Varanasi fears polarisation as Kejriwal hits campaign trail

April 15, 2014

Varanasi, Apr 15: As political pitch gets stronger in this city of temples and weavers with the arrival of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, leaders across party lines are fearing a highly polarised scenario on religious lines ahead of Lok Sabha polls next month.

kej_modiWhile senior leaders from BJP dismiss the impact of any anti-Modi polarisation among Muslims, who account for about 18 per cent votes here and close to 30 per cent in urban areas, local leaders from various parties including the saffron party said there was a high probability of Muslim votes being polarised towards the strongest candidate against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Local leaders from various parties including Congress, SP and BSP, also accused Kejriwal of trying to influence Muslims by projecting himself as the strongest candidate against Modi.

Soon after arriving here this morning, Kejriwal met Benares Shahar-e-Kazi Ghulam Nasir and sought his support. According to AAP leaders here, Nasir told Kejriwal that he would pray for his success.
Kejriwal also met some Balmiki Samaj leaders and visited areas populated by Dalits to seek their support. He is staying at the house of Viplav Mishra, brother of late Veerbhadra Mishra, who was mahant of Sankat Mochan Mandir, a Hanuman temple which is very popular among locals and people visiting Varanasi.
Kejriwal is likely to file his nomination on April 23, before which he may go to Amethi for a couple of days to campaign for party colleague Kumar Vishwas who is fighting against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
When asked whether BJP was wary of any anti-Modi polarisation among Muslim voters in favour of Kejriwal, party leaders dismissed such claims, saying Modi's win was a foregone conclusion and the fight was only about margins.
BJP's Nalin Kohli, who is camping here for elections, said it was not at all concerned about polarisation and the party was fighting the elections with agenda of 'one India, great India' and the new government would work for solving the problems faced by people of this country.
However, some other local BJP leaders accepted that there were apprehensions about polarisation of votes against Modi, but the quantum would not be enough to defeat the party's prime ministerial candidate and the 'ever-growing' wave in his favour.
On the other hand, Congress candidate Ajay Rai said that it was BJP which was working towards creating a polarisation on the religious lines and the party had done similar things in last Lok Sabha elections.
Rai went on to blame BJP of conspiring to put Muslim strongman leader Mukhtar Ansari in the fray so that minority votes get divided between him and Samajwadi Party. Rai had fought last Lok Sabha elections as a SP candidate, while Ansari was BSP candidate.
Since then, Ansari and his brothers have formed Qaumi Ekta Dal and is currently an MLA, while Rai is a Congress MLA right now. Ansari had earlier said he would fight against Modi, but recently decided against contesting Lok Sabha polls and has said he does not want anti-Modi votes to get divided.
Also in the fray is SP's Kailash Chaurasia, and BSP's Vijay Prakash Jaiswal and both the parties are putting their claims on minority, Dalit and backward votes.
SP's state secretary and UP Janjatiya Lok Kala Sanskriti Sansthan Chairman Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi said that the party would get huge support from minorities, backward and extreme backward caste voters as the state government has worked hard for their development.
"We are asking for votes on the basis of development work done by our government," he said, while accusing Kejriwal and Rai of trying to usurp SP's vote bank of minorities.
He said that the people of Varanasi would not be lured by them as they now that Kejriwal was an outsider and even Rai was wrongly claiming to be a local leader as his MLA constituency was hardly within Varanasi Lok Sabha area.
"Besides, people know that Rai is an ex-BJP leader and he has changed many parties, making him unacceptable among people here," he said.
Some Muslim leaders, on the other hand said, they do not want to be very vocal against Modi and the community is rather focussing on supporting candidates who can fight corruption or those who can work for local issues.
In 2009, there was reportedly huge polarisation against Ansari in Varanasi, and Murli Manohar Joshi could sail through by a small margin. Local leaders say that Joshi could muster enough support at the last moment after some other candidates pledged their support to BJP to defeat Ansari and they fear a similar situation against Modi this time.
Usman Gani, State Incharge of Momin Conference, which had been a major participant in Gandhian Khadi movement, categorically said that Aam Aadmi Party would fulfil the dreams of clean and secular India.
Surprisingly, neither has any major party announced any Muslim candidate so far for Varanasi seat, nor has any strong minority leader announced plans to fight independently.
Gani said he is hopeful that Quami Ekta Dal would also lend its support to Kejriwal as he was the only leader to stand up to the stature of Modi.
Momin Conference in Varanasi has been supporting AAP and it has given its own office to AAP in Sigra locality for election campaign purposes.

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News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday attacked the government over the transfer of Delhi High Court Judge S Muralidhar, saying the Centre's attempts to "muzzle" justice and "break people's faith in an upright judiciary are deplorable".

Delhi HC Judge S Muralidhar was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, days after the Supreme Court collegium made the recommendation.

"The midnight transfer of Justice Muralidhar isn't shocking given the current dispensation, but it is certainly sad & shameful," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted. "Millions of Indians have faith in a resilient & upright judiciary, the government’s attempts to muzzle justice & break their faith are deplorable," she said.

The judge was hearing the Delhi violence case and the late evening notification came on the day when a bench headed by him expressed "anguish" over the Delhi Police's failure to register FIRs against alleged hate speeches by three BJP leaders.

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News Network
July 1,2020

New Delhi, Jul 1: Jet fuel or ATF price on Wednesday was hiked by 7.5 per cent, the third increase in a month, while petrol and diesel rates were unchanged for the second day in a row.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by Rs 2,922.94 per kilolitre (kl), or 7.48 per cent, to Rs 41,992.81 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies.

This is the third straight increase in ATF prices in a month. Rates were hiked by a record 56.6 per cent (Rs 12,126.75 per kl) on June 1, followed by Rs 5,494.5 per kl (16.3 per cent) increase on June 16.

Simultaneously, non-subsidised cooking gas LPG rates were increased by Re 1 to Rs 594 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital. Prices were up by Rs 4 in other metros mostly because of different local sales tax or VAT rate.

On the other hand, petrol and diesel prices were unchanged for the second day in a row.

This, after diesel rates scaled a new high after prices were hiked 22 times in just over three weeks.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol comes for Rs 80.43 per litre, while diesel is priced at Rs 80.53 per litre.

Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

While the diesel price had been hiked on 22 occasions since June 7, petrol price had been raised on 21 occasions.

The cumulative increase since the oil companies started the cycle on June 7 totals to Rs 9.17 for petrol and Rs 11.14 for diesel.

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News Network
May 24,2020

New Delhi, May 24: The Indian economy is likely to slip into recession in the third quarter of this fiscal as loss in income and jobs and cautiousness among consumers will delay recovery in consumer demand even after the pandemic, says a report.

According to Dun & Bradstreet's latest Economic Observer, the country's economic recovery will depend on the efficacy and duration of implementation of the government's stimulus package.

"The multiplier effect of the stimulus measures on the economy will depend on three key aspects i.e. the time taken for effecting the withdrawal of the lockdown, the efficacy of implementation and duration of execution of the measures announced," Dun & Bradstreet India Chief Economist Arun Singh said.

The report noted that the government's larger-than-expected stimulus package is likely to re-start economic activities.

Besides, measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India like reducing the repo rate by a further 40 basis points to 4 per cent, extending the moratorium period by three months and facilitating working capital financing will also help stimulate the momentum.

Singh said while the measures announced by the government are "positive", most of them have been directed towards strengthening the supply side of the economy, and "it is to be noted that supply needs to be matched with demand", he said.

Besides, "in the absence of cash-in-hand benefits under the government's stimulus package, demand for goods and services is expected to remain depressed", he added.

He further said the loss in income and employment opportunities, and cautiousness among consumers, will lead to a delayed recovery in consumer demand, even after the pandemic. As debt and bad loan levels increase, the banking sector might face challenges.

The report further noted that even as the monetary stimulus is expected to inject liquidity and stimulate demand for a wider section of the economy, the channelisation of funds from the financial institutions will be subjected to several constraints.

The foremost concern being increase in risk averseness, as the balance sheets of firms, households, and banks/NBFCs have weakened considerably and low demand for funds by firms as production activities have been on a standstill during the lockdown period, Singh said.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to contain the spread of the coronavirus, resulting in supply disruptions and demand compression.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus on March 25. It has been extended thrice, with some relaxations. The fourth phase of the lockdown is set to expire on May 31. 

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