Congress is a party of Hinduism, not Hindutva; I am a nationalist who respect all religions: Rahul

Agencies
October 31, 2018

Indore, Oct 31: Asserting that he does not need the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ‘certificate’ to visit temples, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday he understands the Hindu religion better than the saffron party does and he is a ‘nationalist leader’ who respects every religion.

 “I am not a ‘Hinduwadi’ leader, but a nationalist leader. I am a leader of ev-ery religion, every caste, every language and every class,” Mr Gandhi said.A day after the BJP’s barb that Gandhi was ‘exhibiting fancy dress Hindui-sm’ with his temple visits in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and in other sta-tes earlier, the Congress leader retorted, “Are the country’s temples the sole property of the BJP and the RSS? Have only Modi and Shah got the contract to visit temples?”

Interacting with select journalists, Mr Gandhi said the BJP remains sile-nt whenever Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi or the BJP president Amit Shah visit a temple wearing clothes as per that temp-le’s tradition. “But when Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and I wear clothe-s as per the temple’s tradition, it is said that we are exhibiting fancy dress Hi-nduism,” Mr Gandhi said.

Mr Gandhi had started his two-day tour of Madhya Pradesh on Monday after offering prayers at Ujjain’s famous Mahakaleshwar temple.

Hours after Mr Gandhi’s temple visit, BJP spokes-man Sambit Patra had alleged, “Rahul Gan-dhi is exhibiting fancy dress Hinduism continuo-usly. To mislead the Hind-us, he is sporting a “jane-u” (sacred thread) over the shirt. We demand that ‘janeudhari’ Rahul Gand-hi clarify to which ‘gotra’ (clan) does he belong to.”

Mr Gandhi said, “If I feel like going to a temple and offering prayers to God then I will definitely visit it. I don’t need a certificate from the BJP. I understand Hindu religion better than the BJP does.” Mr Gandhi said that he visits mosques, gurudwaras, churches and other places of worship as he respects every religion.

Describing Hinduism and Hindutva as two different concepts, Mr Gandhi said: “The foundation of the BJP’s Hindutva is based on hatred, anger, insecurity. Whereas the Hindu religion is based on self-confidence, self-belief, respect for others, listening to others and embracing others... so we [the Congress] are not a Hindutva party but a party of Hinduism,” he asserted. No one can claim sole ownership of Hinduism because it is a great concept, he added.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Mumbai, May 22: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday reduced repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 per cent in an effort to further boost liquidity in the economy which has been reeling under the impact of COVID-19 induced countrywide lockdown.

As a result, the reverse repo rate stands at 3.35 per cent, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 5:1 in favour of the decision.

Repo rate is the rate at which a country's central bank lends money to commercial banks, and the reverse repo rate is the rate at which it borrows from them. 

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News Network
January 9,2020

New Delhi, Jan 9: JNU students who tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday protesting the violence on the university campus were stopped by police and later detained.

The police also resorted to baton charge to control the mob who tried to block the traffic at Janpath. Using loudspeakers, the police also appealed to the crowd to maintain peace.

Before the students tried to proceed towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan, a delegation of JNU Students' Union and JNU Teachers' Association also met Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry officials and demanded the removal of Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar from his post.

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News Network
May 15,2020

Vishakhapatnam, May 15: LG Chem on Thursday said following the gas leak at its Visakhapatnam polymers plant, the company has started support measures and has begun the transportation of the Styrene Monomer inventory to South Korea to eliminate all risks factors.

The company would continue to work with government agencies to ensure all possible support for bereaved families and victims, LG Polymers, a step-down firm of LG Chem, said in a statement.

"We confirm the status-quo of the plant remains completely controlled by all measures. We have begun the transportation of the Styrene Monomer (SM) inventory within the plant as well as in the styrene tanks at the port by vessels to South Korea to prevent and eliminate all risks factors," the statement said.

The South Korean chemicals giant has sent an eight-member team from Seoul to investigate the Visakhapatnam gas leak incident and rehabilitate the victims of the tragedy that killed at least 11 people and forced the evacuation of thousands.

"The team of production, environment, and safety experts are currently investigating the cause of the incident and already supporting responsible rehabilitation which is their main objective," the statement said.

Furthermore, the team is working closely with related authorities to analyze the cause of the incident, prevent a recurrence, and support damage recovery in a prompt and expedient manner, it added.

On the support measures, the company said a special task force is currently supporting the bereaved victims and families and visiting them at the hospitals and their homes.

Besides, food and medical services have been organized for the returning residents. Various support activities such as supplying medical and household goods and sanitation of homes will be continued, it said.

"We assure everyone we will do our best to resolve the situation and prevent any incident in the future," the company said.

The company further said that "our teams will carry out mid-to-long-term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects that can contribute to the local community based on suggestions of the residents.

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