus; comprehensive engineering of social facts; and demagoguery have reified fascistic Hinduism and architectured its manifesto. Most distressing is how this massive and malicious enterprise has found deep resonance among millions and millions of people of dominant descent in India. Irrespective of social conditions, such predilection is not a given and cannot be normalised. It is the dangerous outcome of the collision between authoritarian rulers and majoritarian desires, built upon the fault lines of an inveterate casteist, classist, gender oppressed, and segregated society.
The Hindu Sena, one of Hindutva organisations which filed the intervention application in the case seeking a probe into hate speeches by Muslim leaders. Photo: Facebook/HinduSenuOfficial
Hindu nationalists have used hate speech to provoke grassroots proponents and fence-sitters, using hostile messaging to proliferate political institutions and social media and target opponents, media, and vulnerable communities. The BJP-led government routinely exploited dishonest speech, illiberal governance, and toxic masculinity to militarise the state and massify the Hindu Right’s cadre. Hindu nationalist leaders manipulated the escalating participation of Hindutva-inclined civil society into colossal, riotous actions to exact retribution and discipline voters. Many who did not actively participate, acquiesced through silence.
In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state of over 250 million, 19% of whom are Muslims, the BJP’s 2024 losses also attest to voter concern regarding incumbent head of state, Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu nationalist hardliner. Adityanath has directed various campaigns to override the rights of Muslims and other vulnerable communities. In a video that surfaced in 2014, he reportedly stated that: “If [Muslims] take one Hindu girl, we’ll take 100 Muslim girls. If they kill one Hindu, we’ll kill 100 Muslims.” Adityanath enabled Hindu right-wing activists to make significant inroads within the state machinery. The National Crime Records Bureau data shows that 23,612 riots were reported in UP from 2017-2019.
The Hindu nationalist sweep of Odisha in the 2024 elections is a contrary case in point. Addressing a series of public events in Odisha, in May 2024, Modi, the prime minister of a constitutionally secular republic, started a meeting by invoking Hindu gods: “Jai Jagannath! Jai Sri Ram!” At another, he claimed that the people had developed a “deep emotional connection” with the BJP. At yet another event, Modi spoke of “unprecedented achievements” to be heralded by his government in the next five years.
In Odisha, Hindutva workers were inspired by the BJP’s coalition with the Biju Janata Dal as early as March 2000. Just before, in August 1999, Sheikh Rahman, a male Muslim garment merchant, was tortured in Padiabeda, Mayurbhanj district, his hands severed, burned to death. Approximately 10 percent of the state’s population was conscripted by Hindutva organisations between 2000 and 2008. Dalits and Adivasis were criminalised for their beliefs, practices, and counter-memory, and refusal to be forcibly assimilated into dominant Hinduism. Adivasis across Odisha were forced to chant, “Garbh se kaho hum Hindu hai” [Say with pride that I am a Hindu] at majoritarian rallies. Dalits who elected to convert to Christianity were brutalised to “return” to Hinduism. Massified violence against Christians of Dalit and Adivasi descent erupted in 2007 and 2008, in continuum with the ferocious targeting of Muslims in the state. The absence of accountability to these events bolstered the BJP’s electoral incursion in Odisha.
Weaponising acrimony
In weaponising majoritarian subjects as agents of hate, the imaginary of India as a Hindu State is fait accompli. In propagating its mandate, between 2014 and 2024, the BJP government sought to amalgamate prejudice with discrimination. State policy and practice focused on the intersections of racism and cultural nationalism. In doing so, Hindu nationalists erected a “deeper state” establishing crime zones and regulated anarchy to fortify structural racism and criminality, and forge robust proximities between Hindu Right cadres and militias, government, and law enforcement.
India’s Muslim communities and cultures are foremost among those fallaciously presented as causal to India’s historical, present, and future malfunctions. Islamomisia and racialisation of Muslims serves to homogenise Hindus as a “race”. Hatred (of Muslims) has been justified based on concocted behaviours (i.e., hypermasculinity) and falsified evidence (i.e., “love jihad”). Fascistic Hinduism, portrayed as patriotic nationalism, became the war to save and fabricate the Hindu Nation, carried out via malevolent operations that polarised and religionised the body politic, like “bulldozer justice,” anti-conversion campaigns, and the prejudicial citizenship experiment privileging Hindus.
Representative image of a bulldozer demolishing a settlement. Photo: By arrangement/File
In Dumka on December 15, 2019, Modi asserted that the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), protests: “were a “conspiracy against the country,” calling protesters “conspiracy makers.” On December 18, 2019, BJP leader Kapil Mishra stated, “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko [Shoot the traitors of the nation, shoot the */derogatory].” On December 22, another BJP leader, Anupam Pandey, reiterated on Facebook Live: “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko.”
Between December 12 and 23, 2019, police fired on civil society dissenters across India who were protesting the ratification of the CAA on December 12, 2019, resulting in the deaths of 25 persons, a majority of whom were Muslim males. On December 24, Mishra recorded a public message, stating, “Will your eyes open up when the fire has reached your homes?” On December 25, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati used slurs against Muslims, labelling them “jihadis” and “pigs.” He described anti-CAA protesters as “enemies,” calling for them to be incarcerated, and should they still not conform, for them to “be sentenced to death.”
In Rajasthan, where the BJP lost 10 seats in the 2024 national elections, Modi had stated in April 2024, that a Congress win would lead to the redistribution of people’s wealth [possessions] among “those who have more children” and to “infiltrators,” reportedly referring to Muslims. In May 2024, in Uttar Pradesh, Modi alleged that the “Congress and the [winning] Samajwadi Party tried to spread lies in the name of CAA. They tried to push Uttar Pradesh and the entire country towards riots.”
The right-wing is still in power
The 2024 elections were not a decisive victory for India’s right-wing and the right-wing is still in power. Upper caste urbanite Hindus reportedly voted for the BJP in large numbers. Dissenting votes were driven by minority and marginalised communities, Muslims, Dalits, Sikhs, Adivasis, and their allies. Among and beyond them, millions of wage labourers, farmers, and economically shattered communities–devastated by the government’s policies, discourses, and practices—voted to oust the BJP.
Following his investiture on June 9, Modi proposed to “move forward with new energy and new courage.” Can Modi, who has been politically narcissistic, stabilise a coalition government and keep in power those that have abetted him since Gujarat, such as Home Minister Amit Shah? Among the nerve centre of the Hindu Right, the RSS, and its affiliate organisations, many are disgruntled with Modi, and may seek to assert control. This may engineer a crisis within the ranks of the BJP, and lead to the incurable disempowerment of Narendra Modi and a party governed by his ideals. However, this will not halt the march of Hindu nationalism in India. Rather, it may prompt the Hindu Right to rely upon its grassroots infrastructure to optimise previously deployed and new strategies of mass violence and aggressive social disruption.
The electoral gains by the I.N.D.I.A. alliance reflect immense voter discontent with the BJP’s blatantly despotic policies, securitization, dog whistling that provoked social violence, information insecurity, economic implosions, and democratic backsliding. The political terrain is ideologically discordant. Can the I.N.D.I.A. alliance amend its own frailties, to halt the rightward trend and recuperate India’s democracy?
The majoritarian deluge into the country’s bloodstream has induced disorder and caused extensive damage across the education sector, law and order, judiciary, and development, and will require forceful political and social reform. The decade-long divisive and violent transformation of society heralded by the Modi-led BJP and the Hindu Right has led the onslaught on India’s already conflicted democracy and engineered severe estrangements and alienation between neighbours, communities, and peoples who rely on each other in everyday life. Targeted communities and nonbelievers are ruptured from the impact, which like slow-release poison, has galvanised a savagery that has spread to terrify and destroy life-worlds.
In modern history, authoritarian regimes have been unable to retain their stranglehold on power. But they have often not gone quietly. The longer the Modi regime endures, the more likely will be its desperation to grasp at domination and the more hazardous its actions. For the Modi-led BJP government surely fears that, once dislodged, accountability is to come.
PTI, Kolkata, Jun 11, 2024 : Senior TMC leader Saket Gokhale on Tuesday claimed that three BJP MPs from West Bengal are in touch with the party and the saffron party’s tally in Parliament would soon come down to 237.
The comments drew sharp reactions from the West Bengal BJP unit, which dubbed the claim as “baseless” and asserted that the state unit stands united.
The Trinamool Congress secured 29 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
The BJP, in contrast, faced a significant setback, dropping to 12 seats from the 18 it won in 2019.
“As of today, the numbers in the Lok Sabha are BJP: 240 INDIA: 237. Three BJP MPs in West Bengal are in touch with us and there will be a nice surprise soon. After that, BJP: 237 INDIA: 240.
“Modi’s creaky coalition is a temporary structure which isn’t going to last very long,” Gokhale, a Rajya Sabha MP, posted on X.
In the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP with 240 seats fell short of a majority but the NDA secured the mandate with 293 seats. The Congress bagged 99 seats while the INDIA bloc got 234 seats. Following the polls, two Independents who won have also pledged support to the Congress, taking the INDIA bloc tally to 236.
Reacting to Gokhale’s claim, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the TMC is “daydreaming”.
“Since 2014, the TMC has been daydreaming of becoming the pivotal force in the union government but its hopes were dashed not once but thrice. The BJP and NDA stand united. No BJP MP from Bengal is in touch with the TMC,” he said.
IANS, Kolkata, June 11, 2024 : West Bengal was the fourth highest recipient state in the latest instalment of tax devolution released in the last phase as per the figures released by the Union Finance Ministry on Tuesday.Of the total Rs 1,39,750 crore of the latest instalment released, West Bengal has got a share of Rs 10,513.46 crore, which is fourth highest after Uttar Pradesh Rs 25,069.88 crore, Bihar at 14.056.12 crore and Madhya Pradesh at Rs 10,970.44 crore.
As per the statement by the Union Finance Ministry, with the latest release, a total of Rs 2,79,500 crore had been devolved to the different states till June 10 for the current financial year of 2024-25.
Economic analysts believe that the fresh figures released for West Bengal immediately after the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre for the third consecutive term are expected to silence the ruling Trinamool Congress for some time about their constant allegations against the Union government of not releasing Central funds for the state under various heads, including tax devolution instalments.
In fact, in almost all the pre-election campaign rallies Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that despite collecting crores of rupees as tax from West Bengal, the Union government had been reluctant in releasing its due shares to the state government.
However, economic analysts point out that the state-wise release of tax devolution instalments in the last phase shows that the amount going to the kitty of West Bengal is much higher than the BJP-ruled states like Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan among others.
In fact, at a meeting with the newly elected party MPs on June 8, CM Mamata Banerjee outlined the roadmap for Trinamool Congress on the floor of the 18th Lok Sabha, where she made it clear that one of the three key issues to be highlighted by the party in the coming days within the two Houses of Parliament will be non-release of Central funds to the state government under various heads.
PIB release state- It has been decided that apart from the regular release of the devolution amount for the month of June 2024, one additional instalment will be released. This release cumulatively amounts to Rs. 1,39,750 crore in the current month. This will enable State Governments to accelerate development and capital spending.
The Interim Budget 2024-25 has a provision of Rs. 12,19,783 crore towards devolution of taxes to States.
With this release, the total amount devolved (for FY 2024-25) to States till 10 June 2024 is Rs. 2,79,500 crore.
Among the ministers, six stand out for their particularly high asset declarations, each exceeding Rs 100 crore, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said
PTI, New Delhi, 11.06.24: Seventy out of 71 or 99 per cent of the ministers in the new council of ministers are crorepatis with average assets among them amounting to Rs 107.94 crore, according to poll rights body ADR.
Among the ministers, six stand out for their particularly high asset declarations, each exceeding Rs 100 crore, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.
Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development and Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications, tops the list with a staggering total asset declaration of Rs 5705.47 crore. His assets include Rs 5598.65 crore in movable assets and Rs 106.82 crore in immovable assets.
Minister of Communications and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has declared total assets worth Rs 424.75 crore. His portfolio comprises Rs 62.57 crore in movable assets and Rs 362.17 crore in immovable assets.
Minister of Heavy Industries and Minister of Steel H D Kumaraswamy from the Janata Dal (Secular) has total assets valued at R. 217.23 crore. His assets include Rs 102.24 crore in movable assets and Rs 115.00 crore in immovable assets.
Minister of Railways, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw has declared assets totaling Rs 144.12 crore, which include Rs. 142.40 crore in movable assets and Rs 1.72 crore in immovable assets.
Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, has total assets amounting to Rs 121.54 crore. His assets comprise Rs 39.31 crore in movable assets and Rs 82.23 crore in immovable assets.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, another BJP minister from Mumbai North in Maharashtra, has declared assets worth Rs 110.95 crore. This includes Rs 89.87 crore in movable assets and Rs 21.09 crore in immovable assets.
About 99 per cent of the new ministers are crorepatis. Out of the 71 ministers analyzed, an overwhelming 70 have declared assets in the crorepati range, highlighting a significant concentration of wealth among the country’s political leadership.
The report, which provides a detailed financial overview of these ministers, indicates that the average assets among them amount to Rs 107.94 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with his 71 ministers, took oath on Sunday as the new coalition government was formed after two full tenures in which the BJP enjoyed a majority on its own.
PTI, Kolkata, Jun 9, 2024 : Shantanu Thakur, a second-time BJP MP from West Bengal’s Bangaon Lok Sabha constituency and a leading figure of the backward Matua community in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, was inducted into the Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
Thakur has been a strong advocate of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) since 2019, asserting it would grant “legal citizenship” to members of the Matua community.
He sought to alleviate confusion among the Matuas regarding the submission of applications for citizenship under the CAA, weathering all opposition attacks from the TMC and other parties.
He further claimed that while Aadhaar cards do not grant constitutional citizenship upon the Matuas, the CAA would rectify this.
Thakur consistently highlighted the importance of the CAA, stating that no opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, could safeguard the community in the event of an NRC exercise in the future.
The Matuas, originally from East Pakistan, are a marginalised Hindu community that migrated to India during the Partition and after the creation of Bangladesh due to religious persecution.
Thakur first became a member of the Lok Sabha from Bongaon constituency in 2019.
He had been at odds with family member and rival Matua community leader Mamatabala Thakur, who was elected from the seat in the 2015 byelections, but was defeated by Shantanu in 2019.
Shantanu Thakur, the second son of former West Bengal minister and TMC leader Manjul Krishna Thakur, entered politics in 2015 when he unsuccessfully contested the Bangaon Lok Sabha bypolls from the BJP, finishing third.
The 42-year-old was successful in his second attempt in 2019 and wrested the seat again in 2024.
Appointed as the MoS for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways by Modi in 2021, Thakur told reporters, “Since taking on this responsibility, I have done my best to harness the vast network of navigable waterways and worked towards developing and utilizing the infrastructure and true potential of the ports in the east, including Bengal.”
He added, “As a loyal worker of the party, I am ready to fulfill any responsibility entrusted to me to the best of my ability. I am thankful to the BJP and my leader Narendra Modi for everything. I will discharge my responsibilities to the best of my ability.”
Despite the BJP’s tally decreasing to 12 amid a poor performance by party stalwarts like former Union minister Nisith Pramanik and Dilip Ghosh, who were defeated by their TMC counterparts, Thakur retained his seat with a margin of 73,693 votes.
Despite strong campaigns by the TMC against Thakur, questioning his nationality, the president of the All India Matua Mahasangha received the majority’s backing in his constituency.
Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, J P Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S. Jaishankar and others sworn in by President Droupadi Murmu
Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately after being sworn in by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi on Sunday. PTI
TT, New Delhi, 09.06.24 : H D Kumaraswamy, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan lallan singh, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu take oath as ministers.
Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Manohar Lal, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, Pralhad Joshi, Jual Oram, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw sworn in by President Droupadi Murmu
Narendra Modi sworn in as Prime Minister for historic third term
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Rashtrapati Bhawan for oath-taking ceremony
“We are going to attend this ceremony because of our constitutional duty. It is my duty as I am the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha,” says Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as he heads towards Rashtrapati Bhawan to attend the oath-taking ceremony of new government
Billionaire businessmen Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani arrive at Rashtrapati Bhawan to attend the swearing-in ceremony
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu arrives at Rashtrapati Bhavan to attend the swearing-in ceremony
Bollywood celebrities Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Vikrant Massey, Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani arrive at Rashtrapati Bhawan
UP CM Yogi Adityanath, former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rajya Sabha MPs Nirmala Sitharaman, Ashwini Vaishnaw arrive at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony, reports Indian Express
BJP leader Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said he will take oath as the Cabinet Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and vowed to serve the nation with zeal and devotion. “I will take oath as Cabinet Minister around 7.30 pm on 9th June 2024,” Rijiju, the Earth Sciences Minister in the outgoing government, said in a post on X. Rijiju said that he had taken oath as Minister of State in 2014, Minister of State with Independent Charge in 2019 and as the Cabinet Minister in 2021.”Thank you Arunachal Pradesh, @narendramodi Ji, @BJP4India and people of India. I will serve the nation with greater zeal and devotion,” he said. Rijiju won the fourth term from Arunachal West Lok Sabha seat in the recent general elections
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravneet Singh Bittu, who lost the Lok Sabha elections from Ludhiana in Punjab, said Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi has chosen him for the council of ministers to ensure Punjab’s progress, according to media reports
Prior to the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with a group of NDA leaders, many of whom are likely to be appointed as ministers in the central government, reports PTI. During the meeting, prominent figures from the BJP and leaders of NDA coalition partners were seated in the front row as the Prime Minister addressed the gathering
Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi is set to take oath on Sunday for a third straight term, equalling the feat of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as the head of a coalition government after two full tenures in which the BJP enjoyed a majority on its own.
Hectic parleys involving BJP leadership and allies were on over the share of berths of different constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the new government.
Senior BJP leaders such as Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh besides party president J P Nadda have been consulting the allies, including Telugu Desam Party’s N Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, to finalise their share of representation in the government.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
While leaders like Shah and Singh are seen within the party as a certainty in the new Cabinet, former chief ministers who have won the Lok Sabha polls like Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Basavaraj Bommai, Manohar Lal Khattar and Sarbananda Sonowal are strong contenders for joining the government.
Ram Mohan Naidu of the TDP, Lalan Singh, Sanjay Jha and Ram Nath Thakur of the JD(U), and Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) are among the allies who may be a part of the new government, sources said, adding that either Singh or Jha will be accommodated from the JD(U) quota.
Maharashtra, where the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance has fared poorly, and Bihar, where the opposition has shown signs of revival, may be in the focus during the government-formation exercise.
Assembly polls are due in the western state in October, while polls will be held in Bihar next year.
Impending changes within the BJP’s organisation will also be on the mind of its brain trust in finalising the names of ministers from the party.
Nadda’s term was extended due to the Lok Sabha polls, and organisational imperatives will be an important consideration for the party as the poll results have sent signals that all may not be well within its vast machinery.
This opens the possibility of some seasoned hand being sent to the party and Nadda being given a berth in the government, the sources said.
The desertion by a section of voters, especially from the Scheduled Castes and other deprived sections of society, may also be a guiding factor in government formation even though Modi had made a point to increase their relative representation in his outgoing term.
Nehru is the only prime minister who held the post after three consecutive elections after independence.
The BJP is keen to send out a message of continuity and ward off any impression of political vulnerability following its surprising below-par show in the Lok Sabha polls as its seat tally fell to 240 from 303, considerably short of the majority mark of 272.
The government has announced that leaders of several neighbouring countries, including from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Mauritius, will be attending the swearing-in ceremony slated to take place at 7:15 PM on Sunday at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose a white kurta and churidar with a blue chequered jacket as he took oath for the consecutive third time on Sunday.
Modi paired his dress with black shoes for the swearing-in ceremony at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
When he took oath as the prime minister for the first time in 2014, Modi had worn a cream linen kurta-pyjama with a beige golden jacket. For his 2019 swearing-in ceremony, the prime minister had chosen a similar dress paired with a beige jacket.
Kurtas and bandhgala jackets are Modi’s popular choice on important occasions. He is also known for sporting flamboyant and colourful turbans during Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations.
Modi chose a multi-coloured “bandhani” print safa for his Republic Day look in January this year.
He is the second PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to be elected for a third consecutive term.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah also took oath as the cabinet ministers, while party president J P Nadda returned to the cabinet after five years, indicating the prime minister’s focus on continuity and experience in his third term.
PTI, June 9, 2024 : Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut on Saturday criticised people praising the CISF woman constable who allegedly slapped her, asking if they also justify “rape or murder”. Ranaut, in a video message on Thursday, said she was hit in the face and abused by the constable during a security check at the Chandigarh airport. “If you are aligned with the criminals strong emotional impulse to commit a crime violating all laws of the land.
“Remember if you are ok with breaking in to someone’s intimate zone, without their permission touching their bodies and assaulting them then deep down you are ok with rape or murder also because that’s also just penetration or stab only what big deal, you must look deeper in to your psychological criminal tendencies (sic),” the 37-year-old posted on X. In her video message, Ranaut said she was hit in the face and abused by a CISF constable, who appeared to be upset with the actor over her stance on the farmer protests, during security check at the Chandigarh airport.
The ugly fracas broke out two days after she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Kulwinder Kaur, the accused CISF personnel, has been suspended and an investigation has been launched. The CISF, tasked with providing security at airports, has also ordered a court of inquiry into the incident.
In her latest post, Ranaut also advised people to “take up yoga and meditation or else life will become a bitter and burdensome experience”.
“Don’t carry so much grudge, hate and jealousy please , free yourself,” the actor added.
Earlier on Saturday, Ranaut found support from cinema veteran Shabana Azmi, who said security officials should not take law into their hands.
In a post on X, Azmi said though she has “no love lost” for Ranaut, she wouldn’t join people who are celebrating the “slap”. “I have no love lost for Kangana Ranaut. But I can’t find myself joining this chorus of celebrating ‘the slap’. If security personnel start taking law into their hands, none of us can be safe,” Azmi wrote.
Azmi’s husband, veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar, has filed a defamation case against Ranaut over her remarks that he had threatened her. The case is still in court.
CISF cop to get gold ring engraved with Periyar’s image
COIMBATORE: Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) in Coimbatore is planning to send a gold ring engraved with Periyar’s image to CISF constable Kulwinder Kaur who slapped actor and newly elected BJP MP Kangana Ranaut at Chandigarh airport a few days ago.
TPDK general secretary Ku Ramakrishnan on Saturday said, “We are planning to send an eight gram gold ring on Monday to appreciate Kulwinder Kaur who stood up for the farmers. Her mother was among the farmers holding a sit-in protest against farm laws.”
“We will send the ring to Kulwinder Kaur’s home address. If the courier services won’t accept gold ring, we will send one of our members to her home, either by train or flight, to hand over the ring along with some books about Periyar,” he said.
CISF woman constable gets offer of legal assistance
CISF constable Kulwinder Kaur, who has been booked under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) for allegedly slapping actor and BJP MP-elect Kangana Ranaut, has got legal assistance support.
According to Times of India, Kulwinder has received support from individuals and organisations, some of whom offered her monetary and legal help if she was arrested or dismissed from service.As per TOI, 82-year-old farm activist Mohinder Kaur, who had previously filed a defamation suit against Kangana for her remarks on the farm protest, has offered support to the suspended constable.
“Kangana has no of how to speak. Since she has been elected as an MP, she should be polite. She tried to brand Punjabis as extremists. She used derogatory words for us,” the octogenarian told the paper.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to have a third term in the post
Vasudha Mukherjee, Business Standard, New Delhi, Jun 09 2024 : Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for a third term on Sunday evening, marking a historic moment in Indian politics. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the presidential palace in New Delhi at 7:15 PM, attended by over 9,000 guests, including heads of state from neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean region.
At 73, Narendra Modi becomes the first Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to have a third term in the post. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, won the post in 1952, 1957 and 1962 General Elections.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office in a grand ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Who attended PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremony?
Notable foreign leaders in attendance included Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu, Seychelles’ Vice President Ahmed Afif, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, and Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.
Special invitees included workers who contributed to the construction of the New Parliament House and other key projects. Surekha Yadav, the first woman loco-pilot of the Vande Bharat Express, was among the 10 loco-pilots invited. Representatives of the transgender community and beneficiaries of various central government welfare schemes were also likely to attend.
Ahead of the ceremony, Modi visited Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. At 73, Modi has equalled the record of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who won the 1952, 1957, and 1962 general elections.
BJP coalition government: Who will be on the Cabinet?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Modi, formed the government alongside its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners after failing to secure a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 240 seats, falling 32 short of the required majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament, marking its weakest performance in a decade.
Alongside the Prime Minister, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP President J P Nadda, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Shivraj Chauhan also took their oaths as Union Cabinet Ministers.
Coalition members, especially larger parties, are expected to have demanded concessions from Modi, including ministerial posts in the cabinet. Leaders of the 15-member coalition, such as Andhra Pradesh chief minister-designate N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar’s political leader Nitish Kumar, began negotiations in New Delhi earlier this week to provide the necessary numbers for Modi to govern for a third five-year term.
PTI, New Delhi, 09.06.24 : Banners of Prime Minister-Designate Narendra Modi are put up ahead of his swearing-in ceremony as PM for the third consecutive term, in New Delhi, Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Prior to the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with a group of NDA leaders, many of whom are likely to be appointed as ministers in the central government. During the meeting, prominent figures from the BJP and leaders of NDA coalition partners were seated in the front row as the Prime Minister addressed the gathering
Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi is set to take oath on Sunday for a third straight term, equalling the feat of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as the head of a coalition government after two full tenures in which the BJP enjoyed a majority on its own.
Hectic parleys involving BJP leadership and allies were on over the share of berths of different constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the new government.
Senior BJP leaders such as Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh besides party president J P Nadda have been consulting the allies, including Telugu Desam Party’s N Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, to finalise their share of representation in the government.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
While leaders like Shah and Singh are seen within the party as a certainty in the new Cabinet, former chief ministers who have won the Lok Sabha polls like Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Basavaraj Bommai, Manohar Lal Khattar and Sarbananda Sonowal are strong contenders for joining the government.
Ram Mohan Naidu of the TDP, Lalan Singh, Sanjay Jha and Ram Nath Thakur of the JD(U), and Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) are among the allies who may be a part of the new government, sources said, adding that either Singh or Jha will be accommodated from the JD(U) quota.
Maharashtra, where the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance has fared poorly, and Bihar, where the opposition has shown signs of revival, may be in the focus during the government-formation exercise.
Assembly polls are due in the western state in October, while polls will be held in Bihar next year.
Impending changes within the BJP’s organisation will also be on the mind of its brain trust in finalising the names of ministers from the party.
Nadda’s term was extended due to the Lok Sabha polls, and organisational imperatives will be an important consideration for the party as the poll results have sent signals that all may not be well within its vast machinery.
This opens the possibility of some seasoned hand being sent to the party and Nadda being given a berth in the government, the sources said.
The desertion by a section of voters, especially from the Scheduled Castes and other deprived sections of society, may also be a guiding factor in government formation even though Modi had made a point to increase their relative representation in his outgoing term.
Nehru is the only prime minister who held the post after three consecutive elections after independence.
The BJP is keen to send out a message of continuity and ward off any impression of political vulnerability following its surprising below-par show in the Lok Sabha polls as its seat tally fell to 240 from 303, considerably short of the majority mark of 272.
The government has announced that leaders of several neighbouring countries, including from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Mauritius, will be attending the swearing-in ceremony slated to take place at 7:15 PM on Sunday at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The gunmen suspected to be hill-based militants also launched multiple attacks taking advantage of the darkness at Lamtai khunou, Modhupur area
PTI, Imphal, 08.06.24 : Suspected militants torched a police outpost and set several houses on fire in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Saturday, officials said.
The militants torched the Jiri police outpost located in Chotobekra area on the banks of the Barak river at around 12.30 am, they said.
The gunmen suspected to be hill-based militants also launched multiple attacks taking advantage of the darkness at Lamtai khunou, Modhupur area of the district located nearly 220 km from the state capital Imphal.
Several houses have been burnt, mostly in the outlying areas of Jiribam district though the exact number cannot be confirmed, a district official based in Jiribam told PTI.
A commando contingent of Manipur Police has been airlifted to Jiribam on Saturday morning from Imphal to assist in the security operations against the militants, police said.
Meanwhile, newly elected Congress MP from the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat Angomcha Bimol Akoijam has urged the state government to protect the lives and properties of the people of Jiribam district.
Akoijam told reporters at a press conference here that, “I have talked with district officials of Jiribam. They said some reinforcements have reached. While those in the town are being provided security, those in peripheral areas are not being provided security.” Nearly 239 people mostly women and children have been evacuated from their villages in the Jiribam district and are taking shelter at the sports complex in Jiri town after violence broke out following the killing of a man allegedly by militants, officials said Saturday.
On June 6, the Jiribam district administration had clamped an indefinite curfew in the district following the killing of a 59-year-old man belonging to one communtiy allegedly by militants belonging to another community.
The killing triggered fresh ethnic flare-up in the district which had remained unaffected by the violence.
Jiribam, which has a diverse ethnic composition comprising Meiteis, Muslims, Nagas, Kukis and non-Manipuris, had so far remained unaffected by the ethnic strife which has been raging in Manipur since May last year.
The ethnic conflict between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and hills-based Kukis has led to the deaths of over 200 people and rendered thousands of people homeless.
PTI, Chandigarh, Jun 7, 2024 : Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar Friday termed the alleged attack on actor and BJP MP-elect Kangana Ranaut by CISF woman constable “most unfortunate” and said any form of violence as a means of expressing dissent was unacceptable.
“What is even more concerning is that a person wearing a security uniform indulged in such an unlawful violent act,” he said.
Ranaut, in a video message on Thursday, said she was hit in the face and abused by the constable during a security check at the Chandigarh airport.
Another video circulating on social media had shown the agitated constable talking to people presumably after the incident.
“Kangana made a statement (earlier) that farmers were protesting in Delhi because they were paid Rs 100 or Rs 200. At the time, my mother was one of the protesters,” she said in the purported video.
Some farmer outfits on Friday threw their weight behind the woman constable, saying the entire sequence leading to the incident needs to be properly investigated.
“The statement was made by Kangana Ranault three years ago on protesting farmers. Her statement may be insensitive and not in good taste but a security staffer resorting to physical assault by slapping the MP in resentment of the hurt she felt sets a wrong precedent,” Jakhar said in a statement
Such acts tend to defame Punjab and its people, he said.
Jakhar not only questioned the timing of the incident but also the outpouring of support from certain quarters for a person who took law in her hands.
He said the statement was made three years ago by Ranaut and its aftereffect surfaced now in the form of an attack on the BJP parliamentarian.
“The timing makes the incident curious. It comes at a time when Punjab is undergoing an undercurrent of overt radical posturing. The narrative of support being played out in support of the security staffer, instead of being condemned, endangers the social order.
“It may have far reaching consequences. Such discourse is potent enough to incite hotheaded minds to resort to more similar acts in future endangering harmony and lives,” Jakhar said.
PTI, New Delhi, Jun 7, 2024 : Heatwaves like those experienced in India this May are nearly 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the country’s previously recorded hottest heatwaves, according to a new rapid attribution study by an independent group of climate scientists and researchers.
The analysts at ClimaMeter said the intense and prolonged heat wave India endured in May was a result of the naturally occurring El Nino phenomenon — unusual warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean — and the rapidly increasing concentration of greenhouse gases — primarily carbon dioxide and methane — in the atmosphere.
The researchers analyzed how events similar to the high temperatures in India’s May heatwave changed in the present (2001-2023) compared to the past (1979-2001).
“The temperature changes show that similar events produce temperatures in the present climate at least 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than what they would have been in the past over a large area of the region analyzed. The precipitation changes do not show any significant variations,” the analysis read.
ClimaMeter’s findings underscore that heatwaves in India are reaching unbearable temperature thresholds because of fossil fuels burning, said Davide Faranda of French National Centre for Scientific Research.
“There are no technological solutions for temperatures approaching 50 degrees Celsius. We should all act now to reduce CO2 emissions and avoid exceeding vital temperature thresholds in large areas of the subtropics,” he said.
Gianmarco Mengaldo of National University of Singapore said the findings show the complex interplay between natural variability and climate change, with the latter playing an important role in critical synoptic-weather-pattern changes in tropical and subtropical regions that may significantly aggravate heatwaves in the near future.
The world is witnessing weather extremes under a combined effect of the 2023-24 El Nino and human-caused climate change.
This May was the warmest May ever and the last 12 consecutive months — June 2023 to May 2024 — have broken temperature records for each corresponding month, according to the European climate agency Copernicus.
Northwest India and parts of the central region reeled under a punishing heatwave in May which tested India’s disaster preparedness, with several states reporting heat-related deaths.
There are concerns that heat waves in April and May have played a role in the lower-than-usual voter turnout during the seven-phase general elections in India that began on April 19 and ended on June 1, the second longest after the 1951-52 parliamentary elections.
According to the Central Water Commission, water storage in 150 major reservoirs in India dropped to just 22 per cent of their live storage this week, exacerbating water shortages in many states and significantly affecting hydropower generation.
The intense heat has already driven India’s power demand to a record 246 gigawatts, with air conditioners and coolers in homes and offices running at full capacity.
India recorded nearly 25,000 suspected heat stroke cases and 56 deaths due to heat-related illnesses from March to May, PTI reported earlier, citing data from the health ministry.
According to data compiled by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 46 of these deaths were recorded in May alone (till May 30). Between May 1 and 30, 19,189 suspected heat stroke cases were reported in the country, it said.
The data does not include deaths from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi, and the final numbers are expected to be higher, a source said.
Severe heat waves have impacted a large number of people in parts of India for three consecutive years, affecting health, water availability, agriculture, power generation, and other sectors of the economy.
The heatwave in May saw several places across the country, including Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh, recording their all-time high temperatures. Parts of India saw record-breaking maximum temperatures in April as well.
Similar heatwaves could occur once every 30 years, and these have already become about 45 times more likely due to climate change, ‘World Weather Attribution’, a group of leading climate scientists, said last month.
Experts say those working outdoors, the elderly, and children are at higher risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
According to a World Bank report, India could account for 34 million of the projected 80 million global job losses from heat stress-associated productivity decline by 2030.
In the absence of adequate cold-chain infrastructure, extreme heat can cause major damage to fresh produce. Studies show India faces food losses worth USD 13 billion a year, with only four percent of fresh produce covered by cold chain facilities.
The court accepted Rahul’s apology and granted him bail on a surety of Rs 75 lakh. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were also present in the court along with the Congress leader.
PTI, 07 June 2024 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday was granted bail by a special court here in connection with a case filed by the BJP’s Karnataka unit for issuing “defamatory” advertisements in mainstream newspapers.
As reported by PTI, the advertisement ahead of Assembly polls last year accused the then BJP government in the state of indulging in large-scale corruption during its 2019-2023 rule.
The court had on June one granted bail to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the State Congress chief, after they appeared before it in connection with the defamation case, PTI reported.
Judge K N Shivakumar had directed Gandhi to appear before the court on June seven without fail.
In February, the Congress leader attended court proceedings related to the defamation case and was granted bail.
The complaint against Gandhi was lodged by BJP leader Vijay Mishra. Last December, a warrant was issued against Gandhi, prompting him to suspend his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi and appear in court on February 20, where he obtained bail.
The complaint stemmed from remarks Gandhi made during a press conference in Bengaluru in May 2018, during the Karnataka elections. Gandhi’s comments referred to the BJP’s claim of upholding honest politics despite having a party president who was accused in a murder case.
Amit Shah was the BJP president at the time of Gandhi’s statement.
Four years before Gandhi’s remarks, Shah was acquitted by a special CBI court in Mumbai in connection with a 2005 fake encounter case during his tenure as Minister of State for Home in Gujarat.
Gandhi apologised to the court on Friday for seeking exemption from personal appearance in the last two hearings. The court accepted his apology and granted him bail on a surety of Rs 75 lakh.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were also present in the court along with Gandhi.
The BJP had in its complaint filed in June 2023 alleged that false and reckless allegations were made in the advertisements issued by the accused persons on May 5, 2023 in all the mainstream newspapers in Karnataka during campaigning for the Assembly polls, under the title “Corruption rate card”, and “40 per cent Commission Sarkara (government)”.
It was alleged in the complaint that the advertisements were issued by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee through Shivakumar, in his capacity as its president and by Siddaramaiah, as the then Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.
Gandhi had put up a post of this “defamatory advertisement” on his social media ‘X’ account, it pointed out.
In a post on ‘X’ after Gandhi personally appeared before the court, the BJP said: “Accused out on bail in the National Herald case, Mr. @RahulGandhi, you are welcome to Namma Bengaluru. We also invite you to experience the consequences of Indian laws for all the misleading and defamatory advertisements you used against our leaders here in Karnataka, which you have failed to prove till today.”
Shashi Tharoor said the message of the mandate was that the electorate has given a ‘comeuppance’ to the BJP’s ‘overweening arrogance’
PTI, New Delhi, Jun 07 2024 : Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday hailed Rahul Gandhi as “the man of the match” of the Lok Sabha polls and said it would only be fitting that he takes on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the house.
In an interview with PTI after his fourth-straight Lok Sabha polls victory, Tharoor said the message of the mandate was that the electorate have given a “comeuppance” to the BJP’s “overweening arrogance” and its “my way or the high way attitude”.
“It will be a challenge for Mr (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah who have not been used to consulting very much in running their government and I think this is going to test their ability to change their way of functioning and be more accommodative and more conciliatory within the government and also I hope with the opposition,” Tharoor said on the incoming coalition government of the NDA.
The former Union minister said this time the Modi-led NDA government could prove to be a ‘majboor sarkaar’ (helpless government) on some issues because the parties that are part of the NDA will have to agree on everything.
“Already we have questions being raised by one party on the Agniveer scheme, saying that it needs to be reviewed and they have been supported by a second party namely the JD(U) and Chirag Paswan. Both in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, there are leaders who have demanded special category status for their states which the BJP government had hitherto refused to grant, that will have to be re-examined,” he said.
Tharoor said suddenly now there will have to be a more consensual model governance coming up.
He accused the Modi government of treating Parliament like a notice board in the last 10 years and expecting it to be a rubber stamp for all their decisions which, he said, was not viable now with a robust opposition of more than 230 MPs.
Batting for Rahul Gandhi to take on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said the former Congress president was unquestionably the star of this Lok Sabha performance.
“He and Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge campaigned extensively throughout the country, but Mr Kharge is in the Rajya Sabha where he leads the Opposition and it would only be fitting that Rahul Gandhi does the same in the Lok Sabha. I have certainly conveyed my view both publicly and privately in that regard,” Tharoor said.
“I think we have a strong number now to stand up to the government and it (Leader of Opposition) should be a leader who is undoubtedly the most popular in the party,” he said, referring to Gandhi.
Using cricketing analogies, Tharoor further said Gandhi was “unquestionably, indeed the man of the match” of the polls and in a number of places the Congress “hit the ball out of the park”.
“In some places we had a tight finish. In my case there was a super over at the end of the T20 in my constituency. Lot of cricketing analogies all over the place but as we are seeing in the World T20, there are some concerns about the pitch we had to bat on and I would say that we had no choice but to play on the pitch we were given but it could certainly have been a far more level playing field than it was,” he said.
In Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor beat Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar by over 16,077 votes.
Asked about the close fight and if the Left made it difficult for him, Tharoor said the CPI candidate Pannyan Raveendran took two and a half lakh votes.
“But the other is the three areas that are represented by the CPI(M), the CPI candidate came last and the BJP candidate came first. There are some legitimate questions being asked as to how exactly and why exactly that happened. But you know at the end of the day, a victory is a victory and we are savouring it as sweet,” Tharoor said.
Talking about the message of the 2024 mandate, Tharoor said the message is very clearly that the Indian voter will not allow democracy to be taken for granted in this way.
“We’ve seen everything from the demonetisation, that was declared without the cabinet even been consulted or informed, to the stringent lockdown that came with a few hours’ notice, with not even the state chief ministers consulted. All of which suggest to me that we are looking at an end to a kind of autocratic rule that had brought discredit to our democracy, not just at home but internationally,” Tharoor said, adding that is the biggest take away.
The government is now a coalition and the prime minister will have to consult alliance partners before major decisions, failing which the government may not survive, the Congress leader said.
Hailing the gains made by the Congress that improved its tally to 99 in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said it was a very good performance and the leaders were very pleased that the numbers showed up according to “what we saw on the ground”.
“As for what we can improve, there is always room for improvement. Certainly we did not expect to lose every seat in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Those are areas where there would need to be certain introspection within those state units as to what went wrong and headquarters will have to weigh-in as well,” he said.
“On the other hand, we have done well in most other places and if you look at the number of states we have improved our performance, we have vastly outstripped the number of states we remained stagnant in or we’ve gone down,” he said.
Tharoor also credited Gandhi’s two Bharat Jodo Yatras and its alliance strategies for the party’s performance.
PTI, New Delhi, Jun 7, 2024 : Key BJP allies — TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar — on Friday endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance with a message to balance regional aspirations and national interests.
Speaking at the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting here, BJP allies JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, NCP chief Ajit Pawar, HAM(S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi among others supported the proposal moved by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to elect Modi as the leader of the NDA.
The meeting in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan, the old Parliament House, saw a lot of bonhomie as well as lighter moments among the leaders with Shinde describing the alliance as a “Fevicol bond”, Kumar trying to touch the feet of Modi, who stopped him midway and the prime minister patting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his shoulder.
LJP(Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan, who repeatedly referred to Modi as ‘Sir’ while supporting the resolution, received a warm embrace from the prime minister. Jana Sena Party Pawan Kalyan received a special mention in Modi’s speech when he said that “Pawan was not wind but a storm”.
Paswan credited Modi for the NDA victory, while Kalyan asserted that India would not bow down before anyone as long as Modi was the prime minister.
At the outset, as soon as Modi entered the Central Hall for the NDA meeting, he bowed before a copy of the Constitution placed there, and lifted it to his forehead reverentially.
Another ally, RLD chief Jayant Singh, who was seated in the audience with other leaders, later posted on X: “NDA (New – Developed – Aspirational India) has chosen our Prime Minister for a historic third term, Shri Narendra Modi ji!”
NDA coalition partners Kumar and Naidu wholeheartedly praised Modi for his leadership and also reminded him not to ignore the development of states.
“Balancing regional aspirations and national interests must run parallelly while ensuring holistic development for all strata of society,” Naidu said.
Naidu said Modi’s rallies in Andhra Pradesh helped the TDP win 16 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Today, India is having the right leader at the right time, that is Narendra Modi. This is a very good opportunity for India. If you miss now, you will miss forever. That is why we are having a wonderful opportunity today,” Naidu said.
Kumar expressed confidence that Modi will develop India in a big way and also pay attenti
on to Bihar.
“We are confident that Modi will develop India and we will wholeheartedly support him every passing day,” Kumar said.
“All the pending works of Bihar will be done. It is a very good thing that all of us have come together and we will all work together with you. … we will all work under your leadership,” he said.
The Bihar chief minister slammed the opposition and expressed confidence that they will be defeated in the next Lok Sabha elections.
“I have noticed that a few people have won (Lok Sabha elections) here and there by saying useless things. They haven’t done any work and never served the country. Next time when you win, they all will be defeated,” Kumar said.
Shinde said Shiv Sena and BJP were ideologically similar. “The Shiv Sena-BJP coalition forged under the leadership of Balasaheb Thackeray is a ‘fevicol bond’ which will not break,” he said.
&w=1038&resize=1038,576&ssl=1 "Modi takes 3rd time oath as PM in white kurta, churidar with blue jacket")
)
&w=1038&resize=1038,576&ssl=1 "Tharoor bats for Rahul as LoP; says he was ‘man of match’ of LS polls")
