Dangerous misuse of mandate by BJP: Sonia Gandhi

Agencies
September 12, 2019

Sept 12: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday expressed concern over the "grim" economic situation in the country and accused the BJP government of misusing its mandate in the "most dangerous" fashion.

Sources said, Gandhi, while addressing Congress leaders at a meeting at the party headquarters here asserted that the BJP government was testing the resolve and resilience of the Congress, which must now embark on an agitational agenda to reach out to the masses in exposing the BJP.

She noted that the democracy was at peril under the Modi government and alleged that it was misusing and abusing its mandate in the "most dangerous" fashion, the sources said.

Sonia Gandhi's remarks came while chairing a meeting of top party leaders from across the country to finalise plans for Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary celebrations.

The meeting was attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretaries and in-charges of various states, state government chiefs and Congress' Legislative Party leaders, among others.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not present in the meeting.

"The Congress party must have an agitational agenda. Our resolve on resilience is being tested now," she was quoted as saying by the sources.

Sonia Gandhi also expressed concern over the economic situation prevailing in the country, saying losses are mounting and the general confidence of people is shaken.

All that the government is indulging in is "unprecedented vendetta politics" to divert attention from the mounting losses on the economic front, she said.

The Congress president, the sources said, accused the government of appropriating the legacy of freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and B R Ambedkar.

The BJP is "misrepresenting" their true messages to further its "nefarious agenda", she said.

At the meeting, former prime minister Singh talked about the poor state of the economy.

"We are in the midst of dangerously protracted slow down and the economy was going from bad to worse," he was quoted as saying by the sources.

Singh said the government is not realising this and the worst could happen in the employment sector.

While Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy were present at the meeting, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel did not attend.

Kamal Nath is battling infighting in the MP Congress. Party general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia was, however, present at the meeting.

Among other leaders present were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, A K Antony, K C Venugopal, Mallilkarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

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News Network
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah's sister on Monday moved the Supreme Court to challenge his detention under the Public Safety Act.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice N V Ramana.

Sibal told the bench that they have filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of Abdullah under the PSA and the matter should be heard this week.

The bench agreed for urgent listing of the matter.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Muzaffarpur, May 27: A toddler's vain attempt to wake up his dead mother from eternal sleep on a railway platform in Bihar's Muzaffarpur on Wednesday presented the most poignant picture of the massive migrant tragedy unfolding across several states.

A video tweeted by Sanjay Yadav, an aide to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, shows the child walking unsteadily up to his mother's body, tugging at the blanket placed over her, and when failing to wake her up, covering his own head with it.

As the mother still lay still, he wobbles away from her, announcements continuing in the background about the arrival and departure of trains that would bring in tens of thousands of people in a rush to get away from hunger and hardship they face in large cities that could sustain them no more.

"This small child doesn't know that the bedsheet with which he is playing is the shroud of his mother who has gone into eternal sleep. This mother died of hunger and thirst after being on a train for four days. Who is responsible for these deaths on trains? Shouldn't the opposition ask uncomfortable questions?" tweeted Yadav.

However, police had a different story to tell.

Ramakant Upadhyay, the Dy SP of the Government Railway Police in Muzaffarpur, said the incident occurred on May 25 when the migrant woman was on way to Muzaffarpur from Ahmedabad by a Shramik Special train.

He told reporters the woman, who was accompanied by her sister and brother-in-law, had died on the Madhubani bound train.

"My sister-in-law died suddenly on the train. We did not face any problem getting food or water," the officer said, quoting the deceased's brother-in-law who he did not name.

He said on getting information, poice brought down the body and sent it for postmortem.

Citing the brother-in-law of the deceased, Upadhyay said she was aged 35 years and was undergoing treatment for "some disease" for the last one year in Ahmedabad. "She was also mentally unstable," he said.

When persistently queried about the cause of death, he said,"Only doctors can tell".

A massive exodus of migrant workers is on in several parts of the country, unprecedented in magnitude since Partition.

The humanitarian crisis still unfolding on highways and railway platforms has shone light on disturbing tales of entire families walking hundreds of kilometres with little children on foot in a seemingly endless march to escape hunger.

People have been found travelling on trucks and in the hollow of concrete mixing plants, and in many cases, dying from hunger and exhaustion before reaching their destinations.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Mumbai, Jan 30: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested Dr Kafeel Khan from Mumbai airport for allegedly making inflammatory statements at AMU during protests against the Citizenship Amendments Act (CAA) last month, officials said.

Khan was arrested on Wednesday night with assistance from Mumbai Police at the airport when he arrived in the city to attend anti-CAA protests, an official said.

"Officials of the UP STF arrested Dr Kafeel Khan in a case which was registered at Civil Lines Police Station under section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of IPC. Our police team helped our UP counterparts on their request," said an official from Mumbai Police.

He claimed that Khan had made inflammatory statements on December 12 last year during the protest near Bab e Syed Gate outside the Aligarh Muslim University in front of more than 600 students.

The official also alleged that the Gorakhpur doctor had made objectionable comments against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The FIR against Khan mentions that Swaraj India's president Yogendra Yadav was also present during the speech at AMU.

Following the arrest in the case, Khan was taken to the Sahar Police Station and after completing formalities he will be taken to UP on transit remand, the official said.

Khan, a paediatrician, had come to the limelight in 2017 when a controversy broke out after the death of over 60 children in less than a week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, UP.

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