Modi flags off BJP poll campaign; slams UPA

August 11, 2013
Hyderabad, Aug 11: Slamming UPA and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over Government’s Pakistan policy in the wake of the LoC attack, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that national security is being ignored due to “vote bank politics“.

“This government of Delhi cannot provide security to the nation. This government, neck deep in vote bank politics, cannot provide security to our nation... When the Indian jawans were beheaded, the Prime Minister had said that Pakistan will be accounted for it,” Mr. Modi said addressing his much-publicised rally in Hyderabad.

“Now when the Pakistani Army, this week, shot dead our jawans, I want to ask the Prime Minister...he had made the promise that we will not tolerate such things. What is the reason that a country of 125 crore is silently tolerating when Pakistan is going back on its promise one by one?”

The LoC attack in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir early this month in which specialised troops of Pakistan were involved left five jawans dead.

“What is the protocol with those, who behead our soldiers,” he asked.

Mr. Modi, the chief of BJP’s national election campaign, began his speech in Telugu drawing applause from his supporters, who had come to listen to him by paying Rs. 5 as entry fee.

He also alleged that the jawans of Indian Army deployed on the Bangladesh border have been asked not to use weapons even if there was an assault from the other side.

Raising the issue of Chinese incursion, the Gujarat Chief Minister attacked External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid for his remarks on his visit to Beijing.

“Shame, Shame Shame on You. Shame on You, who are running the government of India. You are spraying acid on the wounds of 125 crore Indians...,” he said.

After his visit to Beijing recently, Mr. Khurshid said he would “love to live in Beijing.”

Mr. Modi also slammed Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the detention of BJP leader Arun Jaitley at airport and preventing him from visiting riots-hit Kishtwar and said it smacks of an attempt to “hide” the “tale of a crime” that has happened there.

Mr. Modi also accused Congress of creating a wedge between people of Telangana and Seemandhra regions.

Appeals to non-Cong parties to come together, woos TDP

Launching his Southern election campaign, Mr. Modi appealed to all non-Congress parties to come together to dislodge the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and to end “dynastic” rule.

In a bid to woo fresh allies, the Gujarat Chief Minister, who is the BJP’s national election campaign chief, made a specific appeal to Telugu Desam (TDP), which has inherited the legacy of late N.T. Rama Rao, a former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, saying it was its duty to see that the government at the Centre be made Congress-free.

“Congress party is a burden on this nation. Today I want to remember NTR when I come here. NTR did service not only to Andhra but the whole of India when he gave boost to anti-Congress politics. It was NTR’s efforts that paved the way for formation of a non-Congress government at the Centre.

“I appeal to all political parties in Andhra Pradesh here, what can be a supreme tribute to NTR than providing a non-Congress government,” said Mr. Modi while addressing a huge gathering at the Lal Bahadur stadium here organised by BJP.

“All those who claim NTR’s legacy, their first duty is to do everything to bring a non-Congress government. It should be their duty to do everything in this regard. I am confident that Andhra Pradesh’s political parties will not leave any stone unturned to bring a non-Congress government and end this dynastic rule,” he said.

Addressing TDP specifically, a party which has inherited NTR’s legacy, Modi said, “It is their duty also to fulfill NTR’s dreams.”

The TDP, headed by N Chandrababu Naidu, is a former constituent of BJP-led NDA and supported the Vajpayee government from 1998 to 2004. The TDP severed its alliance with BJP after the 2004 election defeat.

“Desh mein Congress mukt bharat ki hawa ban chuki hai (An atmosphere has been created for a Congress-free India),” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi ended his 45-minute speech taking a leaf out of U.S. president Barack Obama by making the crowd chant “yes we can“.

modi

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News Network
May 7,2020

May 7: Accusing the BJP government in Karnataka of "medieval barbarism" and treating migrants as worse than "bonded labourers", CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday hit out at the state's decision to stop workers from returning to their homes in different parts of the country citing requirements of the construction sector.

The Karnataka government has withdrawn its request to the railways to run special trains to ferry migrant labourers to their home states, hours after builders met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to apprise him of the problems the construction sector will face in case they left.

"This is worse than treating them as bonded labour. Does the Indian constitution exist? Are there any laws in the country? This BJP state government is throwing us back to medieval barbarism. This will be stoutly resisted,” Yechury said in a tweet.

The railways is running Shramik Special trains to ferry to their home towns migrants who were stranded at their places of work during the lockdown.

So far, it has run more than 115 such trains.

The Principal Secretary in the Revenue Department N Manjunatha Prasad, who is the nodal officer for migrants, had requested the South Western Railways on Tuesday to run two train services a day for five days except Wednesday, while the state government wanted services thrice a day to Danapur in Bihar. However, later, Prasad wrote another letter within a few hours that the special trains were not required. Several migrants in the city were desperate to return home as they were out of jobs and money.

Yechury also lashed out at the central government over reports that it owed states and industry Rs 3 trillion and accused the centre of shifting the burden of fighting the pandemic to the state governments.

“While shifting the entire burden of fighting the pandemic on to the State governments, Modi government is not even paying their legitimate dues. After November 2019, Centre has not paid the GST compensation dues for the rest of the financial year, i.e., March 2020.

“Modi government has the right to loot while crores of people & States are left with nothing but the right to starve?,” he tweeted.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Palghar, Jun 15: A 22-year-old man who got married three days ago tested positive for novel coronavirus on Monday leading to the bride and 63 others who attended the function being quarantined in Palghar district in Maharashtra, an official said.

Jawhar Tehsildar Santosh Shinde said the man is a laboratory assistant.

"He got tested before marriage and the report had returned negative. However, his samples tested positive after marriage. The bride and 63 others who attended the ceremony have been quarantined," he said.

Palghar currently has 1,911 COVID-19 cases and 61 people have died of the infection so far.

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Agencies
May 14,2020

Mumbai, May 14: The Shiv Sena on Thursday raised questions over the Centre's Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced to revive the COVID-hit economy, and asked if India is not a "self-reliant" country at present.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' wondered how Rs 20 lakh crore will be raised, and opined that an environment needs to be created where industrialists, trade and business sectors are encouraged to invest.

On the path of new self-reliance, India cannot afford industrialists running away, and for that "political institutions like the ED and CBI need to be put in lockdown for some time," it said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced new financial incentives on top of the previously announced packages for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore, saying the COVID-19 crisis has provided India an opportunity to become self-reliant and emerge as the best in the world.

The Sena said the country is being told that the package will be beneficial for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), poor labourers, farmers and the tax-paying middle class.

"The package (as per the Centre) will reach 130 crore Indians and the country will become self-reliant. Does this mean India is not a self-reliant country at present?" the Marathi daily asked.

It is good that PPE kits and N95 masks are now being manufactured in India, it said.

"Any country progresses ahead while learning from crisis and through struggle. Before Independence, not even a needle was manufactured in India but in 60 years, India became self-reliant in science, technology, agro business, defence, manufacturing and atomic science," it said.

An institution like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which is helping in the manufacturing of PPE kits, is part of the self-reliant India, it noted.

Wondering how Rs 20 lakh crore, as announced in the central package, will be raised, the Sena said an "environment needs to be created where industrialists, trade and business sectors will be encouraged to invest".

"India, on path of new self-reliance, cannot afford industrialists running away, and for that political institutions like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) need to be put in lockdown for some time," the paper said.

Despite announcing the 'lockdown-4' and the economic package, why its impact has not been reflected in the share market? it asked.

"Investors are in a dilemma. The prime minister and chief ministers must show them trust and support," it said.

"Earlier it was Pandit Nehru and now it is Modi. If (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi had not laid the foundation of a digital India, there wouldn't be video conference of PM, CMs and bureaucracy in times of coronavirus," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

It agreed with Modi that coronavirus will stay for long, and lives need not revolve around it.

"We need to get back on our feet again," the Sena said.

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