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Rahul Gandhi lying on Rafale, comes from family of "middlemen": BJP

Agencies
October 12, 2018

New Delhi, Oct 12: Rejecting Rahul Gandhi's allegation of corruption against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal, the BJP on Thursday accused the Congress chief of "lying through his teeth shamelessly" and indulging in "politics of misinformation" to build his political career.

Repeatedly calling Gandhi a "clown prince", the BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra at a press conference also alleged the Congress leader comes from "a family of middlemen" and his his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was "officially a middleman" in a defence deal.

The Gandhi family had made money from every defence deal till 2014, Patra alleged, claiming that Rahul Gandhi has not been able to come out of that mindset.

Patra was talking to journalists hours after the Congress president addressed a press conference where he demanded an investigation into prime minister Modi's role in the Rafale deal, alleging that he was a "corrupt man" who helped Anil Ambani pocket Rs 30,000 crore in the purchase of 36 aircraft.

Rejecting the allegations, Patra said the BJP stands with the truth and accused Gandhi of making a mockery of national security. He also said the Indian Air Force Chief has recently described the purchase of the fighter aircraft as a "game-changer".

Patra also read out from a statement of Dassault Aviation, manufacturer of Rafale fighter aircraft, to claim that Gandhi inserted "Reliance" deliberately where the firm has spoken about its commitment to offset purchase from India.

The BJP leader further said the Supreme Court has also dismissed a PIL (public interest litigation) that had questioned the aircraft's price and sought the deal cancelled.

He said the people will decide whether to believe Gandhi or the Supreme Court and the Air Force Chief.

"People of this country do not want a clown prince to play with the national security. His press conference was full of lies and deception which he is using to build his political career. This will not happen," he said.

Reacting sharply to the Congress president's allegation that Modi acted like a "chowkidar" of Anil Ambani, the BJP leader asked whether former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was a prime minister only for Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case.

Patra accused the Congress leader of "lying through his teeth shamelessly" in wrongly quoting former French president Francois Hollande as referring Modi as corrupt.

Gandhi had earlier also quoted French president Emmanuel Macron as having told him that the aircraft's pricing was not part of the secrecy clause, and the French government later denied it, Patra said.

"He (Gandhi) still has the audacity to hold a press conference and lie through his teeth. This is shamelessness," the BJP spokesperson said.

The Congress-led UPA government had jeopardised the country's defence as the squadron strength of the Air Force fell to 31 from 44, he alleged.

Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra did not get his share in the Rafale deal and therefore the UPA government cancelled it, he claimed.

On Gandhi's charge that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's trip to France was part a government cover-up, Patra said her ministry has already clarified that the visit was scheduled earlier.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Mumbai, Jan 19: After Kerala and Punjab, the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government is also mulling over a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in Maharashtra Assembly.

Speaking to news agency, Congress spokesperson Raju Waghmare said: "Our senior party leader Balasaheb Thorat has also shared his stand on the CAA. Even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that we are against the CAA. As far as the resolution against CAA is concerned, our senior leaders of MVA will sit together and decide."

If this happens, then Maharashtra will be the third state to pass a resolution against CAA, which grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Emphasising that CAA is 'unconstitutional,' senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal has said that every state Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek CAA's withdrawal.

He added that it would be problematic to oppose the CAA if the law is declared to be 'constitutional' by the Supreme Court.

"I believe the CAA is unconstitutional. Every State Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek its withdrawal. When and if the law is declared to be constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it. The fight must go on!" Sibal tweeted.

Earlier speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival on Saturday, the Congress leader had said that constitutionally no state can say that it will not implement the amended Citizenship Act, as doing so will be "unconstitutional".

Kerala government has also approached the Supreme Court against the CAA following the passage of a resolution against it in the state Assembly.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has also announced that the Congress state government is going to join Kerala in the Supreme Court in the case.

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News Network
April 17,2020

New Delhi, Apr 17: A total of 3,336 Indians tested positive for coronavirus in 53 countries while 25 others died of the infection, government sources said on Thursday.

They said the Indians stranded abroad will have to be patient as the government is not evacuating them as part of a larger policy decision to check the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

"They need to be patient and stay where they are. Our missions have been told to extend all possible help to the stranded Indians," said a source.

According to the sources, evacuation of around 35,000 foreign nationals from 48 countries has been facilitated so far from India.

The sources said the majority of Indians who tested positive for the coronavirus infection are living in the Gulf region. A sizeable number of Indians staying in France and the US have also tested positive.

They said that Indian missions in the Gulf region have been told to extend all possible assistance to the Indians in distress.

Around eight million Indians are living in the Gulf countries and there has been growing anxiety among them over their livelihood in view of the pandemic as it has majorly impacted the oil-driven economy of the region.

Almost all Gulf countries have taken a series of drastic measures including imposing total lockdown, travel restrictions and even closing borders to stem the spread of the coronavirus infection.

The United Arab Emirates has already warned of possible action against countries refusing to allow their citizens to return.

Around 3.3 million Indians are living in the UAE and they constitute roughly 30 per cent of the country's population. Among the Indian states, Kerala is the most represented followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

A large number of Indians are working in the construction sector in Qatar which is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

As a matter of policy, India has decided not to bring back the stranded Indians from abroad till the nationwide lockdown ends.

The issue of Indians in Gulf region figured prominently during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference with heads of Indian missions abroad on March 30.

Welfare of Indians in the Gulf was the major focus area in the discussions Modi had with leaders of countries in the region over the last few weeks, officials said.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Rajouri, Aug 3: Ashfaq Mehmood Choudhary, a 17-year-old boy from Chattyear of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, has developed a file-sharing app 'Dodo Drop' which would enable users to share audios, videos, images, and texts between two devices without Internet access.

While speaking to media persons, Ashfaq Mehmood said that the 'Dodo Drop' application is an alternative to the Chinese 'SHAREit' app. "The Indian government has banned several Chinese apps due to data breaching, and among those apps was SHAREit which was used for sharing files.

Users faced a lot of problems due to the ban, and so I decided to make this file-sharing app. With 'Dodo Drop', users can share audios, videos, images, and even texts," he said.

Ashfaq said that it took him four weeks to develop the application, and it was launched on August 1 this year. The 'Dodo Drop' application has a transfer rate of up to 480 mbps, which is faster than the SHAREit app and is "quite easy" to use.

"Users can transfer data comprising photos, videos, audios, apps, texts, etc. between two devices with no Internet access. The transfers are fully encrypted and secure," he added.

"Our Prime Minister has always asserted the need for decreasing the dependency on foreign products and apps and to focus on the development of India-based apps. I tried to be part of the initiative of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' by developing an India-based file-sharing app. I want to develop global-standard apps for India," he added.

"We support and cooperate with him. He generates his own income by working on some projects and utilises it. We will continue to support him," said Parvez Ahmed Choudhary, Ashfaq's father.

In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) banned 47 apps, which were variants and cloned copies of the 59 apps banned earlier in June. These banned clones included SHAREit Lite, Tiktok Lite, Helo Lite, BIGO LIVE Lite, and VFY Lite.

The 59 apps had been banned by the Centre in June in view of the information available that they were engaged in activities which were "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity and defence" of the country.

Almost all the apps banned had some preferential Chinese interest and the majority had parent Chinese companies.

The ban came amid border tensions with China in the Eastern Ladakh region.

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