Kerala Congress Asks Tharoor to Stop 'Constant Adulation' of PM Modi

October 6, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 6: The Congress in Kerala today warned Shashi Tharoor against praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the former Union Minister set the record straight holding that he is a "proud Congressman" and had not even remotely endorsed the "Hindutva agenda" of the BJP.

Tharoor

Signalling that disciplinary action would be contemplated against Tharoor if he kept on lauding Modi's initiatives, KPCC Vice President M M Hassan said, "As a first step, we are asking him to stop praising Modi as his stance went totally against the Congress' ideals."

Expressing strong displeasure, KPCC President V M Sudheeran said Tharoor should not be oblivious of the fact that he had been elected on a Congress ticket.

"Tharoor should not forget the fact that it is the Congress that made him a Member of Parliament. He should refrain from speaking against the party line," Sudheeran said at Vatakara in Kozhikode district.

Sudheeran also indicated that, if necessary, disciplinary action would be initiated against Tharoor after consulting other leaders if he kept on eulogising Modi.

Defending himself, Tharoor said his response to Modi's call to support the "Swachh Bharat" campaign would not mean that he even remotely endorsed the BJP's "core Hindutva" agenda and that he continued to be a "proud Congressman".

"I am astonished that anyone would suggest that I am pro- BJP. I have a 30-year paper trail of published writings on my idea of India and my profound belief in India's pluralism," Tharoor, a minister in the previous UPA government and the second term MP from Thiruvananthapuram, said in a Facebook comment.

"Being receptive to specific statements or actions of BJP leaders does not remotely imply acceptance of the party's core Hindutva agenda. The PM pitched his appeal as a non-political one and I received it in that spirit. I am a proud Congressman and a proud Indian. In short, not pro-BJP, just pro-India," the former UN diplomat, said.

Tharoor has responded positively to Modi's invitation to join the ambitious Swachh Bharat campaign but wanted it to be a sustained programme instead of being "tokenism".

Responding to Modi's call, Tharoor had last week said he was honoured to accept the invitation to join the 'Clean India campaign'.

Tharoor, who praised Modi on a couple of occasions earlier, however, added he was not a fan of tokenism and the challenge would be to sustain it beyond a week of 'photo ops'.

Modi has invited nine persons, including Tharoor, to join in the Swachh Bharat campaign on the model of the 'Ice Bucket Challenge'.

Tearing into Tharoor, former state Youth Congress President M Liju said it was surprising that the Congress MP failed to realise the true agenda behind Modi's schemes.

"Tharoor is not a nursery school student. It is difficult to believe that he fails to understand the true agenda and political gimmickry of Modi's programmes," Liju added.

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January 28,2020

Jehanabad, Jan 28: Anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam, who was on the run after sedition charges were slapped against him for allegedly making inflammatory statements, was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad district on Tuesday, the state's police chief Gupteshwar Pandey said.

The JNU scholar was wanted by police of several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi.

"Sharjeel Imam has been arrested from his native Kako village in Jehanabad," Bihar's director-general of police Gupteshwar Pandey said.

Earlier in the day, Sharjeel Imam’s brother was picked up by police in a fresh attempt to trace the anti-CAA activist.

Police had raided his ancestral home on Sunday as it went hunting for him but Imam eluded the dragnet.

He is likely to be produced in a Bihar court where police will seek his remand for questioning. It is not yet clear whether he will be questioned in Bihar or taken to the national capital.

A graduate in computer science from IIT-Mumbai, Imam had shifted to Delhi to pursue research at the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He was slapped with a sedition case after a video of his purported speech went viral on social media in which he was heard speaking about "cutting off" Assam and the Northeast from the rest of India.

"If five lakh people are organised, we can cut off the Northeast and India permanently. If not, at least for a month or half a month. Throw as much 'mawad' (variously described as pus or rubbish) on rail tracks and roads that it takes the Air Force one month to clear it.

"Cutting off Assam (from India) is our responsibility, only then they (the government) will listen to us. We know the condition of Muslims in Assam....they are being put into detention camps," he was shown in the video as saying.

Meanwhile, reacting to Imam's arrest, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said people have the right to protest but nobody can talk about the country's disintegration.

Kumar told reporters that police must have acted in accordance with law in arresting Imam and now the courts will take appropriate action.

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March 29,2020

Theni, Mar 29: A young man under home quarantine for coronavirus after return from Sri Lanka suddenly ran out of his house and fatally bit a 80-year old woman in his neighbourhood in a village near here, police said on Saturday.

The woman with injuries in her neck was hospitalised late Friday after the incident but died on Saturday without responding to treatment, they said.

The man, a resident of Jakkamanayakanpatti and engaged in seasonal business in clothing, was overpowered and handed over to police, who arrested him and investigations were on.

He had recently returned from Sri Lanka and directed to remain under quarantine by health authorities as per the protocol for foreign returnees to check coronavirus spread.

He came out of his house on Friday evening and all of a sudden, denuded himself and began running through the street.

Shocked family members including his father gave a chase even as he caught hold of Nachiyammal, seated on her house’s front yard and bit hard her neck.

The man’s kin overpowered him and admitted the woman to nearby Bodi Government Hospital where doctors on Saturday said she succumbed to her injuries, not responding to treatment. Health authorities were unavailable for comments immediately.

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January 10,2020

New Delhi, Jan 10: An IPS officer's thumb was bitten by a woman protester when he was pushing back agitators, who were trying to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Thursday, police sources said.

The protesters had gathered after a call was given by JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh to march towards President's House to demand the removal of University's Vice Chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar.

Ingit Pratap Singh, a 2011 batch officer, who is currently posted as the additional deputy commissioner of the southwest district, was injured in the attack.

According to sources, Singh was trying to pull a male protester when the woman, in a bid to shield her friend, bit Singh's left thumb.

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