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Ansari row: Modi govt apologises for Ram Madhav's rants

June 22, 2015

New Delhi, Jun 22: The government of India today apologised for BJP leader Ram Madhav's vulgar criticism of Vice President Hamid Ansari's absence at the Yoga Day celebrations here over which the Congress accused it of playing "divisive" politics.

Union Minister Shripad Naik cited protocol to say that the Vice President can't be invited to an event where the Prime Minister is chief guest amid reports that the government is upset with the needless controversy triggered by Madhav's tweets.

ram"Unknowingly something happens, we apologise for that. It should have been avoided. It's a mistake, he(Madhav) agrees, he apologised. He withdrew his statement," Naik said when asked to comment on Madhav's controversial tweets yesterday.

About the warrant of precedence, Naik said, "When the Prime Minister is chief guest, then inviting the Vice President is not proper. That is protocol. That's why we did not send the invite to him. President and Vice President are above the Prime Minister as per order of precedence and we cannot invite them accordingly."

Naik is the Minister of State for AYUSH--the Ministry that organised the International Day of Yoga event at Rajpath.

Asked about the controversy and the accusation he was "targeting" the Vice President, Madhav said, "As far as the tweet is concerned, it was withdrawn and the matter is closed there and ends there."

Madhav, who was deputed by the RSS last July to work with the BJP, said there is no further discussion on the issue from his side.

"I want the Yoga event to be remembered for millions and millions of people who have participated in it. I do not want any further controversy over it or any issue," he told reporters in Jammu.

The Vice President's Office said the matter is closed for them as Naik's statement "seems logical".

"For us that's the end of the matter," it said

Congress accused BJP of playing "divisive politics" on the International Day of Yoga by targeting Ansari and demanded that Madhav tender an apology.

"The Vice President has been targeted on International Yoga Day. While yoga is all inclusive, BJP has showed its divisive politics by such an action. Ram Madhav should apologise," party spokesperson R P N Singh told reporters.

Meanwhile, in a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP patriarch L K Advani has said that several senior leaders of the party had made "great contribution" to yoga which is an age old "concept".

"The hypothesis/concept of yoga is not of today. The Jan Sangh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and senior leaders of BJP made great contribution to it," Advani said at a yoga event in Palampur in Himachal Pradesh yesterday.

AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad said Madhav's statement was unfortunate.
"Certainly it is very unfortunate and this shows the mindset of the RSS, because Mr Ram Madhav is the representative of the RSS in the BJP, that how they are trying to divide the society or how they try to politicise Yoga."

...targetting the Vice-President of this country exclusively on the basis of his name or you may call it by basis of his religion is certainly unfortunate and it shows simply the mentality of RSS and BJP," he added.

NCP wondered whether the vice president was excluded because of his religion.
"Is it because he is Muslim? The government and the PM must answer how a vice president was not invited. It is a serious omission," said NCP leader Majid Memon.

Madhav had yesterday stoked a controversy by questioning Ansari's absence at the Yoga Day event but later apologised after he was criticised on the social media platform.

Ansari's office had said he was not invited to the Yoga Day event in the capital after Madhav questioned his absence.

Madhav had deleted the tweet about Ansari's absence and apologised, saying he later learnt that the Vice President was unwell.

The Vice President's office, however, said it was not correct. "Vice President was not sick. He was never invited for the yoga programme," it said, adding, "the Vice President only attends those programmes in which the Minister concerned invites him as per protocol".

According to reports, Ansari practises yoga regularly and did yoga at his residence yesterday.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Kochi, Feb 26: Kerala High Court on Wednesday imposed a ban on strikes in schools and colleges that impact the functioning of the campuses.

''The functioning of campuses should not be hampered by the strikes. The colleges are for study, not for strikes. There should not be any march or gherao on campuses. Do not incite anyone for a strike," a bench of Justice PB Suresh Kumar said in its order.

"The order applies to schools and colleges. Do not harm the rights of others. The college can be a venue for peaceful discussions or thoughts. If actions are contrary to the orders of the court, the authorities can take action. They can call the police and restore peace," the order reads.

The Kerala High Court issued the order while hearing a petition filed by 20 educational institutions against campus politics.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Cheaper lending rates in the country along with the government's booster via tax cuts seem to have had little effect on vehicle sales in January, with car sales decreasing by over 14,531 units, or slightly over 8 per cent, compared to January last year.

According to Rajan Wadhera, President of industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which gives out the auto sales numbers, the overall slump in vehicle sales in India was due to the "rising cost of vehicle ownership and slower growth in GDP".

Barring three-wheelers, all other segments showed de-growth.

Vehicle sales across segments have been declining for over a year now. SIAM sales data last month compared with that of January 2019 showed that domestic passenger vehicle sales slipped 6.2 per cent to 262,714 units. The decline in car sales stood at 8.1 per cent, and two-wheelers 16.06 per cent.

Sales of commercial vehicles, an indicator of industrial health in the economy, slipped by 14.04 per cent to 75,289 units last month, while the vehicle sales across categories registered a de-growth of 13.83 per cent to 17,39,975 units from 20,19,253 units in January 2019, SIAM said.

However, Wadhera said, they were hopeful that recent government announcements on infrastructure and rural economy would support growth of vehicle sales, especially in the commercial and two-wheeler segments.

"We are looking forward to the early announcement of an incentive-based scrappage policy in the context of the recent assurances by the government," Wadhera said.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Mumbai, Mar 13:  Investor wealth worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore was wiped out in less than 15 minutes of trading on the stock exchanges on Friday, with the two benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, crashing over 10 per cent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 3,380.59 points, or 10.31 per cent, to 29,397.55. It hit an intra-day low of 29,388.97, falling up to 3,389.17 points.

Trading was halted for 45 minutes in the early session after the index hit its lower circuit limit.

The BSE and NSE benchmark indices, however, pared most losses with the Sensex trading 835.40 points, or 2.55 per cent, lower at 31,942.74, and the Nifty was down 253.25 points or 2.64 per cent at 9,336.90 at 10.40 am.

The mayhem on Dalal Street eroded investor wealth worth Rs 12,92,479.88 crore, taking the total m-cap to Rs 1,12,78,172.75 crore on the BSE at 1020 hours.

The m-cap of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 1,25,70,652.63 crore at the end of trading on Thursday.

Traders said besides global selloff, incessant foreign fund outflows also weighed on investor sentiments.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,475.29 crore on Thursday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

On the BSE, 1,279 scrips declined, while 193 advanced and 40 remained unchanged.

Volatility heightened in global markets as benchmarks world over went into panic mode, insinuating a freakish selloff.

Bourses in Shanghai dropped over 3.32 per cent, Hong Kong 5.61 per cent, Seoul 7.58 per cent and Tokyo cracked up to 7.97 per cent.

Wall Street lost 10 per cent in overnight trade.

More than 1,30,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been recorded in 116 countries and territories, killing at least 4,900 people.

The number of coronavirus patients in India has risen to 74, as per the health ministry.

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