Cong leader Rita Bahuguna joins BJP, slams Rahul for barb at Modi

Mumbai, Feb 17: The Shiv Sena on Monday said the ongoing preparation for the much awaited visit of US President Donald Trump is a reflection of the "slave mentality" of Indians.

Trump's India trip is like the visit of a "Badshah" (emperor), an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.

Taking a dig at the construction of a wall on a plot having several slum structures in Ahmedabad ahead of Trump's visit there, the Sena said the US president's trip would neither stop the fall of rupee's value in forex market nor offer betterment to those (slum dwellers) behind the wall.

"Before Independence, British King or Queen used to visit one of their slave nations like India. The kind of preparations going on from taxpayers' money for the arrival of Trump is similar to it. This reflects the slave mentality of Indians," it said.

The Sena also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) move to build wall on a plot to "hide the slums" on the route through which Trump's convoy would pass.

"Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had once given the slogan 'Garibi Hatao', which was ridiculed for a long time. It seems now Modi's plan is 'Garibi chupao' (hide poverty)," the Marathi publication said.

Is there any financial allocation for such a wall being built in Ahmedabad? Is the US going to offer loan to India to build such walls across the country? it wondered.

"We have heard Trump is going to be in Ahmedabad for only three hours but the wall construction is costing almost Rs 100 crore to the state exchequer," it said.

It is basically a political arrangement between Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump, the Sena claimed.

Last year, 'Howdy, Modi!' (a mega event jointly addressed by the Indian prime minister and Trump) was organised in the US, it noted.

A similar programme, "Kem Chho Trump" (Gujarati expression for how are you Trump), has been now organised (in Ahmedabad) ahead of the US elections, chiefly because of a sizable number of Gujarati people living in America, the Shiv Sena claimed.

"But this visit of President Trump is neither going to stop further fall of rupee in the forex market nor offer betterment to those behind the wall (being built in front of slums in Ahmedabad)," it said.

The Sena said Trump is "not someone very wise or a statesman or someone who cares for the whole world", but he has to be treated with respect as he represents the mighty US.

"Sometimes you have to treat someone with respect to get your things done," it quipped.

The AMC on Friday said the construction of the wall, around four feet in height, was approved much before Trump's Gujarat visit was finalised.

Trump is scheduled to visit Modi's home state Gujarat on February 24.

He will visit the famous Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and take part in a roadshow with Modi. After that, the two leaders will inaugurate a new cricket stadium in Motera and address a gathering there, with an expected audience of over a lakh people.

While it was earlier speculated that the programme would be called 'Kem Chho Trump', the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Sunday tweeted a series of posters confirming that the event is now christened as 'Namaste Trump', apparently to give it a pan-India appeal.

New Delhi, Jan 31: The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the plea filed by one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Pawan Gupta, seeking review of its order rejecting his juvenility claim.

The review plea filed earlier in the day was taken up for consideration in-chamber by a bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna. 

On January 20, the apex court had rejected the plea by Pawan who had challenged the Delhi High Court's order dismissing his juvenility claim.

Advocate A P Singh, who is representing Pawan in the case, said he filed a petition on his behalf seeking review of the top court's January 20 order on Friday.

While dismissing the plea, the top court had said there was no ground to interfere with the high court order that rejected Pawan's plea and his claim was rightly rejected by the trial court as also the high court.

It had said the matter was raised earlier in the review petition before the apex court which rejected plea of juvenility taken by Pawan and another co-accused Vinay Kumar Sharma and that order has attained finality.

Singh had argued that as per his school leaving certificate, he was a minor at the time of the offence and none of the courts, including trial court and high court, ever considered his documents.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Police, had said Pawan's claim of juvenility was considered at each and every judicial forum and it will be a travesty of justice if the convict is allowed to raise the claim of juvenility repeatedly and at this point of time.

The trial court on January 17 issued black warrants for the second time for the execution of all the four convicts in the case -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay (31) -- in Tihar jail at 6 am on February 1. Earlier, on January 7, the court had fixed January 22 as the hanging date.

As of now, only Mukesh has exhausted all his legal remedies including the clemency plea which was dismissed by President Ram Nath Kovind on January 17 and the appeal against the rejection was thrown out by the Supreme Court on January 29.

Convict Akshay's curative petition was dismissed by the top court on January 30. Another death row convict Vinay moved mercy plea before President on January 29, which is pending.

Singh has also approached the trial court seeking stay on the execution scheduled on February 1, saying the legal remedies of some of the convicts are yet to be availed.

A 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before she was thrown out on the road.