Sadhvi Prachi refuses to apologise for terror remark in Parliament

April 27, 2016

New Delhi, April 27: VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi today remained defiant and stuck to her controversial “terrorists in Parliament” remarks after she appeared before Rajya Sabha Committee of Privileges, where opposition members asked her to tender an "unconditional" apology.sadhvi-prachi

The committee headed by P J Kurien is examining a complaint of Opposition MPs against Prachi about her remarks made during the Monsoon Session. The panel had summoned Prachi to appear before it.

Emerging after the meeting, Prachi told reporters, "I am a daughter of the country. I won't backtrack. I am being pressurised to apologise. They (the committee members) shouted me down. I said I also have the right to speak."

Sources said that in the meeting, the panel chairman asked her to tender an apology multiple times but she kept on talking of some kind of "conditional apology" while members wanted her to tender an unconditional apology.

Sources said that Prachi, who appeared before the panel along with her lawyer, said that she was "not insulting Parliament as a institution" but stuck to her remarks that there are some terrorists in Parliament.

The matter was referred to the Committee in October last year under Rule 203 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha for examination, investigation and report.

Opposition leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and TRS member K. Keshav Rao were among 20 members, who gave the privilege notice against the VHP leader, saying her remarks had “violated the dignity” of Parliament and the privilege of MPs.

Speaking at a public meeting in Roorkee, Prachi had earlier slammed those who had opposed the hanging of Yakub Memon, the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict.

"It is a big misfortune that in the Indian Parliament, we have one to two terrorists sitting there. I do not think there can be a bigger misfortune for India than this as they are disobeying the judegment of a court, because the court has proved that he (Yakub Memon) is a terrorist" she had said indirectly referring to the MPs who had opposed the hanging of Memon.

A bulletin of the Upper House had then said," Members are informed that Chairman, Rajya Sabha has referred a question of breach of privilege arising out of the complaint of Naresh Agrawal and other Members of Rajya Sabha pertaining to alleged derogatory remarks against Members of Parliament by Sadhvi Prachi, a leader of a religious organisation, to the Committee of Privileges."

Comments

Fair talker
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Apr 2016

This is the height of craziness.
The whole party is now fully infected and sick.
Crazies are ruling the country.
Modi is a big powerless remotely controlled puppet.

When this ship will sink, God save India.

Dawaa is the only solution at least the next generation will be rightly guided.

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: Seasoned diplomat and former spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry Raveesh Kumar has been appointed as India's next Ambassador to Finland, the government announced on Wednesday.

Raveesh Kumar, a 1995-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, served as the spokesperson of the MEA from July 2017 to April 2020 during which he deftly articulated India's position on a number of sensitive issues including last year's Balakot strike, reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the controversy surrounding the National Register of Citizens.

"He is expected to take up the assignment shortly," the MEA said.

Before becoming the MEA spokesperson, Kumar was serving as Consul General of India in Frankfurt.

Kumar started his career at the Indian Mission in Jakarta and it was followed by his postings in Thimpu and London.

In his nearly 25-year career, Kumar also looked after the East Asia desk in the headquarters of the MEA in Delhi and served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta followed by his posting as Consul General in Frankfurt from August 2013 to July 2017.

In Finland, he succeeds Vani Rao.

Finland is an important country for India in Europe, and bilateral trade has been on an upswing in the last few years.

Around 35 Indian companies have invested in Finland in IT, healthcare, hospitality and automotive sectors while over 100 Finnish companies have operations in India in energy, textiles, power plants and electronics sectors.

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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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News Network
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: Indian officials denied entry to British lawmaker Debbie Abrahams on Monday after she landed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Debbie Abrahams, a Labour Party Member of Parliament who chairs a parliamentary group focused on the Kashmir, was unable to clear customs after her valid Indian visa was rejected, her aide, Harpreet Upal, told The Associated Press.

Abrahams and Upal arrived at the airport on an Emirates flight from Dubai at 9 am. Upal said the immigration officials did not cite any reason for denying Abrahams entry and revoking her visa, a copy of which, valid until October 2020, was shared with the AP. A spokesman for India's foreign ministry did not immediately comment.

Abrahams has been a member of Parliament since 2011 and was on a two-day personal trip to India, she said in a statement.

"I tried to establish why the visa had been revoked and if I could get a 'visa on arrival' but no one seemed to know," she said in the statement.

"Even the person who seemed to be in charge said he didn't know and was really sorry about what had happened. So now I am just waiting to be deported ... unless the Indian Government has a change of heart. I'm prepared to let the fact that I've been treated like a criminal go, and I hope they will let me visit my family and friends."

Abrahams has been an outspoken critic of the Indian government's move last August stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its semi-autonomy and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.

Shortly after the changes to Kashmir's status were passed by Parliament, Abrahams wrote a letter to India's High Commissioner to the UK, saying the action "betrays the trust of the people" of Kashmir.

India took more than 20 foreign diplomats on a visit to Kashmir last week, the second such trips in six months.

Access to the region remains tight, with no foreign journalists allowed.

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