BJP can never be 'Modi or Shah's party': Nitin Gadkari

Agencies
May 10, 2019

New Delhi, May 10: BJP can never be an "individual-centric" party as it is based on ideology, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said, denying allegations that Bharatiya Janata Party has become "Modi-centric".

He also disapproved apprehensions of a fractured mandate and claimed the party will get more seats than the last Lok Sabha polls.

"BJP neither became Atal or Advaniji's party in the past, nor it can ever be only Amit Shah or Narendra Modi's party," he said in an interview to news agency at his residence here.

Stressing "BJP is a party based on ideology," Gadkari said it is wrong to say that "BJP has become Modi-centric."

He, however, said the BJP and Prime Minister Modi are "complementary to each other."

When asked whether the BJP has become 'Modi is BJP and BJP is Modi' on the lines of 'Indira is India and India is Indira' slogan given by then Congress president D K Barooah during the emergency in 1976, Gadkari said, the party can never be "individual-centric".

"BJP as a party can never be individual-centric. It is an ideology-based party. There can be no 'family-rule' in the BJP. It is a wrong notion that the party has become Modi-centric. Party's parliamentary board takes all the decisions," he said.

He reasoned that the party and its leader are complementary to each other.

"Elections cannot be won if a party is strong but its leader is weak ... same can be said if a leader is strong and the party is weak ... But yes, a popular leader do come at the forefront naturally, " Gadkari stressed.

He rubbished the claims that BJP is fighting polls on nationalism instead of its work or achievement in the past five years and said people will vote the party back to power with full majority supporting its development agenda.

"Opposition has tried to bring in the poison of casteism and communalism in the polls to derail the BJP's development agenda, but I am sure people will be with us and we will form the government with full majority," he stressed.

He said for the BJP, nationalism is not an issue but "our soul".

"Nationalism is our soul. Good administration and development is our mission... Roti, kapda and makan (food, clothes and shelter) for the poor, exploited and backwards in the society is our ideal," Gadkari said.

He said in every election, discourse on the nation's security was there. "We haven't made this an issue".

Defending the Prime Minister for often mentioning about Pakistan and its army in his addresses, Gadkari said the media has raised some questions after Balakot strike which have to be answered.

"Recently, India has to give reply to Pakistan against its terror activities ... when these issues came ... It is natural that discussions on internal and external security issue will come into fore and hence we have not made nationalism an issue," the BJP leader said.

Days after the Pulwama attack in south Kashmir which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, India conducted air strikes on Jaish-e-Muhammed terror training camps in Balakot, Pakistan, in February.

He also denied that the Pulwama attack was the result of intelligence failure.

"No country sees the terror acts as a failure of intelligence ... it is a long battle. Such incidents have also happened in other countries, including the US, Germany and France. It is easy to call them intelligence failures ... intelligence is not divine set up but manual ... As far as discussions on it within the government are concerned they are secret," he reasoned.

On being asked that some pollsters are predicting a fractured mandate, the Union minister for Road Transport & Highways said the BJP will form the government after the polls.

"BJP will get more seats than the last polls and NDA constituents will also increase their seats, hence the party will form the government."

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Agencies
July 20,2020

Kolkata, Jul 20: As many as 13 migrant workers who came to their native village in West Bengal's Bankura district were denied entry at the quarantine centre by the locals.

As a result, the workers had to set up a tent accommodation at a nearby Beraban forest area and lived together in a single tent there, without adequate food, drinking water and basic facilities.

The migrant labourers came from Rajasthan after four months of COVID-19 lockdown which was imposed nationwide on March 25 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

When they arrived at Jagadalla village in the Bankura district and tried to put up at a village school building for two weeks self-quarantine, angry villagers vehemently protested against their entry fearing Covid infections in their village.

Sources said that local police and panchayat members also failed to make the villagers understand the fact that if the labourers strictly stayed in self-quarantine there would be no chance of any further infection.

"The school is located quite within our neighbourhood. If they stay there and tested positive, they might spread Covid infections in the village. We cannot allow them to stay in the school building," said Aniket Goswami, a villager.

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News Network
July 4,2020

Maryland, Jul 4: The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide has touched 11 million, according to the latest data by the Johns Hopkins University on Saturday.
More than 523,613 people have died globally due to the infection, according to the data compiled by the university.

Though the virus is believed to have emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the United States is the worst-hit country from COVID-19, which was declared as a pandemic by the WHO on March 11.

At least 129,275 people have died in the US from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University's latest tally.
There are at least 2,786,178 cases of the disease in the country. The US has the highest number of cases in the world.

The second worst-hit country is Brazil, which has reported 1,496,858 lakh cases. The country's death toll stands at 61,884.

The countries around the world including the US, India, Denmark, and Italy have started the process of lifting the lockdown by easing restrictions despite the number of cases continues to rise.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Kozhikode, Apr 24: A four-month-old baby girl, who had tested positive for COVID-19 and suffering from congenital heart disease, died in a hospital here in Kerala early Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest, officials said.

This is the third COVID-19 death and the first infant fatality in the state where two elderly people had succumbed to the disease earlier.

The baby was admitted to the Medical College Hospital here on April 21 with history of fever, cough, breathing difficulties and seizure after being treated at two other hospitals and the end came at 6 am, a medical bulletin said.

State Health Minister K K Shailaja said doctors had made maximum efforts to save the life of the child, whose family belonged to Payyanad near Manjeri in Malappuram district.

"Preliminary information which we have is that there has been some primary contact", she told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

The protocol for COVID-19 cases would be followed for the baby's last rites, the Minister added.

As of Thursday, the total active COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 129.

The bulletin said on arrival at the hospital on Tuesday the baby was in shock and had respiratory failure.

"She was resuscitated, mechanically ventilated and appropriate antibiotics for pneumonia and supportive measures to correct shock were started", it said adding the baby, however, continued to remain sick.

"Even though there was no history of any high or low risk contact or any epidemiological links as the child comes from SARI (Sever Acute Respiratory infection) criteria, she was admitted to the COVID-ICU and swab was taken and she tested positive", the bulletin said.

Contact tracing of those who had come in contact with the child was in progress.

Mallapuram District Medical Officer (Health) Dr Sakeena K said the child was having severe health issues from its birth itself and was admitted to a private hospital in Manjeri near here with breathing problem.

As her condition worsened, the baby was shifted to another hospital and later to the medical college hospital.

"The baby was having chest deformity and Atrial Septal Defect by birth which developed into severe health issues, the official added.

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