Raj Thackeray Calls For "Modi-Mukt Bharat" By 2019

Agencies
March 19, 2018

Mumbai, Mar 19:  Launching a scathing attack on the BJP-led NDA government, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray today called for opposition unity and a "Modi-mukt Bharat" by 2019.

Addressing party workers at a rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, Mr Thackeray said, "The country is fed up with the false promises made by Narendra Modi and his government."

All opposition parties should come together to get rid of the BJP-led NDA government to ensure "Modi-mukt Bharat", he said, reminding the audience of BJP's "Congress-mukt Bharat" slogan.

"India got its first Independence in 1947, second in 1977 (after the post-Emergency elections), and 2019 can bring a third Independence if India becomes 'Modi-mukt'," the MNS chief said.

If the Modi government was ousted and an inquiry is ordered into demonetisation, it may turn out to be the biggest scam ever since 1947, he said.

Quoting a report of ISRO, Mr Thackeray said, "A large scale desertification of Maharashtra is going on due to depletion of groundwater. After Rajasthan, our state has reported the second highest rate of desertification in country."

Saying this, he went on to question Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's claim of digging of 56,000 wells in the state.

He was in favour of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, but it should not be used as an election issue, he said.

"The Babri Masjid demolition case is in the Supreme Court and it will be deliberately discussed in the coming days to instigate communal riots," he said.

"Ram Mandir should be built, but it should not be used as an election plank to divide the society and win votes," he said.

In a dig at PM Modi's foreign tours, Mr Thackeray said PM Modi was apparently visiting foreign countries to get "flour for Pakoda" as his tours haven't fetched any investments.

The MNS chief also said that films such as "Toilet Ek Prem Katha" and "Padman" were a covert propaganda for government schemes.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who starred in both the films, was trying to walk in the footsteps of yesteryear actor Manoj Kumar, popularly known as 'Bharat Kumar', he said.

"But Akshay Kumar is not even an Indian citizen. He holds a Canadian passport and his Wikipedia profile describes him as Indian-born Canadian actor," Mr Thackeray said.

Taking a potshot at chief minister Fadnavis, who recently featured in a video song about river conservation, the MNS chief said, "There are so many problems in the state, but apparently the CM is busy singing songs."

Mr Thackeray also questioned the government's decision to accord state funeral to Bollywood actor Sridevi after her death last month.

"Sridevi was a great actor, but what had she done for the country so that her body should have been wrapped in the tricolour?" he asked.

Media may have covered her funeral extensively at government's behest to divert people's attention from the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank scam, he said.

The government is trying to control media, judiciary and institutions like CBI, Mr Thackeray said, alleging that media is under tremendous pressure from the government.

Incidentally, Raj Thackeray had met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday ahead of today's rally.

He, however, described the meeting at Mr Pawar's residence in south Mumbai as a courtesy call.

Comments

Mr Frank
 - 
Tuesday, 20 Mar 2018

It is really good idea to have india,modi muktha bharatha than congrss muktha bharatha, the least evil is better than big evil good luck raj thakrey.

Rosi Roshan
 - 
Monday, 19 Mar 2018

Wa Fantastic said by greatest speaker, Hindustan is not Maharastra, but Maharastra is one State out of many States, mind Raj Raja sabb, keep limitation to predict you might have very popular in that particular state!! too crazy to say 'MUKTA' might have in your state rest of the states you are Zero"s, simply in front of press reporter spaches is not suscess, you never ever have to become xxx mind it Raj Rajanna this is Hindustan, "Peanutts no value against Cashewnuts"

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News Network
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: India's Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, following which the defence ministry carried out a massive contact-tracing exercise, official sources said.

Kumar's condition is stable and he is currently under home-quarantine, they said.

At least 35 officials working at the ministry's headquarters in South Block in the Raisina Hills have been sent on home quarantine after reports of Kumar testing positive for the infection emerged on Wednesday morning.

There was no official comment on Kumar's health condition. The defence ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the issue.

It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office as part of a precautionary measure.

The offices of the defence minister, the defence secretary, the Army Chief and the Navy Chief are on the first floor of the South Block.

The sources said all laid down protocols on contact-tracing and quarantining of people are being scrupulously followed.

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News Network
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday responded to Union home minister Amit Shah’s charge that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is not facilitating the movement of stranded migrant workers.

Amit Shah has written to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, saying her government is doing “injustice” to migrant workers by not allowing the special Shramik trains to reach the state.

“Union home minister Amit Shah speaks after weeks of silence only to mislead people with lies,” the TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“The Centre is lying… West Bengal is running 711 camps for migrants in the state. We are taking good care of them,” Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the chief minister’s nephew, said.

Amit Shah had pointed out in his letter that the Centre was not receiving the “expected support” from the state government in helping stranded migrant workers from West Bengal.

“West Bengal government is not allowing trains with migrants reaching the state. This is injustice with WB migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” Amit Shah had said in his letter to Mamata Banerjee.

The issue of migrant workers is the latest flashpoint between the Centre and the West Bengal government amid a row over the state’s efforts to control the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The Centre and the state have exchanged allegations over the criteria for reporting deaths from the infection, and while While Bengal says the Centre is trying to politicise a public health crisis, the Union government maintains that state officials are ignoring repeated warnings to step up the fight against the disease.

Federal officials have said that the region has not conducted adequate tests and that there has been mismanagement over identifying hotspots and containing them.

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla also slammed the state government for a very low rate of testing and high rate of mortality, 13.2%, by far the highest for any state.

The Centre has also accused the state government of not allowing cross-border movement of goods trucks to Bangladesh.

There are 1,678 Covid-19 cases and 160 deaths in West Bengal until Saturday morning.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: The government on Thursday announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore stimulus that included free foodgrain and cooking gas to poor for three months, and cash doles to women and poor senior citizens as it looked to ease the economic impact of the nationwide lockdown.

While over 80 crore poor ration card holders will each get 5 kg of wheat or rice and one kg of preferred pulses free of cost every month for the next three months, 20.4 crore women having Jan Dhan bank accounts would get one-time cash help of Rs 1,500 spread over three months.

Over 8.3 crore poor women, who were handed out free cooking gas connections since 2016, will get free LPG refills for the next three months, while poor senior citizens, widows and disabled will get an ex-gratia cash of Rs 1,000.

"Since the lockdown has been in force (since Wednesday) and therefore we have come out with a package which will immediately take care of the concerns and welfare of poor and suffering workers and those who need immediate help," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a news conference here.

The package, she said, is being announced within 36 hours of the 21-day nationwide lockdown announced by the Prime Minister to protect the nation's 130 crore people from the fast-spreading coronavirus. "We do not want anyone to remain hungry."

She hinted at more announcements if a need arises.

"So, today's measures are very clearly aimed at reaching out with food and money that they need to have it in their hands. We will obviously think about other things. I will gradually address if there is more to attend," she said.

The package included advancing the payment of one-third of the Rs 6,000 a year pre-2019 general election cash dole scheme for farmers, government contributions to retirement funds for the next three months of small companies with 90 per cent of staff earning less than Rs 15,000, and a Rs 50 lakh insurance cover to healthcare workers.

For rural workers, the daily wage under the MNREGA employment guarantee programme has been increased to Rs 202 from Rs 182, benefiting 5 crore workers of about Rs 2,000 in all.

India joins countries -- from the US to Singapore -- that have pledged spending to contain the economic fallout of the pandemic that has infected almost 5 lakh people globally and left over 21,000 dead.

The pandemic has infected 649 persons in India and has killed 13 so far.

While the free food grains and pulses would cost Rs 45,000 crore, Rs 2,000 payment to 8.7 crore farmers under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana will cost Rs 16,000 crore.

The cash to women Jan Dhan account holders will cost Rs 31,000 crore and another Rs 13,000 crore is estimated to be the expenditure for providing free cooking gas.

Sitharaman, however, evaded a reply to questions on how the government will finance the package given that the impact of the closure of businesses across the country will be felt over the next few months and would have a direct bearing on already strained tax collections.

She also did not say if the government will relax budget deficit targets or resort to additional borrowings to fund the programme.

The revised fiscal deficit - the gap between revenue and expenditure - has been put at 3.8 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal. For the fiscal starting April, the government is targeting a 3.5 per cent fiscal deficit.

"Today's measures are very clearly aimed at reaching out to the poor," she said. "At this stage, I am more concerned about reaching out to those who need help."

With businesses closed during the lockdown, the government will contribute employees as well as employer's contribution to the provident fund for the next three months of companies with up to 100 employees with 90 per cent earning not more than Rs 15,000. The contribution will be a total of 24 per cent of eligible wages.

Also, workers will be allowed to draw a non-refundable advance of 75 per cent from credit in provident fund account or three months salary, whichever is lower, she said.

Sitharaman said the limit of collateral-free loans to 63 lakh women self-help groups is being doubled to Rs 20 lakh, impacting 7 crore households.

The free foodgrain and pulses are over-and-above the existing entitlement through the public distribution system (PDS). The ration card holders can take the foodgrain and pulses from the PDS in two installments, she added.

The government had previously relaxed timelines for meeting tax and other statutory filing requirements as well as allowed companies to divert their philanthropy or CSR funds to support the fight against coronavirus.

These measures and the ones announced on Thursday will be topped up by the expected announcement of interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its bi-monthly monetary policy review meet slated next week.

Commenting on the package, Anil Talreja, Partner, Deloitte India said the announcements are is expected to give reprieve to the mass sections of the population. "This is a good way to ensure that the poor and needy get what they deserve. It has ensured that the farmers, poor senior citizens, widows and specified sections of the society as well as people who are attached to the healthcare sectors get rewarded for their hard work and sacrifices".

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