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Mersal row: BJP’s Raja drags Vijay’s Christian identity to justify GST!

News Network
October 24, 2017

Oct 24: Adding fuel to fire over the Mersal movie controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H Raja has dragged the religion of Tamil actor Vijay. Taking to Twitter, the politician shared a picture of the popular actor’s voter ID showing his full name as Joseph Vijay.

The BJP leader posted the voter ID of the actor with caption – “Truth is bitter”. However, he did not explain which truth is bitter for him.

This is not the first time that Raja raked up the religion of the actor over the issue. He had earlier written, “Joseph Vijay’s hatred for Modi is Mersal”.

He had also raised questions over a dialogue in the movie that said hospitals must be built before temples. Raja claimed that as many as 17,500 churches, 9,700 mosques and 370 temples were constructed in the last 20 years. “Out of these what should be avoided to build hospitals?” he asked. However, he did not provide any proof for his claim.

The BJP has been on an offensive against the movie, directed by Atlee Kumar, since its release on October 18 in theatres. Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan had demanded removal of the dialogues relating to GST, digital payments and temples from the movie as they allegedly spread a wrong message.

There was also a war of words between senior BJP leader GVL Narsimha Rao and Bollywood actor-producer Farhan Akhtar. Speaking on the issue, Rao had told a television channel that “most of our film stars have very low general knowledge”.

Reacting to this, Farhan Akhtar expressed his anger on Twitter, saying “how dare you, sir?? And to all the film people in his ranks.. here’s what he thinks of you”.

The movie and the actors, meanwhile, also got the backing of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, who has been hinting on making a foray in politics. He had extended his support to the movie team on Twitter and lauded them for addressing “important topic”. "Important topic addressed... Well done!!! Congratulations team Mersal," Rajinikanth tweeted.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader P Chidambaram had also hit out at the BJP for demanding cuts in "Mersal".

"Mr Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don't try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet which was retweeted by Chidambaram.

The makers of the film have, however, said that if needed they would delete scenes that have caused “misunderstanding”.

Claiming that the BJP leaders have accepted their explanation, Sri Thenandal Films head Murali Ramaswamy said, "From their perspective, their opposition is just. If opinions (expressed in the movie) that may lead to misunderstanding need to be removed, we are ready for that too."

Comments

Zain
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Usully I dont watch Tamil movies, but Mersal definatly I'l be watching, not for entertainment but for its success. #MersaltowardsSuccess#

 

Tony
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

BJP once again proves that they can live only by spewing communal hatred venom and cannot take criticism of any kind. The increasing publicity of the issue will only backfire on them.

Christy
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

I am a keralite and i must say the bjp is again using religion to divide people and spew hate. Why? because none of what Raja said is relevant, let me explain. 'joseph vijay' is acting as a hindu doctor in the film and that jab about 'not temples but more hospital' is directed to some govt.s in north who are building statues and temples with state money. And a movie doesnt have to be based on facts or truth, the movie can transmit any message and its up to the viewers to decide if what said in the film is right or wrong. BJP should dictating people. And BJP won't come in power in kerala, not in a million years. Period.

Bhatt
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Movies are either for entertainment or information but not political propaganda. Movie with political agenda is fair game for criticism

Mohammed
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Congrats to Vijay and #Mersal Team, but my doubt is this 150cr included GST or not? : D

Truth
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

BJP do not have separate attitude for Tamilnadu. The only thing required is that they should be told to not to disturb converts in tamilnadu.

Rahul
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

BJP interferes into the freedom of expression. Artists have the freedom to speak social issues, if they are factually incorrect, let the politicians campaign against. They cant re-censor the film which has certified by the central censor board. There is nothing wrong on the dialogues on GST, demonetisation, inefficient hospitals etc.. all are facts, some may be stretched a bit.. 

BJP's attitude in TN triggers people's anger further.

Unknown
 - 
Tuesday, 24 Oct 2017

Political party donations to have 28% GST. How much money BJP have received as political donations ? BJP, do you dare to pay GST on the receipts of the earnings ?

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News Network
August 6,2020

Chennai, Aug 5: Karnataka on Wednesday crossed the 1.5 lakh mark in respect of COVID-19 cases and Kerala was on the verge of 30,000 while Andhra Pradesh witnessed a five- digit daily caseload after a lull. 

Tamil Nadu saw a small jump in its daily cases as compared to Tuesday while Telangana and union territory Puducherry reported their respective record single-day spikes. 

The five states and the union territory reported a combined 24,415 fresh confirmed coronavirus cases and 316 fatalities on Wednesday. 

A Puducherry Minister tested positive for the deadly virus while an opposition AINRC legislator who contracted the coronavirus earlier was discharged after being cured of it. 

In Karnataka, the coronavirus cases stood at 1,51,449 with the addition of 5,619 fresh cases while 100 deaths were reported, pushing the total fatalities to 2,804, the health department said.

According to a health bulletin, 74,679 persons have been discharged so far, leaving 73,958 active cases. Andhra Pradesh''s COVID-19 surge continued on Wednesday too, with 10,128 cases reported afresh after easing a little in the last four days. 

The overall tally rose to 1,86,461 on Wednesday. The state had last reported its five-figure daily tally on July 31 when it was 10,376. 

The state also saw a record number of 77 coronavirus deaths in a day, pushing the toll to 1,681, the latest bulletin said. 

In the last 24 hours, 8,729 patients had also recovered from the infection and there were 80,426 active cases. 

As many as 1,04,354 patients have been cured and discharged so far. Kerala was on the verge of 30,000 cases, as its tally stood at 29,145 with the addition of 1,195 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.

The toll from the virus so far climbed to 94 with seven more deaths. Thiruvananthapuram continued to top the districts in infections with 274 cases on Wednesday, of whom 248 had been infected through contact. 

Malappuram (167), Kasaragod (128), Ernakulam (120) and Alappuzha (108) reported over 100 cases. As many as 112 patients died of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, the highest reported in a single day so far, taking the toll to 4,461 on Wednesday while 5,175 more people tested positive, propelling the case count to 2.73 lakh.

Recoveries outnumbered fresh cases with 6,031 people getting discharged from various hospitals, taking the total cured to 2,14,815 as the active cases dropped to 54,184, a government bulletin said. 

In Telangana, 2,012 new cases emerged while 13 related fatalities were reported, taking the total infection tally in the state to 70,958. Out of the new cases, 532 were from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri 198 and Rangareddy 188, a state government bulletin said on Wednesday, providing data as of 8 PM on August 4. 

The total number of people who recovered from the infectious disease touched 50,814, while 19,568 were under treatment.

The COVID-19 fatality rate in the state was 0.81 per cent, while it was 2.10 per cent at the national level, it said. The recovery rate was 71.6 per cent in the state, while it was 66.31 per cent in the country, it added. 

Puducherry clocked its worst single-day spike of 286 infections, recording seven deaths, even as the overall tally of cases went up to 4,432. 

The deaths during the 24 hours in the Union Territory took the toll to 65 so far since the outbreak of the virus, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told a virtual press conference. 

His cabinet colleague M Kandasamy and his son reported positive for the virus and were admitted to JIPMER.

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News Network
May 15,2020

Bengaluru, May 15: The novel coronavirus infection tally in Karnataka state on Friday crossed the 1,000-mark with 45 new positive cases.

The tally has risen to 1032 with 35 deaths.

At present, there are 520 active cases, while 476 have been discharged following recovery

A maximum of 16 new cases are from Dakshina Kannada, followed by 13 in Bengaluru Urban.

Five cases are from Udupi, three each from Hassan and Bidar, two from Chitradurga and one each from Bagalakote, Shivamoga and Kolara, respectively.

A three-year-old is among the six minor infected by the virus.

Among the new cases, nearly 20 have a travel history to Dubai, four to Mumbai, and three to Chennai.

The rest of the patients are contacts in the Containment zone and those who tested positive earlier.

Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that there is no community transmission as yet.

New cases reported: 45

Total active cases: 520

Total discharges: 476

Total covid deaths: 35

Death of covid +ve patient due to Non-Covid cause: 1

Total positive cases: 1032

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Agencies
February 29,2020

Islamabad, Feb 29: A coalition comprising digital media giants Facebook, Google and Twitter (among others) have spoken out against the new regulations approved by the Pakistani government for social media, threatening to suspend services in the country if the rules were not revised, it was reported.

In a letter to Prime Minster Imran Khan earlier this month, the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) called on his government to revise the new sets of rules and regulations for social media, The News International reported on Friday.

"The rules as currently written would make it extremely difficult for AIC Members to make their services available to Pakistani users and businesses," reads the letter, referring to the Citizens Protection Rules (Against Online Harm).

The new set of regulations makes it compulsory for social media companies to open offices in Islamabad, build data servers to store information and take down content upon identification by authorities.

Failure to comply with the authorities in Pakistan will result in heavy fines and possible termination of services.

It said that the regulations were causing "international companies to re-evaluate their view of the regulatory environment in Pakistan, and their willingness to operate in the country".

Referring to the rules as "vague and arbitrary in nature", the AIC said that it was forcing them to go against established norms of user privacy and freedom of expression.

"We are not against regulation of social media, and we acknowledge that Pakistan already has an extensive legislative framework governing online content. However, these Rules fail to address crucial issues such as internationally recognized rights to individual expression and privacy," The News International quoted the letter as saying.

According to the law, authorities will be able to take action against Pakistanis found guilty of targeting state institutions at home and abroad on social media.

The law will also help the law enforcement authorities obtain access to data of accounts found involved in suspicious activities.

It would be the said authority's prerogative to identify objectionable content to the social media platforms to be taken down.

In case of failure to comply within 15 days, it would have the power to suspend their services or impose a fine worth up to 500 million Pakistani rupees ($3 million).

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