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Saradha scam snowballs into political controversy,CM announces Rs 500 cr relief

April 25, 2013

CM_announcesKolkata, April 25: A letter bomb by the prime accused in the multi-crore chitfund scam alleging blackmail by two Trinamool Congress MPs blew in the face of the ruling party on Wednesday, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a Rs 500 crore relief fund for the duped investors.

Scurrying for cover, the Trinamool supremo rejected allegations against the party in the Saradha chitfund scam and promised to take action against anyone found guilty.

The scam snowballed into a major political controversy with the names of two TMC MPs-- Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose-- figuring in a letter purportedly written to CBI by the collapsed company's Chairman Sudipto Sen, now in police custody.

In more trouble for Saradha group, the Income Tax department will also probe its investments and finances. Showcause notices for production of documents and recording of statements of promoters, investors and prominent agents in this case could be issued soon, top IT department sources said.

Congress and CPI(M) mounted a fresh attack on the TMC accusing the party of having links with the Saradha group whose Chairman had alleged in the letter to CBI that the two MPs had blackmailed him into parting with huge funds. A number of other politicians, officials and lawyers have been accused of milking the company for money

Obliquely referring to Ghosh who had recently resigned as the CEO of the Saradha Media Group, which had owned a TV news channel and Bose, editor of a Bengali daily, Banerjee said, "One journalist is being targetted ... There are so many journalists ... there is no use of identifying one channel and one newspaper.

"If any MP of Trinamool Congress has committed an offence, the law will take its own course," she said, accusing the CPI(M) of politicking over a people's issue.

Rejecting allegations against him, Bose said his paper did have a professional tieup with 'Channel 10' TV in 2010 for providing editorial support, but not with the Saradha chit fund company or any other ancillary.

Asked about the antecedents of the Saradha Group chairman, he replied, "We did not know that the man was a fraud." Bose also said that there was no relationship between his party and the Saradha Group.

Meanwhile, Sudipta Sen and two other Saradha officials were flown to Kolkata after the West Bengal police were granted four days transit remand by a court in Ganderbal in Jammu and Kashmir following their arrest yesterday.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11 Congress's performance touched a record low in the Delhi Assembly election as the party bagged less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled and 63 of its candidates lost their deposits.

The party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years on the trot under former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account for the second consecutive assembly election in Delhi.

Only three of its candidates Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Devender Yadav from Badli and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar managed to save their deposits.

Security deposit of a candidate is forfeited if he/she fails to secure one-sixth of the total valid votes cast in a constituency.

Most of Congress candidates got less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled in their respective constituencies.

Delhi Congress chief Shubhash Chopra's daughter Shivani Chopra, who was the party candidate from Kalkaji, also could not save her deposit.

Former Delhi Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri's daughter Priyanka Singh also forfeited her deposit.

The party's campaign committee chairman Kirti Azad's wife, Poonam Azad, lost badly and stood fourth, polling only 2,604 (2.23) votes.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 5: After laying the foundation stone for the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the 'bhoomi pujan' event as an "emotional moment" for the entire country and added that "every heart is illuminated today".

"Every heart is illuminated; it is an emotional moment for the entire country... A long wait ends today... A grand temple will now be built for our Ram Lalla who had been living under a tent for many years," said Prime Minister Modi at foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Ram temple.

"With the construction of this temple, not only history is being made, but is being repeated. 

The way boatmen to tribals helped Lord Ram, the way children helped Lord Krishna lift Govardhan mountain, similarly, with everyone's efforts temple construction will be completed," he added.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi conducted 'bhoomi pujan' for the construction work of Ram temple.

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News Network
June 11,2020

Washington, Jun 11: Observing that historically India has been a tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said the US is "very concerned" about what is happening in India over religious freedom.

The comments by Samuel Brownback, Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the "2019 International Religious Freedom Report" on Wednesday.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," Mr Brownback said during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday.

The trend lines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Mr Brownback said. "We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a - I would hope they would have an - interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well," he said.

"It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in violence and increased difficulty within the society writ large," said the top American diplomat.

Responding to a question, Mr Brownback said he hoped minority faiths are not blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to healthcare amid the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. "COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," PM Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.

The government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion".

"The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities… We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," the Foreign Ministry said in June last year.

According to the Home Ministry, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017, in which more than 1,100 people were killed.

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