Build a university at Babri mosque site, says AAP leader

Agencies
December 5, 2018

New Delhi, Dec 5: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said a university should come up at the site of the disputed Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. He emphasised that ‘Ram Rajya’ can be ushered through education and not by constructing a grand temple.

“My stand is that with a consensus from both sides (Hindus and Muslims), let’s build a good university at that place,” Sisodia said in an interview with NDTV that was aired on Sunday. “Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Indian, foreigner — students from all communities may attend that university and from there should spring Lord Ram’s ideals. Ram Rajya would come if we teach our children and not by building a mandir,” Sisodia said when asked what was the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) stand on Ram Mandir debate.

Asked about the current wave of caste politics in Indian politics, Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s Education Minister, said that the only way to end it was through education. “When I was at Japan University, the people there were talking about a new concept of running cars with hydrogen and on the same day on Twitter we were debating about Lord Hanuman’s caste. It is really unfortunate but the only way to move forward is by education,” he said.

Without taking any particular name, Sisodia slammed the political parties of spreading casteism at university levels “by appointing Vice Chancellors subscribing to Hindutva who try to impose it on the students”. “On one hand, you talk about ‘Digital India’ but your actions resemble that of Vijay Mallya,” Sisodia said.

Talking about the Lok Sabha elections due next year, Sisodia said the AAP government would be focusing on all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. “We will also keep our focus on Punjab and Haryana for the 2019 elections,” he said.

When asked whether Delhi Police should be with the state government, Sisodia remarked that even if his government plans to take an action, it never gets implemented on the ground level because of different governments controlling different authorities in Delhi. “Delhi Police need to be under the Delhi government,” he said. He also said the previous Sheila Dikshit-led government “didn’t do any work” in Delhi. “If her government had done anything, we wouldn’t have to struggle like this to get work done,” he said.

Comments

Mute spectator
 - 
Thursday, 6 Dec 2018

Dear Fairman,

 

Please don't convert an unfair activity of demolishing Babri Masjid as fair.  It is a cowardly act of safeguarding democracy.  Tomorrow another praying place will be demolished in the guise of similar reason and you keep on constructing hospitals?

 

 

 

FAIRMAN
 - 
Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018

Well said,

Very Very Well said, as the same was suggested by many in the past.

 

Such a contraversials  definitely devide the nation. Animity can spike without bounds and borders.

 

-  Yesterday there was Masjid.

- Today someone destroying it telling Baber had destroyed the Masjid and built temple.

- Tomorrow when Muslims become stronger, they might distroy the Mandir and build Masjid.

 

Our future children will die, suffer. We dont want to repeat again as what haened;

The God does not want to spill the blood for Masjid or Mandir.

 

Let us make our future generation live in peace than today we do.

 

God bless India.

 

 

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News Network
January 22,2020

Davos, Jan 22: President Donald Trump has said that the US is watching the developments between India and Pakistan over Kashmir "very closely" and repeated his offer to "help" resolve the longstanding dispute between the two neighbours as he met Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum here in the Swiss ski resort.

Addressing the media with the Pakistan Prime Minister prior to their private meeting on Tuesday, President Trump asserted that trade and borders were both critical points for discussion, while Khan said that for him, Afghanistan was the top priority.

Trump told Khan, whom he referred to as "my friend", that he would speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the ongoing Kashmir issue. The US president is expected to visit India in the coming weeks, marking his first visit after taking up his post in the White House.

"What's going on between Pakistan and India … if we can help, we certainly will be willing to. We have been watching it very closely and it's an honour to be here with my friend," he said.

"The Pakistan-India conflict is a very big issue for us in Pakistan and we expect the US to always play its part in deescalating the tensions, because no other country can," Khan said.

President Trump has repeatedly offered to mediate following India's August 5 decision to revoke the special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories, evoking strong reaction from Pakistan which has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue.

New Delhi has defended the move, saying Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the issue was strictly internal to the country, and the special status provisions only gave rise to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The country took the decision of abrogation of Article 370, which had only given separatism and terrorism to that state," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a function in October last year.

This is the third meeting between Trump and Khan since Pakistan premier assumed office in 2018 and it came against the backdrop of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's recent trip to the US, amid reports that the US and Afghan Taliban were close to striking a peace deal.

"There are issues we want to talk about. The main issue is Afghanistan because it concerns the US and Pakistan. Fortunately, we are on the same page. Both of us are interested in peace there and an orderly transition in Afghanistan with talks with Taliban and the government," Khan said.

When a reporter asked Trump if he would visit Pakistan considering he was already set to visit India, the US president said he was meeting the Pakistan premier in Davos.

"Well, we're visiting right now. So we don't really have to. I wanted to say that from a relationship standpoint, we got a great relationship. From the standpoint our two countries, we're getting along very well. I would say we've never been closer with Pakistan the way we're right now. And this is a big statement," Trump said.

Khan left for Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum and meet the world leaders, including President Trump, on the sidelines of the annual event which kicked off at the ski resort town of Davos on Tuesday.

The four-day summit marks the 50th anniversary of the forum.

A total of 53 heads of State are on the guest list. Nearly 3,000 participants from 118 countries are expected to attend the event during which political leaders, business executives, heads of international organisations and civil society representatives are set to deliberate on contemporary economic, geopolitical, social and environmental issues.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

New Delhi, Jan 4: In more troubles for the former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday questioned him for over six hours in its probe into the Air India aircraft deal case, first time since his release from Tihar jail almost a month ago.

A senior ED official told IANS, "We questioned Chidambaram for over six hours today in the ongoing probe into the Air India deal with Airbus."

According to financial probe agency officials, Air India had planned to buy over 111 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing during the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2009. This is the first time the ED has questioned the senior Congress leader in the Air India deal case.

The questioning of Chidambaram came for the first time since his release from the Tihar jail where he spent 106 days in connection with the INX Media money laundering case. He was released from Tihar on December 4 last year after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court. The former finance minister is also being investigated by the ED in a separate money-laundering cases of Aircel-Maxis deal.

An ED official said the contract to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus was finalised by a panel of ministers headed by Chidambaram in 2009. According to the ED, when the proposal to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus was sent to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), there was a condition that the aircraft manufacturer would have to build training facilities and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) centres at a cost of Rs 70,000 crore. But later, when the purchase order was placed, the clause was removed.

The name of another UPA minister, Praful Patel, had also come up in the alleged scam in a charge sheet filed by the ED against corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar on March 30 last year. Talwar was arrested last year by the ED after he was deported from the UAE.

The ED is probing the Air India-Indian Airlines merger; purchase of 111 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus at Rs 70,000 crore; ceding profitable routes and schedules to private airlines, and opening of training institutes with foreign investment.

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Agencies
July 2,2020

New Delhi, Jul 2: In the midst of India's tense border standoff with China, the defence ministry on Thursday approved procurement of a number of frontline fighter jets, missile systems and other platforms at a cost of Rs 38,900 crore to bolster the combat capability of the armed forces, officials said.

They said 21 MiG-29 fighter jets are being bought from Russia while 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft will be procured from Russia. The ministry has also approved a separate proposal to upgrade existing 59 MiG-29 aircraft.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The procurement of 21 MiG-29 and upgrading of the existing fleet of MiG-29 are estimated to cost the government Rs 7,418 crore while purchase of 12 new Su-30 MKI from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will be made at a cost of Rs 10,730 crore, the officials said.

The DAC also approved procurement of long-range land-attack cruise missile systems with a range of 1,000 KM and Astra Missiles for Navy and Air Force.

The officials said cost of these design and development proposals is in the range of Rs 20,400 crore.

"While acquisition of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted, addition of long-range land attack missile systems having a firing range of 1000 KM to the existing arsenal will bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force," said a defence ministry official.

"Similarly induction of Astra Missiles having beyond visual range capability will serve as a force multiplier and immensely add to the strike capability of the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force," he said.

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