Mersal row: BJP’s Raja drags Vijay’s Christian identity to justify GST!

News Network
October 24, 2017

Oct 24: Adding fuel to fire over the Mersal movie controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H Raja has dragged the religion of Tamil actor Vijay. Taking to Twitter, the politician shared a picture of the popular actor’s voter ID showing his full name as Joseph Vijay.

The BJP leader posted the voter ID of the actor with caption – “Truth is bitter”. However, he did not explain which truth is bitter for him.

This is not the first time that Raja raked up the religion of the actor over the issue. He had earlier written, “Joseph Vijay’s hatred for Modi is Mersal”.

He had also raised questions over a dialogue in the movie that said hospitals must be built before temples. Raja claimed that as many as 17,500 churches, 9,700 mosques and 370 temples were constructed in the last 20 years. “Out of these what should be avoided to build hospitals?” he asked. However, he did not provide any proof for his claim.

The BJP has been on an offensive against the movie, directed by Atlee Kumar, since its release on October 18 in theatres. Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan had demanded removal of the dialogues relating to GST, digital payments and temples from the movie as they allegedly spread a wrong message.

There was also a war of words between senior BJP leader GVL Narsimha Rao and Bollywood actor-producer Farhan Akhtar. Speaking on the issue, Rao had told a television channel that “most of our film stars have very low general knowledge”.

Reacting to this, Farhan Akhtar expressed his anger on Twitter, saying “how dare you, sir?? And to all the film people in his ranks.. here’s what he thinks of you”.

The movie and the actors, meanwhile, also got the backing of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, who has been hinting on making a foray in politics. He had extended his support to the movie team on Twitter and lauded them for addressing “important topic”. "Important topic addressed... Well done!!! Congratulations team Mersal," Rajinikanth tweeted.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader P Chidambaram had also hit out at the BJP for demanding cuts in "Mersal".

"Mr Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don't try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet which was retweeted by Chidambaram.

The makers of the film have, however, said that if needed they would delete scenes that have caused “misunderstanding”.

Claiming that the BJP leaders have accepted their explanation, Sri Thenandal Films head Murali Ramaswamy said, "From their perspective, their opposition is just. If opinions (expressed in the movie) that may lead to misunderstanding need to be removed, we are ready for that too."

Comments

Zain
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Usully I dont watch Tamil movies, but Mersal definatly I'l be watching, not for entertainment but for its success. #MersaltowardsSuccess#

 

Tony
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

BJP once again proves that they can live only by spewing communal hatred venom and cannot take criticism of any kind. The increasing publicity of the issue will only backfire on them.

Christy
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

I am a keralite and i must say the bjp is again using religion to divide people and spew hate. Why? because none of what Raja said is relevant, let me explain. 'joseph vijay' is acting as a hindu doctor in the film and that jab about 'not temples but more hospital' is directed to some govt.s in north who are building statues and temples with state money. And a movie doesnt have to be based on facts or truth, the movie can transmit any message and its up to the viewers to decide if what said in the film is right or wrong. BJP should dictating people. And BJP won't come in power in kerala, not in a million years. Period.

Bhatt
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Movies are either for entertainment or information but not political propaganda. Movie with political agenda is fair game for criticism

Mohammed
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Congrats to Vijay and #Mersal Team, but my doubt is this 150cr included GST or not? : D

Truth
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

BJP do not have separate attitude for Tamilnadu. The only thing required is that they should be told to not to disturb converts in tamilnadu.

Rahul
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

BJP interferes into the freedom of expression. Artists have the freedom to speak social issues, if they are factually incorrect, let the politicians campaign against. They cant re-censor the film which has certified by the central censor board. There is nothing wrong on the dialogues on GST, demonetisation, inefficient hospitals etc.. all are facts, some may be stretched a bit.. 

BJP's attitude in TN triggers people's anger further.

Unknown
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Political party donations to have 28% GST. How much money BJP have received as political donations ? BJP, do you dare to pay GST on the receipts of the earnings ?

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News Network
April 26,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 26: In the wake of the fears among local people regarding the cremation of coronavirus victims, an understanding has been reached with all stakeholders that the Mangaluru city corporation's crematorium here will be the official funeral site for such cases in future.

Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath, who had to face stinging criticism on social media for his alleged support to local people who stopped the cremation of a COVID- 19 victim at Pachanady near here on Thursday, took an active role in finding the solution.

The body of the victim, a woman, had to be taken from Pachanady to Kaikunje during the night, delaying the funeral by hours.

Kamath visited Boloor on Saturday and sought to convince the people that cremating the bodies of coronavirus victims would not endanger their lives in any way as the guidelines of WHO and union health ministry are being strictly followed.

The crematorium at Boloor is run by the MCC and has an electric furnace and firewood pyres.

Kamath said a tacit understanding that final rites of COVID-19 patients inDakshina Kannada will be performed at Boloor has been reached at a meeting with all stakeholders.

Cremating bodies in such a controlled environment is deemed safe as per guidelines, he said.

City Mayor Diwakar, local corporator Jagadish Shetty and MCC assistant commissioner Madan Mohan took part in the meeting.

The decision was conveyed to the DK district administration.

The district administration has also launched a campaign on dead body management protocol to convince the people to ignore misinformation being spread regarding the cremation of coronavirus victims.

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News Network
February 24,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Fugitive underworld don Ravi Poojary, with more than 90 criminal charges pending against him, was brought to the city in the wee hours of Monday after he was arrested from Senegal in South Africa.

Police said that he was wanted in more than 92 criminal cases. In Bengaluru alone, he was involved in more than 39 cases, including double murder of Ravi and Shobana in 2007, an attempt to murder attack on Mantri developers 2009, extortion and other crimes etc. He had committed crimes in various parts of the state including Myusuru, Hubballi, he had involved in extortion, threatening builders, politicians, etc.

"Though Senegal police had nabbed him about six months back to get him to India it took more than six months since there was no agreement to deport criminals from that state to us. However, now all legal hurdles have been removed and we have succeeded in bringing him", a top police official told media.

A team of Bengaluru Police headed by Additional Director General of Police Amar Kumar Pandey, Joint Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil reached Senegal on Saturday and brought him to the city by Air France flight.

Ravi Poojari was wanted in cases of extortion and murder and was active in the Mumbai underworld. He was part of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang and later is said to have worked with 'Chota Rajan' for some time. Claiming to be an enemy of Dawood, Poojari reportedly finished off all his associates and anti-India elements in the country. His men were involved in a shootout on the Shabanam Developers office in Bengaluru in which a woman staffer was killed.

He is also said have been involved in the shootout case of Shahid Azmi, an advocate from Mumbai. There are cases against him in Kerala, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 2,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 2: All the seven Airports in Karnataka have seen poor traffic even after the restoration of domestic flight services post covid-19 lockdown. Interestingly, Mangaluru International Airport, the second biggest in the state, has slipped to third position in number of number of passengers and flights. 

Of all the seven airports in State-- Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Vijaynagara (Hosapete)-- it was the Sambra (Belagavi) airport which saw the highest number of passengers and flights after Bengaluru. 

According to Airports Authority of India report released on their website recently, the Sambra airport outperformed the Managluru international airport in June. 

As many 10,224 passengers travelled to or from Belagavi airport in June, whereas Mangaluru airport saw a footfall of only 8,608 passengers including 3,726 international and 4,882 domestic passengers. Belagavi airport handled 391 flights whereas Mangaluru airport handled 190 flights.

Even the Bengaluru international airport saw a decline in the number of passengers and flights in June. Only 3.69 lakh domestic and 10,654 international passengers arrived or departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru in June as against 27.59 lakh total passengers in June 2019. 

Between April-June 2020 the Bengaluru airport saw only 4.54 lakh total passengers (domestic and international) as against 84.11 lakh total passenger during the same period last year. The number of flights to and from Bengaluru also saw a huge dip in June with only 731 international (2,582 in June 2019) and 4290 domestic (16,216 in June 2019) flights.

Though the Mysuru domestic airport handled a higher number of flights compared to last June, the number of passengers either arriving or departing saw a decline. Last year June 4,775 passengers travelled in 96 flights, whereas in June 2020 the airport handled 3,158 passengers and 330 flights.

Hubballi airport saw the least number of passengers or flights among the seven airports in Karnataka in June. It saw only 55 passengers either arriving or departing from the city's airport in 14 flights in the month of June. In the same month last year, Hubballi airport, which was third busiest before the pandemic, had facilitated 45,973 passengers and handled 604 flights.

Since April 2020 to June, the Hubballi airport has handled only 18 flights (as against 1,958 during the same period last year) and 122 passengers (1,50,416 between April-June 2019).

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