Shiv Sena defaces India before Pakistan guest

October 13, 2015

KulkarniMumbai, Oct 13: This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

-- T. S. Eliot (The Hollow Men).

There is no way of knowing if the Shiv Sena's top brass has read these lines. But their protest against former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch in Mumbai ended just like the concluding lines.

On Monday morning, senior journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and the event's organiser, had his face blackened by Shiv Sainiks. Later, Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, who is the executive editor of party mouthpiece Saamna, justified the act as a "mild and democratic attack".

Bucking rumours that the Sena had decided to withdraw its protest against the book after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis intervened, Raut, who is seen as a hawk in the party, threatened to disrupt the launch. However, as the day unfolded, the Sena's threat fell flat with the event passed off peacefully.

Shiv Sainiks gheraoed Kulkarni and abused him for being "anti-national" and smeared black paint on him outside his house. Kulkarni said the Indian flag, which he was wearing on his shirt, was also blackened, and this was a national affront. Later, Kulkarni, the black paint on his body and clothes intact, flanked Kasuri as he spoke to the media.

Kulkarni had met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday and requested him to call off the protest. The Shiv Sena opposes cultural and sports ties with Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in India. Last week, the Sena had forced the organisers of Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali's concert in Mumbai and Pune to call off the programme.

However, Raut justified the blackening as a "mild and democratic attack."

"Why wasn't anyone else smeared with tar? Are Shiv Sainiks mad? They are mad with patriotism. They are angry at this agentgiri of Pakistan," he charged, adding that they were reflecting the national sentiment.

Raut pointed out that while Fadnavis had said they would allow the programme on the understanding that no anti-India statement would be made, they had sent a letter to him containing evidence of Kasuri's anti-India comments during his ministerial tenure. Moreover, Kasuri had also reached out to Kashmiri separatists like the Hurriyat Conference and asked them to unite and counter India to Pakistan's advantage.

"The chief minister must tell if Pakistani leaders like Kasuri and… Pakistani agents like Sudheendra Kulkarni are anti-Hindustan or not," charged Raut while launching personal attacks, referring to how the 26/11 terror attacks had taken a toll on the army, the police and the common people. He added that the Sena had opposed Pakistan for almost 30 years, and, for them, this was not a political battle, but one linked to the country.

"Laying out the red carpet for such a person in Mumbai… is treason. Strict action must be taken against those who called him," demanded Raut, adding that many "staunch nationalists" like those in Shiv Sena were against the event.

"People like Sudheendra Kulkarni, who are considered thinkers, are even more dangerous than Kasab. It is possible to fight Kasab, but not these hidden Kasabs," alleged Raut.

"Did we tell you and do the morning programme?" countered Raut, when questioned about whether the Sena would disrupt the programme. However, there were many red faces within the Sena as the event passed off without any major hitch, under heavy police bandobast.

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News Network
June 23,2020

New Delhi, Jun 23: The Delhi High Court Tuesday granted bail to Jamia student Safoora Zargar, who is pregnant and was arrested under anti-terror law UAPA in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta did not oppose it on humanitarian grounds.

At the outset of the hearing, Mehta, representing Delhi Police, submitted that Zargar can be released on regular bail on humanitarian grounds and the decision has not been taken on merits of the case and should not be made a precedent.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who conducted the hearing through video conferencing, released Zargar, who is 23-week pregnant, on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and surety of like amount.

The court said she shall not indulge in any activity for which she has been charged with and shall not hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses.

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July 1,2020

Chennai, Jul 1: In a case of cluster infection, 58 of the 65 mourners who attended the funeral a Central government official, Selvam, 56, who had worked in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and who died in Coimbatore and was brought for burial at Pannavaadi near Kolathur near Mettur in Salem district, tested positive for Covid-19, after three of them initially tested positive as they neither wore face masks not observed social distancing during the funeral, sources said.

Even as Dr Vijayabaskar said AIADMK MLA from Sriperumbudur, K Palani who tested positive for Covid-19 has recovered and will be discharged from hospital in couple of days, the MIOT International Hospital in Chennai said that the State Higher Education Minister, K P Anbazhagan, who initially showed no symptoms of coronavirus, subsequently tested positive in his second sample. He was now under treatment, his condition very stable and all his vital parameters are normal, MIOT said in a statement.

In what continues to be an unrestrained run, Tamil Nadu added its biggest day-wise spike so far of 3,943 positive Covid-19 cases, while another 60 deaths due to the novel coronavirus confirmed on Tuesday took the total death toll in the state to 1,201.

Of the new positive cases, Chennai alone accounted for its highest per-day jump of 2,393 positives with the number of persons tested today across Tamil Nadu put at 30,053. The total number os Covid-19 positive cases in the State as a whole till date is racing towards the one lakh mark at 90,167.

However, these outcomes are all on anticipated lines with the ICMR's push for more aggressive testing, even if they want lockdown controls to be now more focused at the district level, and want the Chennai model to be taken to the districts.

In this backdrop, the Health minister, Dr C Vijayabaskar chaired a detailed Covid review meeting this evening through video conference with all the hospital deans and other top officials on different facets of the disease prevention and control measures and the state's overall preparedness.

Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami in a statement in Chennai assured that with the 'full lockdown' continuing in greater Chennai, parts of three neighbouring districts of Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram and parts of Madurai district till July 5, the free community kitchens for the elderly, disabled and destitute will continue to function in those places till July 5 and hygienically cooked food packets served to them.

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News Network
January 22,2020

Jan 22: Microsoft Corp’s chief executive officer said he worries that mistrust between the US and China will increase technology costs and hurt economic growth at a critical time.

Using the $470 billion semiconductor industry as an example of a sector that is already globally interconnected, Satya Nadella said the two countries will have to find ways to work together, rather than creating different supply chains for each country.

“All you are doing is increasing transaction costs for everybody if you completely separate,” Nadella said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead conference in Davos. That’s a concern as the executive said the world is on the cusp of a revolution around technology and artificial intelligence.

“If we take steps back in trust or increase transaction costs around technology, all we are doing is sacrificing global economic growth,” he said.

The agreement signed last week between the US and China was “not sufficient,” said Nadella, but represented “progress” on the issue of intellectual property protections for US technology companies working with China.

Nadella said he worries about the development of two separate internets, noting that to some degree they already exist “and they will get amplified in the future” with massive technology companies already in place in China.

The viewpoint clashes with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has been sceptical about the idea that ongoing US-China trade tensions could ever lead to a bifurcated system of two internets.

China and the US are the two leading AI superpowers, however the cooling political relations between them have slowed the international collaboration.

Nadella also warned that countries that fail to attract immigrants will lose out as the global tech industry continues to grow. The CEO has previously voiced concern about India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, calling it “sad.”

“However, Nadella said he remained hopeful.

“The fact that there is a 70-year history of nation-building, I think it’s a very strong foundation. I grew up in that country. I’m proud of that heritage. I’m influenced by that experience.”

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