Muslims have 150 countries to go but Hindus only have India: Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani

News Network
December 25, 2019

Ahmedabad, Dec 25: While Muslims can choose any one of the 150 Islamic countries in the world (for residence), India is the only country for Hindus, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Tuesday while justifying the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

While addressing a rally in support of the CAA outside the Sabarmati Ashram here, the chief minister slammed the Congress for opposing the new law that grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who have migrated till December 31, 2014.

"There were 22 per cent Hindus in Pakistan at the time of Partition (in 1947). Now, due to persecution, rapes and constant torture, their population has reduced to just 3 per cent. That is why Hindus want to come back to India. We are doing what the Congress was supposed to do to help these distressed Hindus. And when we are doing it now, you are opposing it," said Rupani.

He said the Hindu population has shrunken to just 2 per cent in Bangladesh.

"Out of 2 lakh Hindu and Sikh residents in Afghanistan some decades back, their number is just 500 today. Muslims can go to any of the 150 countries, but there in only country for the Hindus, and that is India. So what is the problem if they want to come back?" asked Rupani.

Seeking to counter protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in various of the country, Gujarat BJP leaders and government functionaries on Tuesday took part in such pro-CAA rallies across all 33 districts of the state.

"Gandhiji was also of the opinion that India should grant citizenship to Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan.  Even Manmohan Singh had supported such proposal when he was the PM (under the Congress rule). The Congress must explain to the nation why the party is opposing the CAA now," said Rupani.

Without taking names, Rupani also targetted Dalit leaders and outfits opposing the new citizenship law.

"There are 10,000 refugees from these countries living in Gujarat. Most of them who are living in Kutch are dalits, like Maheshwari and Meghwal communities. Dalit leaders need to explain why they are not in favour of granting citizenship to these dalit refugees. By opposing the CAA, these dalit leaders have been exposed," said Rupani.

The BJP leader further said it was "misfortune of India" to have parties and leaders like the "Congress, the Communists and (West Bengal CM) Mamata Banerjee".

"It appears that these parties are having fear that they may have to lose power if Hindus become citizens and illegal immigrants thrown out under the National Register of Citizens (NRC)," the CM said.

He said the BJP government in Gujarat has already started granting citizenship to such persecuted refugees.

Retired High Court Justice S M Soni, who heads Ahmedabad Nagrik Samiti, defended the CAA saying it does not violate any provisions of the Constitution as contended in some petitions filed before the supreme court against the act.

"The Act does not bar a Muslim from applying for Indian citizenship. He can do so by following proper procedures. This Act does not discriminate. Provisions of the Constitution does not apply to those who are yet to become citizens. This Act has fulfilled the dream of Mahatma Gandhi," said Soni.

Various BJP leaders and ministers attended similar events organised in different parts of state throughout the day.

In Surat, Forest Minister Ganpat Vasava and a large number of residents took part in a demonstration held near the collector's office and extended their support to the CAA.

Surat MP Darshana Jardosh and local MLAs Purnesh Modi and Vivek Patel also participated in a protest in support of the new law.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: Activist Sharjeel Imam's mobile phone and laptop along with some anti-CAA posters have been seized from his house in Bihar's Jehanabad and rented flat in Vasant Kunj, police said on Friday.

Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch from Jehanabad in a sedition case and he is being questioned by police for his alleged inflammatory speeches in Aligarh and at the Jamia Millia Islamia University here.

During investigation, a laptop and a desktop belonging to Imam were recovered from his rented flat at Vasant Kunj, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajesh Deo said.

His mobile phone was recovered from his house at his native place in Jehanabad's Kako area on the instance of his brother, he said.

Imam had prepared anti-CAA and anti-NRC pamphlets with "misleading and intimidating facts" and then distributed them in various mosques, the copy of which have been recovered, police said.

The shop from where he made photocopies of the pamphlets has also been identified, they added.

Imam was arrested on Tuesday. He was brought to Delhi on Wednesday and produced at the residence of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak in the evening amid tight security after which police were granted his five-day custody.

The PhD scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Historical Studies has been booked for sedition and other charges in several states after videos of his alleged inflammatory speeches, made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), were circulated on the social media.

An FIR was registered against Imam by the Delhi Police on January 25 under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever) among others.

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Agencies
June 20,2020

New Delhi, Jun 20: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there are no foreign incursions into India, China has once again claimed that Galwan valley of Ladakh union territory is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In an official statement on the step-by-step account of the Galwan face-off where 20 Indian soldiers were killed, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has said the Galwan valley is located on the Chinese side of the LAC in the west section of the China-India boundary.

"For many years, the Chinese border troops have been patrolling and on duty in this region," Zhao said alleging that since April this year, the Indian border troops have unilaterally and continuously built roads, bridges and other facilities at the LAC in the Galwan Valley.

China has lodged representations and protests on multiple occasions but India has gone even further to cross the LAC and make provocations, Zhao said.

By the early morning of May 6, the Indian border troops, who had crossed the LAC by night and trespassed into China's territory, built fortification and barricades, which impeded the patrol of Chinese border troops, Zhao said adding that they deliberately made provocations in an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of control and management.

The Chinese border troops, he said, were "forced to take necessary measures to respond to the situation on the ground and strengthen management and control in the border areas."

In order to ease the situation, China and India have stayed in close communication through military and diplomatic channels, he said. "In response to the strong demand of the Chinese side, India agreed to withdraw the personnel who crossed the LAC and demolish the facilities, and so they did.

On June 6, the border troops of both countries held a commander-level meeting and reached consensus on easing the situation. The Indian side, he said, promised that they would not cross the estuary of the Galwan river to patrol and build facilities and the two sides would discuss and decide phased withdrawal of troops through the meetings between commanders on the ground.

"Shockingly, on the evening of June 15, India's front-line troops, in violation of the agreement reached at the commander-level meeting, once again crossed the Line of Actual Control for deliberate provocation when the situation in the Galwan Valley was already easing, and even violently attacked the Chinese officers and soldiers who went there for negotiation, thus triggering fierce physical conflicts and causing casualties."

"The adventurous acts of the Indian army have seriously undermined the stability of the border areas, threatened the lives of Chinese personnel, violated the agreements reached between the two countries on the border issue, and breached the basic norms governing international relations," the spokesperson said.

Beijing, he said, hopes that India will work with China, follow faithfully the important consensus reached between the two leaders, abide by the agreements reached between the two governments, and strengthen communication and coordination on properly managing the current situation through diplomatic and military channels, and jointly uphold peace and stability in the border areas.

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News Network
January 20,2020

New Delhi, Jan 20: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the kind of cleaning in the system that the BJP-led government had to carry out after coming to power in 2014 was "unbelievable" and it undertook the exercise without any grudge or worry.

Between 2014-16, there were a lot of questions as to why reforms did not come fast and there were comments that the government was incapable of bringing them, she said delivering the Nani Palkhivala Memorial lecture on "Road Map to $5 Trillion Economy" here.

Pointing out that there were allegations and criticism that the government wants to do something but it did not, Sitharaman said, "I am fully willing to buy that." She recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi often said he did not believe in incremental changes and the country needed good transformational change. The stage in which India is today, it cannot have little marginal increments, but good transformational change.

"But still one might say in the last five years the government never did. That can be a critical analysis and I am fully willing to buy that. Because post-2014 the kind of cleaning up the government had to do was unbelievable and we undertook that exercise without a grudge without a worry.. we had to do it and it is part of the game," she said. Elaborating, Sitharaman said states have their own views on Land Acquisition Bill and the government could not have done anything because land, after all, is with them.

Commenting on the topic 'Road Map to $5 trillion economy,' she said quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments, the government would take the route "Sarkar ka abhaav nahi hona chahiye, prabhaav hona chahiye aur dabaav nahi hona chahiye."

"Abhaav and dabaav both of which are not desirable, abhaav is the inadequacy or lack of adequate presence or shortfall. You do not need a shortfall. You need a government where it should be present, where it is expected to function.", she said.

"So there should not be abhaav. Dabaav (meaning pressure) is not something you want from the government. So, you want Prabhaav. It is broadly an influence, facilitation, broadly the philosophy with which it is mandated, she said.

Noting that the government has got the mandate through the election, she said, "The mandate was spelt out in so many different ways in its manifesto. So the route towards $5 trillion is this."

"We have to be there to facilitate. We have to be there to make it easy. We have to be where you need us, where there is no policy (reforms from the government)," she said.

On the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) implemented by the government, the union minister said the approach of the IBC was not to shut business. "IBC takes on the approach in having some kind of resolution where all people who exploited the company do not come back through the "back door," she said.

IBC was done through better management so that the institution is alive and kicking. It is something which she wanted to carry forward from Modi 1.0 to 2.0. "The point I am trying to make on this road to $5 trillion economy is that it is not just an abstraction, this is not how I want India to be. But in micro-level too, we are coming in response to every stakeholder," she said.

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Well Wisher
 - 
Tuesday, 21 Jan 2020

LOL. Do not say anything, else she will get angry.

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