Kargil marty's father slams Modi's slogan 'Yeh Dil Mange More’

April 29, 2014
Palampur/Mandi, April 29: BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Tuesday made a passionate appeal to voters to ensure his party's victory on 300 Lok Sabha seats, but his use of Kargil hero Vikram Batra's off-quoted phrase "Ye dil maange more" sparked a controversy with Batra's parents raising objections. vikram

Modi used the more than once during his three rallies in Himachal Pradesh to stir up the sentiments of the people of the hill state, where a large chunk of population comprises serving and retired servicemen.

Batra's septuagenarian father G.L. Batra, whose wife Kamal Kant is in the fray for the first time as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate from the Hamirpur seat, took strong offence to use of "Yeh dil maange more" slogan for soliciting votes.

"The BJP is just trying to take credit in politics at this point in time by politically using the slogan of a martyr," said Mr Batra.

Challenging Modi, he said: "If he is so indebted to the martyrs he must withdraw his party's candidate against my wife."

An emotional Kamal Kant clarified that they never approached the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for contesting the election.

"The AAP has honoured us by fielding me. We have never referred Vikram's name or slogan in the election campaign, then who is the BJP to do it? It has never thought about the martyr earlier," she added.

The mother of Kargil hero, who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra - India's highest war-time gallantry award, has been fielded by Arvind Kejriwal's AAP against sitting MP Anurag Thakur of the BJP.

But state BJP chief Satpal Satti clarified that Modi used this slogan in the context of winning more seats to have in place a stable government in the centre.

"We have a lot of respect for the soldiers and the martyrs. Even Modiji in his speeches highlighted the plight of families of the martyrs," he added.

Modi, at his first election rally in Palampur town of Kangra district, the hometown of Capt Batra, said: "When we take the name of Maj. Somnath Sharma (the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, awarded posthumously for his bravery in the November 1947 Kashmir operations) and Vikram Batra, we feel proud. Our mind says: 'Yeh Dil Mange More."

In his Mandi rally, Modi said: "Today, I ask you to make the lotus win with 300 seats because 'Ye dil mange more' just like Vikram Batra, who gave his life for the country in the Kargil war, using the same line.

Donning a Himachali cap, Modi appealed to the voters to "give us 300 lotuses and we will give India a strong government".

Appealing to voters in the age of 18 to 28, he promised: "We will fulfil your dreams ... broken in the last decade."

"You have given 60 years to the rulers in the country, you give just 60 months to this worker. Yeh dil mange 60 months."

"The PM (prime minister) says money does not grow on trees, but in the orchard of one man not apples but money grew. We need to free nation from corruption," he said in an attack on state Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh without naming him.

Praising the contribution of Himachalis, he said: "Today, if there is any terrorist activity in the country, be it a Maoist attack or a bomb blast, I can proudly claim that there must be at least one army man from Himachal, who would be there, fighting for the country."

In his last rally in Solan town, Modi assured the fruit growers, mainly apple, that they would get remunerative prices if the BJP government comes to power in the centre. "The government will take steps to check flooding of imported apples."

A total of 38 candidates are in the fray for the four Lok Sabha seats from the state that will go to polls May 7.

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News Network
February 16,2020

New Delhi, Feb 16: Just an hour ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Arvind Kejriwal invited the people of Delhi again for his oath-taking ceremony at Ramlila Maidan today.

Referring himself as "son of Delhi", the AAP convener today tweeted saying, "Delhiites, your son is going to take oath as Delhi chief minister for the third time. You must come to bless your son".

The AAP national convener will be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row.

Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to take oath along with other ministers at Ramlila Maidan.

On Saturday, Kejriwal, through a tweet, has said that autorickshaw drivers, students, teachers, doctors, labourers, etc will be the "chief guests".

The guest list put out by the AAP includes ''Delhi ke Nirmata''- people who contributed to the development of the city during the last five years.

These include Sumit Nagal, a Delhi government school student and an international Tennis player, Laxman Chaudhry an auto driver, Manu Gulati a teacher and "one of the many architects of Delhi Governance Model", Dalbir Singh a farmer, Ratan Jamshed Batliboi - the architect of the famous Signature Bridge among others.

By winning 62 seats by cashing in on the plank of development, his party nearly repeated its 2015 performance, sweeping the Assembly polls in the face of a high-voltage campaign by the BJP, which had fielded a battery of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers in its electioneering, spearheaded by Home Minister Amit Shah.

The BJP marginally improved its tally, managing just eight seats from its 2015''s tally of three seats. The Congress failed to open its account in the second successive election.

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Agencies
May 27,2020

Global health experts on Wednesday said novel coronavirus is here to stay for more than a year and called for aggressive testing to prevent its spread.

In an interaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, health experts Professor Ashish Jha and Professor Johan Giesecke talked about the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the series being aired on Congress social media channels.

While Jha exuded confidence that a vaccine will be available in a year's time, Prof Giesecke said India should practice a lockdown that is as 'soft' as possible, as a severe lockdown will ruin its economy very quickly.

"When the economy is opened up after lockdown, you have to create confidence among people," Harvard health expert Ashish Jha told Gandhi.

Jha is a professor of Global Health at TH Chan School of Public Health and Director, Harvard Global Health institute.

He said coronavirus is a '12-18 months' problem and the world is not going to be free of this till 2021.

The expert also called for the need for aggressive testing strategy for high-risk areas.

Gandhi, while interacting with the experts, said life is going to change post COVID-19.

"If 9/11 was a new chapter, this will be a new book," he remarked.

Professor Johan Giesecke, former chief scientist, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said India should have a 'soft lockdown'.

"The situation that India is in, I think, you should have a soft lockdown, as soft as possible," he said.

"I think for India, you will ruin your economy very quickly if you have a severe lockdown. It is better, skip the lockdown, take care of the old and the frail...," he noted.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Idukki, Aug 8: Nine more bodies have been recovered from the landslide ravaged Pettimudi near Munnar in Idukki on Saturday. With this the death toll in the tragedy reached 26. Around 40 are feared to be still trapped under the debris or washed away.

The rescue operation by NDRF and Fire and Rescue Services that was stopped by Friday evening due to poor light and bad weather resumed by Saturday morning.

Horrifying scene prevailed in the area as relatives of the missing people screamed around in search of their beloved ones. As it is nearly 48 hours since the incident happened, the chances of recovering missing persons alive from the debris is becoming bleak. Three of the bodies recovered on Saturday could not be identified till evening.

Kerala Revenue Minster E Chandrasekharan, who visited the area on Saturday, said that search operation would be carried out until all the missing are recovered.

It was by around 11.30 pm on Thursday that landslide had hit the Nayamakkad estate of Kannan Devan Hills and Plantations. Settlement clusters of plantation workers where 83 persons were staying were reduced to debris as the huge rocks came bulldozing. Five of the residents were reported to be not in the spot while the mishap occured.

Meanwhile, heavy rains led to floods at many parts of the state. Red alert has been issued at Idukki, Malappuram and Wayanad districts for Sunday also. A total of 11,446 persons of 3,530 families were shifted to relief camps across the state, of which major chunk is at Wayanad.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that water level at most dams is increasing swiftly.

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