Two killed in gang attack at Farangipet; three others injured

Mangaluru, June 10: The first direct repatriation flight from Damma to Mangaluru International Airport under Vande Bharat Mission will be operated on June 21.

Thousands of people from coastal districts of Karnataka are stranded without flights in different parts of Saudi Arabia after the announcement of covid lockdown in March this year. 

Even though the government of India launched Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian expatriate through special flights, no flight was scheduled from Saudi Arabia to Mangaluru.

Several organisations had exerted pressure on the government of India and government of Karnataka to bring back stranded Kannadigas from Saudi Arabia.  

With the sole intention of helping the stranded Kannadigas, a few philanthropists in Saudi Arabia last month formed an NGO called Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum under the leadership of Zakariya Bajpe and Sheikh Expertise. 

Bengaluru, May 5: The movement of migrant labourers from Karnataka to other states has stopped temporarily, as few North Indian states are yet to give consent.

Revenue Minister R Ashok said that the state government will convince labourers to stay back and ensure free food supply at their camps. "Even if we allow them to travel, they will be quarantined for 14 days as soon as they reach their native states.

The labourers don't know about this and some states have not yet given permission for their return," Revenue Minister R Ashok said.

According to sources in CMO, the decision to convince the workers to stay back came after several major projects - both government and private - were affected by the mass migration of labourers to their native districts and states.

Ashok, along with S Suresh Kumar, Primary and Secondary Education minister and head of the group of ministers focusing on migrant workers, also visited labourers who had gathered demanding that they be allowed to return.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will chair a meeting tomorrow and instruct builders under CREDAI to pay pending wages of labourers, provide food supply and ensure their safety, Ashok said, adding that all construction work by BBMP will also be taken up to help the labourers.

New Delhi, May 12: Minorities are "flourishing" in India and have been an equal partner in development without discrimination under the Modi government, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Tuesday, dismissing allegations of Islamophobia as an attempt to defame the country.

The "Narendra Modi phobia club” has been unable to digest the inclusive growth under the prime minister and is engaged in a "nefarious campaign" in India and abroad through fake propaganda alleging "intolerance, communalism and discrimination" against minorities in India, Naqvi said.

In a blog titled "Islamophobia -- Bogey of Bogus Bashing Brigade", the minority affairs minister argued that the "Modi phobia club" is playing the “Islamophobia card" to harm the pluralistic fabric of India, but will not succeed.

Naqvi's remarks come days after a wave of angry reactions on Twitter by citizens and rights activists from various Arab countries following allegations that Muslims are being blamed for spreading COVID-19 in parts of India.

Also, the 57-member prominent international Mulim grouping, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, recently accused India of "Islamophobia".

India has dismissed all such allegations.

"Minorities in India are flourishing equally with all the citizens with a sense of equality, security and prosperity. Misinformation against such a gracious and tolerant country and its effective leadership is nothing but the height of ignorance and mental bankruptcy," Naqvi said.

He claimed that no riot took place in last 5 years of the Modi government and it was after "nefarious preaching" by those who were irked by this that the Delhi riots happened.

Naqvi said the women who sat on protests at Shaheen Bagh cannot be termed "anti-nationals" but they had been "misguided by the bogus bashing brigade”.

This brigade pushed these women on a path which had an “entry gate” but no “exit gate”, the minister said.

This was a “calculated conspiracy” by the brigade that wants to defame and disgrace Modi and India, Naqvi said.

He also argued that for the "first time since Independence", India has forged close and strong ties with nearly all Islamic nations and countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Afghanistan, Russia, Palestine, Mauritius and the Maldives have conferred Modi with their highest civilian awards.

"The United Nations has also conferred Narendra Modi with the prestigious 'Champions of the Earth Award'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's global acceptance and popularity doesn't need any certificate," Naqvi said.

The Modi government never planned development on the basis of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians or on region and caste, and its priority has been the poor and deprived, Naqvi said, adding that still some people with a “prejudiced mindset” are trying to defame India by raising the bogey of Islamophobia.

There is not a single incident of discrimination against any section of the society, including minorities under the Modi government, the minister asserted.

All sections, including minorities, are strongly moving forward on the path of “development with dignity” under the Modi government, he said.

When the challenges due to the coronavirus were in initial stages across the world in early January and several countries, including Pakistan, had not taken care of their people abroad, it was the Modi government that brought back thousands of Indians stranded in Wuhan (China), Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other countries, Naqvi said, adding that a majority of these people were Muslims.

In the recent Vande Bharat Mission also, the Indian government is bringing back thousands of Indians from countries such as the Maldives, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and other countries which include a large number of Muslims, he pointed out.

"Strong eternal commitment of my country will defeat and demolish the fake and fabricated Islamophobia card of the 'India bashing brigade'," Naqvi said in his blog.