Keep your hate-filled New India, return our old India that lived on mutual love: Azad tells BJP

Agencies
June 24, 2019

New Delhi, Jun 24: Tearing into the BJP-led, government, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said that in the much-touted 'New India' of the Narendra Modi government, humans are afraid of humans, those glorifying killers of Mahatma Gandhi are in Parliament on ruling party ticket and that hatred and lynchings are ordre of the day.

He insisted that in 'old India', there was "no hatred, anger or lynching" while 'New India' is one where "humans are enemies of each other".

Speaking on the motion of thanks to the President's address in Rajya Sabha, Azad who is the Leader of the Opposition in the upper House, said unemployment is at all time high and henious crime like rape on minors are abnormally on the rise.

Launching a scathing attack on the government and its policies, Azad said a party could win elections on divisive policies but the "nation stood defeated".

He demanded: "Keep your New India to yourself but return our old India where there was a culture of love and...where there was no lynching and no hatred...Where Hindu and Muslims used to feel the pain of each other."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House during Azad's address.

Referring to the President's speech on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th anniversary celebrations, Azad said unfortunately a candidate of the ruling party called the killer of the Father of the Nation a patriot and no action was taken and the candidate was a parliamentarian now.

"My tongue will burn...I cannot repeat the remarks...I have a complaint to the Prime Minister, why didnt you take action. Mahatma Gandhi may be Congress President but he was Father of the Nation...I would not have mentioned it here but President's speech mentions his birth anniversary celebrations...BJP should take action...It still has time till October...," Azad said.

Azad while attackhing BJP for defending 2008 Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thankur, however did not mention her by name and said: "How is this possible and how someone can defend this? Though it doesn't make any difference to us, this is a blot on the face of the ruling party which cannot be wiped out."

He also referred to how former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on complaints about a Congress candidate in 1952 had instead urged people to vote for an Independent candidate who had a clean impage.

On New India, he said it was full of hatred where people were afraid of people and not afraid while being in Jungle.

"In old India, there was no hatred, anger or lynching. New India is one where humans are enemies of each other. You won't be scared of animals in a jungle but you'll be scared of humans here. Give us India where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians live for each other."

He added: "I request you to keep the 'New India' to yourself and give us our old India where there was a culture of love. Hindus used to feel the pain when Muslims and Dalits used to get hurt. When something used to get into the eyes of Hindus, Muslims and Dalits used to shed tears for them," he said.

About Jharkhand, he said it has become a lynching factory where Mulslims and Dalits were lynched and attacked routinely.

Reacting to a recent case of lynching in the state, he said, "Jharkhand has become a factory of lynching and violence. Dalits and Muslims are being killed there every week. PM Modi, we are with you in the fight of 'Sabka saath sabka vikas' but it should be there for people to see it. We can't see it anywhere."

He said rapes were at an all time high including henious crimes like rapes on minor and that "Beti Padhao and Beti Bachao" was just plain talks.

Azad said crime against women have risen manifold and urged government to ensure 50 per cent reservation to women in Parliament as it was having absolute majority.

He said Congress's attempts were thwarted last time though the Women's reservation Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha.

Unemployment, he said was at its peak with government trying to curb reports by various agencies and that the youth who voted for BJP needed justice.

Comments

Mr Frank
 - 
Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019

It  is very unfotunate all opposition cannot recognise when voters are hijacked by EVM ,no use of you people in parliment is heard or not heard is same.

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News Network
June 25,2020

India has jumped past 4.5 lakh coronavirus cases and 14,476 people have succumbed to the viral infection so far. In this backdrop, speaking to IANS in an exclusive interview, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said India is also vulnerable to second wave of coronavirus and people should continue to follow social distancing, wearing mask and other precautions, after cases begin to decline.

He added that in order to contain the outbreak of Covid-19, a limited lockdown in hotspots, where volume of cases is very high, may be considered along with a micro-plan to prevent leakage of cases from these areas to other non-containment areas. Excerpts of the interview are below:

Q: Reports say China and South Korea are witnessing a second wave of coronavirus infection, what is this second wave, is India also vulnerable to this?

A: When cases come down significantly, people tend to drop their guard against the viral infection, and this leads to the second wave (which means a sudden increase in the number of cases). After cases begin to decline, people should continue to follow the precautions -- continue to maintain social distancing and wear masks regularly. See what happened in Singapore, it was struck by a second wave of coronavirus. Look, what happened in the 1918 pandemic, people dropped their guard and the second wave of viral infection struck back. If people do not follow social distancing then the spike in cases is apparent. We need to take these precautions at least for one year. India is also vulnerable to this second wave.

Q: If Covid-19 cases continue to rise rapidly, do you think we need another lockdown in areas where volume of cases are very high?

A: A large volume of cases is concentrated in specific areas like hotspots, and in order to maintain things in order, we may need a limited lockdown in these areas. This should be followed by a micro-plan which entails extensive testing of people and also extensive contact tracing of people who have got in touch with positive people. Need to ensure there is no leakage of cases from these areas. People from these areas should not mix with others in non-containment areas. This will aid in containing the outbreak of the virus. People who have developed symptoms should get themselves tested, especially in the containment areas.

Q: With more than 4.5 lakh cases and close to 14,500 deaths, do you think India has reached its peak and a decline in cases is prominent?

A: The cases will continue to increase for some time. The doubling time of cases has also increased. But, the cases will also begin to flatten. Though, it is difficult to give an exact time period in this viral infection, it seems, the growth in cases will flatten in the end of July or beginning of August. A decline will come to this viral infection, but it does not mean that people should drop their guard. As a measure, we need to decrease community participation and citizens should continue to follow social distancing. People should get themselves tested. All these efforts will help in preventing people from contracting this virus. These precautions will also prevent us from the second wave, and we must continue to take precautions. The virus has not gone away, it is still lurking.

Q: India has crossed the 4.5 lakh coronavirus cases so far, although our recovery rate is good, but still 10,000 to 15,000 cases are reported daily. Why do cases continue to spiral, what is the reason?

A: We have to remember a few things -- the bulk of cases are in 10 cities, nearly 70 per cent, and if we take into account cases per million population, the number is not very high, as compared with countries including countries in Europe. Many European countries put together still do not add up to the Indian population. Do not compare India to countries like Italy, Spain etc. We need to focus on hotspots, which contribute to between 70 -80 per cent of cases, and we have to identify cases in these areas at an early stage. The population density is very high in these cities. People in lower socio-economic status are highly vulnerable to the viral infection, as many live together in small spaces and there is a lot of mixing of people happening there. Look at the market places, people are not following social distancing and not wearing masks. In fact, many are in close vicinity of each other.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: With 437 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the tally of COVID-19 positive cases in India shot up to 1,834 on Wednesday night.

The number of deaths in the country due to COVID-19 has risen to 41.

The total number of active cases in the country is 1,649. 143 persons have been cured and discharged from the hospitals. One person has migrated, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Earlier on Wednesday, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla urged all state governments and Union Territory administrations to ensure the lockdown measures issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs are strictly implemented.

"All the state governments/UT administrations are requested to strictly implement the lockdown measures issued by MHA in the exercise of the powers under Disaster Management Act, 2005 in letter and spirit," Bhalla said.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

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News Network
April 20,2020

New Delhi, Apr 20: With 1,553 more COVID-19 cases, India's total number of coronavirus cases has reached 17,265, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday.

Out of the total cases, 14,175 cases are active, while 2,547 people have been cured/discharged/migrated and 543 deaths have been reported, as per the ministry.

As many as 36 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state with a total of 4,203 cases. While 507 patients have recovered, 223 deaths have been reported.

Delhi comes next with 2,003 cases, out of which 72 patients have recovered while 45 patients have died.

Rajasthan has confirmed 1,478 cases, out of which 183 people have recovered while 14 patients are dead.

Tamil Nadu has reported 1,477 cases, out of which 411 have recovered and 15 have succumbed to the virus.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 1,407 cases, including 127 patients recovered and 70 patients dead. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh has 1,084 COVID-19 positive cases.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 402 people have been detected positive for coronavirus.

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