‘Sabarimala row a ‘golden opportunity’ for us': Kerala BJP chief’s clip leaked

News Network
November 5, 2018

Kasaragod, Nov 5: P S Sreedharan Pillai, the Kerala state unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has landed in a row after he said the Sabarimala issue was a “golden opportunity” for his party.

In a purported audio clip, Pillai can be heard claiming that the chief priest of the Sabarimala Temple consulted him over closing the doors of the sanctum sanctorum if women tried to enter the shrine.

The clip, which has since gone viral, is from Pillai’s alleged address to the Yuva Morcha state committee in Kozhikode. The BJP leader purportedly said chief priest Kandararu Rajeevaru was apprehensive about shutting the doors of the temple as he feared contempt of court but he decided to go ahead with the decision after consulting him.

“The tantric community has more faith in BJP and its state chief. When women were about to enter Sabarimala, he called me up. I had given him a word and it coincidentally came true. He was a bit upset over shutting the doors of sanctum sanctorum fearing it would invite contempt of court. I was among the few he had contacted that time.

“I said he is not alone. We’d be the first to be slapped with the charges of contempt of court if it comes. There would be tens of thousands of people to be with him. Upon our word, he took a firm stand. That decision had actually left the police and the administration baffled. We hope he’d repeat it again. Later, I became the first accused and he the second accused on charges of contempt of court… As we both figured in, his confidence increased,” he allegedly told the gathering.

Once the clip went viral, Pillai said he was only providing legal opinion as a political leader and legal adviser but refused to comment on the use of the phrase “golden opportunity”.

Weeks after violent protests against the entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala Temple rocked Kerala, the shrine is set to open for a special puja on Monday evening. Police said 2,300 personnel, including a 20-member commando team and 100 women, have been deployed to ensure smooth 'darshan' and security of devotees, a move that came in for criticism from the erstwhile royal family of Pandalam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for such fortification.

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Wellwisher
 - 
Monday, 5 Nov 2018

Very good for vote bank these chaddiis are playing with worship place they even not spate the God.

 

 

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News Network
April 1,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 1: The price of petrol and diesel will go up by Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.59 per litre, respectively, from Wednesday. This is in line with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s decision to hike the rate of tax on petrol from 32% to 35% and diesel from 21% to 24%.

He had announced this in his March 5 Budget for 2020-21 fiscal. At present, a litre of petrol costs Rs 71.97 and diesel Rs 64.41 in Bengaluru.

The government decided to roll out the hike from Tuesday midnight going into Wednesday, April 1, after briefly considering a postponement in view of the COVID-19 crisis. 

Finance Secretary (Budget & Resources) Ekroop Caur confirmed to DH that the hike will be rolled out. 

The 3% hike on fuel tax was a key resource mobilisation measure that Yediyurappa announced in his Budget. The hike is expected to fetch the government Rs 1,500 crore. 

Yediyurappa had also announced a 6% additional excise duty on Indian Made Liquor (IML), which could help the government mop up Rs 1,200 crore. However, the sale of liquor has been prohibited during the lockdown period. Plus, hiking fuel prices during the lockdown will not hit citizens very hard. 

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News Network
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Australia has conferred its highest civilian honour, the Order of Australia honour, on Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for her contribution towards advancing the country's relationship with India.

Australia's High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu invested Mazumdar-Shaw as an Honorary Member within the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division at a ceremony in Bengaluru on Friday, the Australian High Commission said in a statement.

An alumnus of Federation University Australia, Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder of Biocon, one of India's largest bio-pharmaceutical companies.

She contributes immensely to promoting women in STEM through the joint research programmes developed between Biocon and Deakin University, Australia, as part of her deep and long-standing commitment to gender equality, the statement said.

Mazumdar-Shaw - an Australian Global Alumni Ambassador - is also recognised for her sustained and significant contribution to industry academia collaboration between Australia and India, it said.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from Indian and Australian business, the diplomatic corps, and family, friends and peers of Mazumdar-Shaw, the statement said.

Speaking at the event, Sidhu said, "Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is a tireless champion of the commercial, educational, and people-to-people links between our two countries, and this award recognises her commitment to progressing the Australia-India partnership."

Honorary appointments in the Order of Australia are made to foreign nationals who have made an outstanding contribution to Australia or humanity at large.

Mazumdar-Shaw is the fourth Indian citizen to be awarded Australia's highest civilian honour.

This follows the conferment of superstar batsman Sachin Tendulkar in 2012, Former Attorney General of India Soli Jehangir Sorabjee in 2006, and Mother Teresa of Kolkata (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) in 1982.

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News Network
January 13,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 13: A truck parked at the site of protest against the new citizenship law and National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Deralakatte on the outskirts of the city was charred down to ashes after it was set on fire by miscreants, police said here on Monday.

Police said that Deralakatte Citizenship Protection Committee had organised a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) here on Sunday. After the rally concluded, a few unidentified miscreants set the vehicle on fire.

The incident resulted in chaos, causing panic among the locals who informed the police immediately.

Condemning the incident, the local unit of Popular Front of India has claimed that the incident was an attempt by saffronist goons to disrupt peace and trigger communal riot in the region. It has urged the police to nab the accused immediately without yielding to any political pressure.

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