Rajinikanth praises Kamal Haasan, calls him 'efficient'

Agencies
February 23, 2018

Chennai, Feb 23: Tamil superstar Rajinikanth today praised his contemporary and Makkal Neethi Mayyam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan, saying the "efficient" star would earn people's confidence.

Responding to Haasan launching his political party MNM at Madurai on Wednesday, Rajinikanth, who is also set to take the political plunge, said though he and Haasan would be taking different paths, their destination would be only public welfare.

"Though, all (of us) tread different paths, what matters is public welfare," he told reporters here.

Asked about his opinion on the MNM, Rajinikanth said Haasan was an "efficient" person.

"Kamal is efficient. He will earn people's confidence," he said.

The February 21 launch of Haasan's party was "very nice," and was well organised, he said, adding that he had already wished the 'Vishwaroopam' star on his political journey but has once again extended his greetings after the launch of the MNM.

While Haasan launched his party Makkal Neethi Mayyam on Wednesday, Rajinikanth had announced in December last year that he will enter politics.

Haasan had yesterday written in a Tamil weekly that he had earlier held a "secret" meeting with Rajinikanth to inform about his decision to enter politics.

The duo had then decided that even if they were in opposing camps, the respect for each other should be maintained.

On Sunday, days ahead of the launch of his political party, Haasan had met Rajinikanth and held discussions, and later met DMK President M Karunanidhi.

Meanwhile, responding to a question today, Rajinikanth welcomed the all-party meeting convened by the Tamil Nadu government yesterday to discuss the Cauvery issue.

The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister K Palaniswami, was attended by DMK Working President and state Leader of Opposition M K Stalin, among others.

The meeting had decided that an all-party delegation will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to set up the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority as per the apex court's order to set up the bodies within six weeks.

The all-party meeting was held days after the Supreme Court reduced the quantum of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by 14.75 tmcft.

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Agencies
January 26,2020

Guwahati, Jan 26: Four powerful grenade explosions--three in Dibrugarh and one in Charaideo districts--rocked Assam Sunday morning as the country celebrated Republic Day, police said.

In Dibrugarh district, an explosion took place at Graham Bazar and another beside a gurudwara on A T Road, both under Dibrugarh police station.

Another explosion rocked the oil town of Duliajan whose details are still awaited, police said.

Another explosion rocked Teok Ghat under Sonari police station of Charaideo district, they said.

Senior officials have rushed to the explosion sites and details of casualty are awaited, police added.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Panaji, Jan 28: Bureaucrat-turned-activist Kannan Gopinathan on Tuesday said even some "RSS people" are convinced the Citizenship Amendment Act is a bad law but are keeping quiet as the NDA government at the Centre is their own baby.

Speaking in Panaji, he further said the Narendra Modi government was behaving like a "drunken teenager" which needs to be questioned or else it will end up destroying homes.

"I was detained twice in UP, kept the whole day, because they (government) do not want the questioning (of CAA). I have met so many RSS people, they also understand this...if you have this conversation, they also understand the government has done something (wrong) and they have been asked to support it," he claimed.

He said the line of thought among these RSS people (he met) was "just support it (CAA)" as they don't want an altercation because the "government is their baby".

"He (government) is not a normal baby, he is a drunken teenager. He should be asked questions because when he starts destroying, he does not destroy somebody else's home but your own home," Gopinathan said.

He also hit out at those who have been claiming that the people protesting against the CAA are unaware about the law and have not even read it.

Gopinathan claimed if one had asked supportive MPs about the CAA on the day it was passed in Parliament, several of them would not have been able to speak on it as "they would not have known what was passed, because they were not given time (to go through the bill)".

He said, earlier, such legislation was passed after several rounds of consultation but "now, by night, it becomes an Act", adding (now) "everything is a surgical strike".

Gopinathan, in a possible reference to the National Register of Citizens exercise carried out in Assam, also claimed "thousands of people are in detention centres".

"It is your fundamental right to peacefully assemble without arms, Article 19 (1) (D) (of the Constitution)," he said at a function organised by a group opposed to CAA.

Gopinathan said people "always felt they were in a democracy" because they never tried to fly, when in reality "you are in a cage".

"The moment you want to fly you realise you are in a cage," he said, adding that "we have to question, we have to ask ourselves where are we going".

"When you don't allow a person to speak against an incorrect legislation, then what is democracy? What is freedom of expression?" Gopinathan questioned.

Gopinathan, a 2012 batch AGMUT cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, was the secretary, Power Department of the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli when he resigned on August 21 last year.

At the time, he had claimed the people of Jammu and Kashmir were being denied freedom of expression following abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday said the country's economy is not showing good signs though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has manifested tremendous leadership skills in fighting terror and in social welfare projects.

The fiscal decisions of the government have not yielded the desired results, the Rajya Sabha MP said here.

"Modi had shown tremendous leadership skill in fighting terror, in several social areas, micro areas like bringing toilets to every village home. But the economy is a complex system...," he said while taking part in a discussion.

While every minister is talking about a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, but the current GDP growth has to be multiplied in four years to achieve that, the former Union minister said.

He said, if wages are slashed as a measure to cope with the situation, labor will become cheap but that will also cut down the people's purchasing power triggering dip in demand, closing down factories and rise in unemployment.

"This is one problem for which you really need an economist," he said.

Swamy said in jest, "I think Modi has one problem with me. Not only I am an economist but also a politician."

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