Modi campaigns in name of Vivekananda to keep his image intact

September 18, 2012
Modi_vivekananda

Ahmedabad, September 18: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has kept his poll campaign centred on spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda, attempting to keep his Hindutva image intact while reaching out to other communities, to make himself more acceptable at the national level.

However, the Opposition has dubbed it as a ploy to garner political gains.

Modi has taken out a month-long political yatra naming it Swami Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra and has been addressing Vivekananda Youth Convention all over the state and has been quoting from his work on a daily basis on his twitter account, a strategy which has baffled his detractors.

His opponents have severely criticised him for misusing name of Swami Vivekananda, who during his life had remained away from any political activity though being very famous in the late part of 18th century after he returned from the US.

"Swami Vivekananda, as per the tradition of saints in the country having a secular outlook was the biggest propagator of Hindu religion in modern times," those close to the Ramakrishna Mission established by the saint himself said.

"He had always remained away from politics during his life saying that he was not a political leader," they added.

Modi has kept a statue of Swami Vivekananda before his rath on a vehicle which travels with him during the yatra. He has also painted his bus converted into rath with photographs of Swami Vivekananda.

In his speeches during the yatra, Modi speaks about realising dreams of Swami Vivekananda to make India 'vishwa guru', and urges youths to take up his cause.

"We respect Swami Vivekananda and that is the reason we have decided to take out yatra in his name. This yatra ensures that Modi's core belief in Hindutva is intact along with the motto of our government - appeasement for none, development for all," a BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

Modi had a year back launched a Sadbhavna Mission after the Supreme Court appointed SIT gave a clean chit to him in the 2002 riot cases to reach out to minority community of the state and effect a changeover in his image so that he is more acceptable at the national level.

State Congress chief Arjun Modhvadia slammed him for using the name of Swami Vivekananda. "Earlier, he used the name of Lord Rama for their political gains now they are using the name of Swami Vivekananda. People will realise the true face of this leaders."

Former chief minister Keshubhai Patel has also severely criticised Modi for using the name of Vivekananda by saying in his blog that a great saint who always kept himself away from politics is being dragged by Modi in the world of politics.

However, giving reply to his detractors on taking out a rally in the name of Swami Vivekananda Modi has said, "Political parties used Osama Bin Laden's duplicate during campaigning in Bihar elections and every body remained silent. Now, when I am taking out a rally in the name of Vivekananda, what is their problem.

He further said now is the time to decide if you want the director of Laden or that of Swami Vivekananda for the country.


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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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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that CBSE board results can be declared by August 15. The results of both class 10 and 12 will be declared at an interval of just a few days.

However, the decision to open schools will be taken after August keeping in mind the current COVID-19 situation. At present, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has not set any date for reopening schools.

Nishank said during a discussion "We hope that the results of both 10th and 12th class will be declared by August 15. These include the results of previous exams and the results of examinations in July."

On the issue of reopening of schools, Nishank said "after August the process of opening schools will be started."

A final decision in this regard will be taken only after assessing the prevailing conditions. According to the HRD ministry, after August, new sessions will also start in universities.

Meanwhile, the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi has also written to the HRD ministry on the subject of reopening schools. Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said in the letter, "Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said some time ago that we have to learn to live with coronavirus. So it would be better to open schools with proper safety measures."

Sisodia said that first of all, we have to assure every child that they are important to us. Everyone has equal rights over the physical and intellectual environment of his school. Education cannot progress beyond online classes only. It would be impossible to pursue education only by calling older children to school and keeping younger children at home.

Several private schools have also suggested measures to the HRD ministry to open schools and safety in schools during this period. However, the ministry is not in a hurry to reopen schools at present. According to senior officials of the ministry, at present, preparations are being made to conduct the remaining board exams of class 10 and 12 between July 1 and 15.

After the examinations, the first priority is to declare the results. Only then can the process of reopening school colleges begin.

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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: With 6,566 more coronavirus cases and 194 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 1,58,333 on Thursday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Affairs.

The number of active coronavirus cases stands at 86,110, while 67,692 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. The death toll due to the infection has reached 4,531 in the country.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state with 56,948 cases. Tamil Nadu has recorded as many as 18,545 cases while Gujarat and Delhi have recorded 15,195 and 15,257 coronavirus cases respectively.

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