Attempts in the past to run down contribution of Patel: Modi

Agencies
October 31, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 31: In a veiled attack on the Congress ahead of Gujarat polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said some parties and governments in the past have tried to run down and erase the contributions of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in unifying the country immediately after Independence.

Flagging off a run to commemorate the 142nd birth anniversary of Patel, Modi said due to the statesmanship and political acumen of the country's first home minister, India is united today despite the colonial rulers' wish that it was disintegrated into smaller states after Independence.

"There have been attempts to run down Patel, to ensure that the contribution of Patel is forgotten. But Sardar is Sardar, whether any government or any party recognizes his contribution or not but the nation and the youth will not forget him," he said without naming any government or party.

"The youth of India respects him and his contribution towards the building of our nation," he noted.

Modi's comment bears significance as it came ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat, the state Patel belonged to.

Paying rich tribute to Patel, the prime minister said he had not only saved the country from the difficulties being faced immediately after Independence but succeeded in uniting the whole nation.

"The British government wished that India was disintegrated into smaller states. But Patel used all means (Sam, dam, dand, bhed, rajneeti, kutneeti) and succeeded in uniting all princely states into a single nation within a very small span of time," he said.

Modi said generation after generation of Indians will continue to remember Patel, particularly the youth, who will carry forward his legacy.

The 'Run for Unity', which began at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, saw the participation of a large number of people, including sports personalities like Sardar Singh, Deepa Karmakar, Suresh Raina and Karnam Malleswari.

The 1.5 km run here came to an end near the India Gate C-Hexagon-Shah Jahan Road radial.

Earlier, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, the Prime Minister, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh paid floral tributes to Patel on Parliament street where his statues is installed.

The prime minister said everyone in the country is proud of Patel's contribution to India before it attained freedom and during the early years after the nation became independent.

"We salute Sardar Patel on his Jayanti. His momentous service and monumental contribution to India can never be forgotten," he said.

Stressing that the diversity is India's strength, Modi said there are many languages, religion, culture, customs, lifestyles and food habits.

"But these are our strength and these are our bright future.India is proud of our diversity," he said.

The prime minister said first President of India Rajendra Prasad had said that India has become a united nation only due to administrative acumen and strong leadership of Patel but the country was not giving him due respect.

"Rajendra Babu must be happy now, wherever is his soul, that we are remembering the contribution of Patel even though some people tried to run down and erase his contribution.The nation will continue to remember Patel," he said.

Modi said in some countries, people of the same faith are even not ready to tolerate each other and want to harm and kill each other.

But in India, there is diversity yet all are united.

"Our country must remain united.It is the responsibility of the 125 crore people to ensure that India remains united," he said.

At the beginning of his speech, Modi also paid tribute to former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary.

Paying tribute to Patel, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said apart from uniting the nation, Patel also succeeded in facing the challenge of communal violence which broke out soon after the Independence.

"Sardar Patel was the main force behind upholding India's unity and integrity at the time of Independence," he said.

The central government observes October 31 as 'Rashtriya Ekta Diwas' to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.

Several union ministers, including Ananth Kumar, Vijay Goel, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Hardeep Puri, senior officials and others also participated in the event.

Hockey player Sardar Singh said 'Run for Unity' is a commendable initiative to showcase the country's unity and integrity.

Gymnast Deepa Karmakar said she was proud to be part of the run, which is being organized to remember the contributions of Patel in unifying the country.

Patel was born on October 31, 1875, and passed away on December 15, 1950.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot is the richest minister in the AAP government, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Monday.

In a statement, the NGO said, Delhi Election Watch and ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all the seven-party leaders including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

According to the statement, the minister with the lowest declared total assets is Gopal Rai with assets worth Rs 90.01 lakh.

"The minister with the highest declared total assets is Kailash Gahlot from Najafgarh constituency with assets worth Rs 46.07 crore," it stated.

The report by ADR comes on the day Kejriwal and his six ministers took charge after the formation of the new AAP government.

Chief Minister Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues took charge of their respective offices on Monday and asserted that they would work to fulfil the promises made in the "guarantee card", released during the poll campaign, including reduction in pollution and expansion of metro network.

Members of his Cabinet are -- Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Imran Hussain, Gopal Rai and Kailash Gahlot.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: With 1,594 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the last 24 hours and 51 deaths, India's total count of coronavirus cases surged to 29,974, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

The total cases are inclusive of 7,026 cured and discharged patients, one migrated and 937 deaths.

At present, there are 22,010 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Addressing a press conference here, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said that in the last 28 days, 17 districts have had no new Covid-19 cases. "This means we need to maintain constant vigil," he added.

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The wire
May 20,2020

Bhopal, May 20: Two months after Deepak Bundele, an advocate and former journalist, was brutally assaulted by the Madhya Pradesh’s Betul Police on March 23, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Kotwali Police Station in Betul district, BS Patel, approached the victim to record his statement. However, he allegedly tried to convince Bundele to withdraw the case saying that the cops had mistaken him for a Muslim since he has a long beard and assaulted him. But, the cop added, they were ashamed of the incident after they came to know that they had beaten their ‘Hindu brother’.
Bundele was on his way to the government hospital for diabetes treatment, a day before the countrywide lockdown was announced, when the assault occurred. Miffed with the incident and after the district police denied to register the case, he wrote to the State Human Rights Commission; Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court; Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan; Vivek Johri, Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh; and SP Betul to register an FIR against the police officials and take punitive action against them.
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, section 144 had been imposed in Betul district and public movement was restricted when the incident had occurred. 
Talking to Bundele, ASI Patel had said, “We seek an apology on behalf of those officials [who assaulted Bundele]. We are truly embarrassed because of the incident. If you want, I can bring those officials and make them apologise in person to you. They mistook you as a Muslim and assaulted you, since you had a long beard. And the man (who assaulted you) is a kattar (staunch) Hindu…In Hindu-Muslim riots whenever a Muslim is arrested, they beat them up brutally, always,” the police official can be heard saying in an audio recording shared by the victim.
In the 14 minutes long audio, he further said, “I request to you to withdraw the complaint. Please agree to our request; understand that we are living in Gandhi’s country; we are all Gandhi’s children…I have at least 50 friends from your caste.”
The cop continued, “All those people are ashamed that they did something like this to a Hindu brother without knowing his identity. We do not have any enmity against you. Whenever there is a Hindu-Muslim riot, police always supports the Hindus; even Muslims know this. But whatever happened with you was because of ignorance. For that, I have no words.” 
Refuting ASI Patel’s claim, Bundele claimed that there was no Hindu-Muslim riot that day, and asked whether he was beaten for being wrongly identified as a Muslim. The police officials agreed, and said: “Yes, exactly.”
“When I constantly declined to withdraw the compliant, he indirectly threatened me saying, ‘Agree to our request, else you and your advocate brother will face consequences’,” Bundele claimed. 
When contacted Betul SP DS Bhadoriya said, “I’m not aware of this audio clip. I will taken strict action, if I receive any such complain.”
Bundele said that he has written to the DGP and other senior police officials with details about the incident.   
THE ASSAULT
On March 23 evening, when Bundele was on his way to a hospital for the treatment, Betul Police allegedly thrashed him. The 32-year-old advocate had worked as a journalist for various dailies in Madhya Pradesh’s state capital for a decade. He moved to Betul in 2017 and started practising in the district court with his brother. “I have been a patient of diabetes and blood pressure for the last 15 years. On March 23, since I was not feeling well, I decided to visit the hospital and get some medicines. But I was stopped by the police midway,” Bundele had said. 
Even though the advocate, who sports a beard, said that he explained to police personnel that he had to get his medicines but one of them slapped him without trying to listen to what he was saying. “When I protested and said that police have no right to beat the public, they got anxious and within no time, many police officials came and started beating me up with sticks,” he added. 
"I need constant medication and lifesaving medicines to survive and I told the policemen everything while they were assaulting me. But, they kept hitting me, even after I fell,” he said, adding, "I bled for almost a 2-3 days after the incident.”
Bundele, sustained multiple injuries and his ear bled for almost two days after the incident, but, Betul police denied to file an FIR in the incident.
‘WILL MOVE TO THE HIGH COURT’
“Even after two months of the incident, no FIR has been registered and it seems that police is trying to sweep the matter under the carpet,” Bundele said, adding, “I have talked to the Supreme Court’s veteran advocate Vivek Tankha and Etasham Hashmi and will take this matter to the court.”
He also raised serious concerns about the communal angle of the incident, saying, “It’s a matter of grave concern that the police is turning communal and targeting a particular community.”

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.thewire.in/article/communalism/madhya-pr…

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