Hazare, Ramdev begin fast in Delhi

June 3, 2012
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New Delhi, June 3: Threatening a fight to finish by August, Anna Hazare and yoga guru Ramdev today began their day-long fast, their first joint appearance on a public platform in the past one year, against the UPA on corruption.

The one-day fast demanding bringing back black money stashed abroad and against the corruption and corrupt system is also likely to have its echo in the state capitals as well with Ramdev's Bharat Swabhiman Andolan organising protests.

Before launching their fast, Ramdev said that there will be a fight to finish in August as he is launching a protest programme then.

"From today, we are intensifying our protest to bring back black money stashed abroad and want all of the countrymen to be part of the fight to finish by August," he said.

"We will hit the streets not in lakhs but in crores in the coming days demanding that black money be declared a national treasure and measures be taken to bring it back," he told reporters as he headed to Rajghat from Tikri Kalan on Delhi border after paying tributes to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at Azad Hind Gram.

Hazare said during today's protest, "we will talk about the course of action and nature of campaigning in the future."

Ramdev and Hazare separately reached the dharna hotspot Jantar Mantar around 10.10 am after visiting the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat this morning.

While Ramdev was accompanied by his aide Balakrishna, Hazare was seen with former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia - prominent members of Team Anna. Ahead of their joint fast, Hazare and Ramdev visited the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. Ramdev reached the samadhi along with a number of supporters after taking out a march from the Delhi borders while Hazare went there from Maharashtra Sadan where he was staying.

Before beginning their journey to Rajghat, Ramdev and his close aide Acharya Balkrishna went to Azad Hind Gram on Ttikrikalan on Delhi border and paid tributes to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. After Rajghat, Ramdev also went to nearby Shahid Park.

The protest at Jantar Mantar is likely to see Hazare and Ramdev announcing his strategy with regard to the 2014 General Elections.

This is the first time that Ramdev and Hazare are sitting on a joint fast. From Team Anna, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Manish Sisodia will join Hazare and Ramdev in the day-long fast.

This is also their first joint appearance on a public platform in the past one year after the team distanced themselves from the yoga guru due to his Hindutva links.

During the March 25 protest, Hazare announced that his movement and that of Ramdev will support each other in the fight against corruption.

The association with Ramdev had also created ripples in Team Anna with a section remaining opposed to have any truck with the yoga guru as he is facing corruption charges.

Ahead of the fast, both Hazare and Ramdev have stepped up their attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Hazare had said that Singh has lost faith in government while Ramdev alleged that the Prime Minister was not "politically honest".

A senior police official said they have made elaborate arrangements. Besides Delhi Police personnel, 20 companies of para military forces are deployed in the area

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News Network
May 25,2020

Raipur, May 25: A union minister was caught on camera issuing threats to district administration officials in Chhattisgarh saying that she “knows how to take people to a room and beat them with belts"

Officials were taken aback when Renuka Singh, Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, delivered this dialogue during her visit to the quarantine centre at Balrampur, around 400 km from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Sunday.

Dilip Gupta, a resident of Balarampur district in Chhattisgarh, had accused the chief executive officer and tehsildar of the district panchayat of assaulting him in a quarantine centre in the area following a quarrel over shoddy facilities. Renuka Singh took cognizance of the matter and reached the quarantine centre to speak to Dilip Gupta.

The minister, on reaching the quarantine centre, received details of the incident from Gupta and his family and lashed out at the officials for "beating him up".

In a video, Renuka Singh is seen cautioning the officials to not think of BJP workers as "weak".

"Ye bhagwadhaari BJP ke karyakartao ko kamzor mat samajhna. Janpad me baithke aur aap tehsil me baith ke jo bhed-bhaav kar rahe hain BJP ke karyakartao ke sazth, bhool jaiye (Don't think of saffron-wearing BJP workers as weak. Forget the discrimination that you are showing towards BJP workers)," Renuka Singh said, lambasting the officials.

However, the minister did not stop there and went on to threaten the officials saying she knows how to 'thrash people with a belt'. 

"Andheri kothri me le jaa ke na main belt khol ke thokna jaanti hu bohot acche se (I very well know how to lock people in a dark room and thrash them with a belt)," Renuka Singh can be heard saying in a video from the incident.

Dilip Gupta, who was put under quarantine after he recently arrived from Delhi, had reportedly complained about the quality of food and basic facilities in the centre and had even uploaded a video on social media over the same after officials failed to address his issues.

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News Network
February 16,2020

Varanasi, Feb 16: Amidst continuing protests against the amended citizenship law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his government stood by the decision despite all pressure.

"Be it the decision on Article 370 or the Citizenship Amendment Act, it was necessary in the interest of the country. Despite pressure, we stand by our decision and will remain so," he said.

Modi was addressing a public meeting in his Lok Sabha constituency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also asserted that the trust set up for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya will work "rapidly".

"A trust has been formed for construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. This trust will work rapidly," he said at a public meeting during his day-long visit to his Lok Sabha constituency.

The government had recently set up the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra on the Supreme Court's directive to the Union government to form a trust that can look into the construction and management of the temple.

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News Network
August 3,2020

Aug 3: Iqbal Ansari, who was a litigant in the Ayodhya land dispute case, has decided to gift a 'Ram nami' stole and a copy of the Ramcharitmanas to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he attends the bhoomi pujan ceremony for the Ram temple here on Wednesday.

"Yes, I have received the invitation from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the bhoomi pujan ceremony. I will certainly attend it. The dispute is over now after the court's verdict," Ansari, 69, told .

"Our Prime Minister is coming. I will meet him and give him a 'Ramnami' stole (with Ram's name written on it) and Ramcharitmanas as a present," Ansari said.

His father Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case, died at the age of 95 in 2016 after which the son started pursuing the case in the court.

Talking about Wednesday's ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of a grand Ram temple here, Ansari said, "I belong to Ayodhya. All this (temple's construction) will change the fate of Ayodhya. We all want our child to get better opportunities".

He further said, "I respect sadhus and saints. I am happy to have received the invitation for the ceremony. I think it is Lord Ram's will that I attend it".

When asked what he would have done had the court decided the case in his favour, Ansari said he had wanted the construction of a school and a hospital on the disputed land.

"I feel the city needs development. The future of our children should be safe and secure and they should get employment. Dispute in the name of religion should end now and we should let the city witness a new beginning," he said.

The Supreme Court had in November last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple by a Trust at the disputed site of the Babri Masjid's demolition in Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government has allotted a five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Sohaval Tehsil of Ayodhya for the mosque's construction.

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